In this Fireside Chat, Angelica Chiketa Mkorongo, CEO & Founder of Zimbabwe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Trust sat down with The Stability Network’s Interim Executive Director, Megan Silvestri to discuss Angelica’s work developing community mental health services for young women in Zimbabwe.
Angelica shares how she started noticing something going on inside of her around the age of seventeen. She was having thoughts that were scary and confusing to her but chose not to share her symptoms with anyone, even her family for fear of how others would respond. Her mental health challenges worsened after her daughter was born when she experienced postpartum depression, on top of her pervasive thoughts. Finally, she googled her symptoms and found that there was a name for what she was experiencing and that other people lived with OCD too. She started to open up about her condition and noticed that the more she talked about her experiences, the more freedom she felt.
Soon after learning she was living with OCD, Angelica attempted to find a support group so she could connect with others who shared in her experiences. When she was unable to find an African group that supported those with OCD, she decided to start her own organization, called Zimbabwe OCD Trust. Through Zimbabwe OCD Trust, Angelica raises awareness, supports those living with OCD, and cuts through misconceptions that exist around the mental health condition.
Her passion to help others experiencing mental health challenges is what led her to create the Mangwanani Home of Hope, a vocational training center. Angelica shares that the program aims to provide girls and women the opportunity to connect with others as well as nature and animals and to gain skills to bring back home to their homes and villages.
Angelica hopes that our future world will be a place where people can share their mental health experiences openly and without shame or fear of discrimination. She wants sharing about mental health to be “everyday talk” just like sharing about physical health.
Watch the video above to hear more from Angelica on her new Mangwanani Home of Hope initiative, as well as how the pandemic has impacted her community, and more. If you’d like to support Angelica as she builds out Mangwanani Home of Hope, you can learn more and make a donation here.