Updated Friday, August 1st 2014 at 12:05 GMT +3
When Psychiatrist Dr Catherine Syengo Mutisya decided to leave mainstream medicine for psychiatry, some of the people around her asked her why she wanted to work with "mad people".SILVIA WAKHISI followed her into her world to find out what inspired her to work with the mentally ill.
For any family, having to take care of a loved one who is suffering from a mental illness can be a devastating affair. Many will easily give up on them because of the difficulties they have to put up with trying to ensure they live a normal life and accord them the best care.
But having come face to face with this harsh reality, Dr Catherine Syengo Mutisya purposed from a young age that she will devote her life to taking care of people with mental illness, help them get back on their feet and lead a normal life.
"I grew up as the youngest of five children. My upbringing was a very regular, middle class one. My father was a teacher and my mother was into business," she says. "One of my brothers had intellectual disability. He was more of the 'baby' and needed all the care and attention. I am told he got sick and contracted pneumonia. My parents had to struggle to bring him up. He is now 42," says Catherine.
In addition, one of Catherine's uncles was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental disorder often characterised by abnormal social behavior and failure to recognise what is real.
"I grew up seeing my uncle become psychotic. Since his wife was not able to handle him, my dad would bring him to stay with us as he sought proper medical care for him. He would often wake up early in the morning to travel from Kitui and take him to Machakos General Hospital, which is now Machakos Level 5, since it was the nearest facility that offered psychiatric services," she says.
Though she was a little girl then, these experiences sparked in her the zeal to one day offer assistance to others who suffered the same fate.
It's no wonder then that when Catherine talks about her brother, which is often, she speaks with warm affection.
Born and raised in Kitui, Catherine, now 39, has risen to become a formidable lady whose greatest passion has become mental health. She currently serves as the Deputy Medical Superintendent at Mathari Hospital and is one of the renowned psychiatrists in the country.
But when I meet her for the interview, Catherine doesn't strike me as typical white-coated government health official. Her smile is captivating and infectious and her warm personality easily welcomes me into her world. She is down to earth and easy to talk to.
"For someone to discover their purpose in life, they have to go through rocky patches. My journey of self-discovery wasn't plain sailing itself. It hurt me to see my brother in that condition though there was little I could do to help then. However, that experience shaped me into the woman I am today," she says.
She offers: "As I grew up, the closest I got to interacting with someone from the medical field was with my aunt, who was a nurse. When I went to high school, I discovered there was something better than just a nurse. And that's when I decided that I would take up medicine as a career."
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