A sexual and domestic abuse survivor, Hauwa Ojeifo, has won the Bill and Melinda Gates Goalkeepers award as the global changemaker of the year 2020.
Ojeifo started a women-led organisation which gives mental health a voice in Nigeria after struggling with the condition.
“I didn’t particularly realize the full extent of the mental health consequences of getting raped,” she told People magazine. “At that time, I just felt like, ‘Oh, with time, it’s going to go away.’ But it was an accumulation over time and it just stays there in your subconscious.”
Failing to find mental health resources, Ojeifo turned to social media and her blog for solace.
“There was no cohesive system to say, ‘Oh, this is where you go when you experience this.’ It wasn’t readily available, and I had to navigate all of that by myself,” she said.
Speaking to CNN, Ojeifo said when growing up there were days she could not get out of bed to carry out mundane activities like brushing her teeth.
At the time, she did not realise she was experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder, a mental health condition where a person’s mood swings from high and overactive to low and dull.
“There were a lot of things leading to that moment where I thought about dying. I had an abusive relationship — well, I can’t call it a relationship now because I was like 14 or 15 at the time. But he used to punch me, beat me and gaslight me,” Ojeifo said.
She was sexually abused in 2014 and did not know how to express being raped by a trusted partner to the people around her.
Suicidal thoughts
Her experiences, she said, piled up till she eventually snapped and started nursing suicidal notions.
“Trying to explain what was going on in my head was difficult. I looked fine physically, but it started to affect me mentally. I could go a day without being able to construct sentences, and I was a research analyst at the time which meant I had to write daily reports but I couldn’t,” she said.
It was then that she decided to use her unfortunate experiences to help women and girls facing similar predicaments in Nigeria.
Her organisation provides “mental health support through a helpline, teletherapy and virtual support groups serving as a first point of contact to ensure that survivors of gender-based violence and those living with mental health conditions have access to confidential psychosocial support and counselling”.
She Writes Woman provides a 24-hour mental health helpline for anyone within Nigeria.
The helpline serves as a first point of contact for people in distress or those who just want to talk about their mental health and symptoms.
“People call the helpline to get what we call a first-aid treatment. On the call you don’t get immediate professional counseling, what happens is you get a first response communication where someone listens to you and what you have to say,” Ojeifo said.
She explained that after the first responders, callers can be referred to mental health professionals for therapy or a diagnosis if needed, “depending on what the issue is we que people in to either a therapist or a psychiatrist.”
Hard work pays off
According to the Gates Foundation, the award, which celebrates an individual who has inspired change using personal experience or from a position of leadership, recognizes Hauwa Ojeifo of Nigeria for her work promoting gender equality.
Ojeifo said that she was in “disbelief” when she first received the email alerting her that she was a recipient of the award.
“It was so unexpected and it came as a surprise because I was not expecting it. It’s like an added validation to the work She Writes Woman does,” she said.
“During one of the meetings with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation I asked them how I was selected because I was just so blown away. I was told that it was because I had used my personal experience to build hope for people and to drive change,” she added.
The 2020 global goalkeeper award recognizes an established individual demonstrating significant commitment to health and development, specifically in response to the pandemic
