Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. MERRYLYN sits on the couch absent minded.
Even the nagging from Jayden, her youngest son, is not bothering her.
As she shift positions, she forces a smile, but one could see that behind the smile is a troubled soul.
She is in deep thoughts.
She lost her husband three years ago in a road accident during the Easter holidays.
It has never been the same since then.
“My husband loved farming. So on the day he met his fate, he was driving to the farm,” Merrlyn recalled.
“He had called one of our farm workers to meet him at the growth point so they could buy some chemicals.”
She said he left left home early and they expected him to be at the farm around mid-day.
“No sooner than we had anticipated, we saw some pictures on social media. It was our eldest daughter Nyarie who alerted me to the pictures,” Merrlyn said.
“The car looked familiar. It was our vehicle, the one my husband had used on the day.
“I passed out. Later the police made formal communication, but the news had already come through.”
She added: “That to me was the first hurdle. How to deal with such devastating news, how to handle the sudden death of a loved one.
“My second hurdle was how to deal with the damaged car. I didn’t want to see it. My in-laws had suggested that after getting compensation from the insurance company, we would take it to panel beaters, but to me, it was a no.
“I later sold the damaged car, which made me enemy number one with people from my husband side. They did not know what I was going through. I pretended to be strong, but I was burning inside.”
Merrlyn narrated how her in-laws treated her and told NewsDay Weekender of some of the messages she received, alleging she had a hand in the death of their son in the road accident.
“Surely, how can I have a hand in an accident that would take the life of my husband?” she asked fighting back tears.
Though the church and the community played a role in condoling her, she seemed not to have healed.
Each Easter holiday, she will be grieving.
She even said she no longer travels during this time and her churchmates have been questioning why she continues to keep to herself.
She revealed that she can make all the contributions for Easter at church, but won’t attend.
Merrylyn is not alone in such situations.
Accident survivors go and those left behind go through a lot.
Some people don’t feel comfortable being driven by other drivers, while some have totally abandoned driving because of what they went through after an accident.
At a time many think of having compensation from insurance companies, very few think of the cost of mental health therapy.
Culturally, some people still think accidents are a result of bad omen, particularly when they happen during holidays such as Easter where people would celebrating the defeat of death by Jesus.
Christians and non-Christians advocate for cleansing of high accidents zones known as black spots.
They also think families of those involved in accidents should be cleansed of such bad omens.
That is how they may take care of the spiritual side of post crash traumas but there is a gap in as far as professional counselling to victims is concerned.
Is society or responsible organisations doing enough in counselling accidents survivors, victims and families left behind?
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) said it takes seriously psychological impacts of accidents to survivors and those left behind, hence the continued support offered through their Victim Friendly Unit and supporting other government departments and organisations that offer specialised counselling and trauma services to accident survivors.
The police bemoaned the behaviour by people who take and circulate accident pictures on social media without considering the plight of the affected families.
“Indeed the psychological impact of accidents to survivors and families can be profound. To address this, we have a Victim Friendly Unit within our police department dedicated to providing support and assistance to the victims of crime and traumatic incidents including accident survivors,” police national spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
“Additionally, we collaborate with other government departments that offer specialised counselling and trauma support services to survivors of road traffic accidents.
“Regarding the circulation of road traffic accident pictures, we take the matter seriously and are investigating instances where such images are shared on social media without proper consideration of the families involved.”
Friendship Bench, an organisation that deals with mental health issues, noted the importance of taking care of accident survivors and those left behind.
They offer services to such people and have been working with other organisations, the Health and Child Care ministry included.
“Yes, such services are available in home-based clinic facilities,” said Friendship Bench communications and marketing manager Krystal Mtasa.
“We work in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Care by training lay counsellors, whom we affectionately call our mbuya utanos, to offer crucial psychosocial support to individuals struggling with depression and anxiety.
“Some of the clients we support have, indeed, been victims of accidents and trauma, and we also provide bereavement counselling for those who have tragically lost loved ones through accidents.”
Mtasa added that these services are free and they involve the police where accidents are involved for referral purposes.
“Our services are provided completely free of charge. We offer both physical and online sessions,” she said.
“We actively collaborate with a range of organisations particularly ZRP for referral purposes, the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the World Health Organisation, Pangea, the Global Fund and the CESHHAR Zimbabwe, among others.
“Some organisations frequently reach out to us to provide mental health support for their employees.”
These services are crucial in helping accident victims and survivors in coping with mental health issues, trauma, stress and depression, Merrylyn concluded.
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