Experts speak on keeping teens out of harm’s way

Several other cases of teen and pre-teen suicides have lately been reported and although the police do not have exhaustive data on the number of child and teen suicides. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • On December 10, a nine-year-old boy hanged himself at their home in Mtondia, Kilifi County, after losing a betting game.

  • Several other cases of teen and pre-teen suicides have lately been reported and although the police do not have exhaustive data on the number of child and teen suicides.

  • A Pew Research Centre report indicates that smartphone ownership accounted for more than 50 per cent of teenage depression in 2012, when this phenomenon began to increase.

  • Mental health issues have also been attributed to the suicides.

No one really knows what transpired between the time 11-year-old Jackson Muteti Justus was left with his months-old sister and the time his body was found dangling from the rafters of their iron sheet-roofed home in Rongai.

The caretaker of the premises was alerted at 6pm by the strident voice of Jackson’s six-year-old sister who was knocking the door and calling him to open it. Her knocks and calls were loud enough to mute the tired cry of their younger sister, who had been left in Jackson’s care.

When the caretaker went to intervene, he found the girl, still in uniform with her bag on her back. At first, he thought Jackson had fallen asleep. When their calls went unanswered, the caretaker called neighbours so that they could force the door open.

DISTURBING SCENE

They met with a disturbing scene of the boy’s body dangling from the roof on a blue plastic rope. Below him was the stool he had stood on before tying the noose around his neck.

“Their mother had left the baby girl under the care of the boy and went to work while the six-year-old child had been in school the whole day,” said Mr Ringera Mutiga, the Ongata Rongai police boss.

Although Jackson’s suicide sends a wave of astonishment and anxiety among parents across the country, it adds to the worrying statistics of pre-teens who have taken their own lives.

On December 10, a nine-year-old boy hanged himself at their home in Mtondia, Kilifi County, after losing a betting game. Silas Charo Kazungu hanged himself in his bedroom, just three days to his 10th birthday.

Before he met his death, he had been playing a simple game. Any player who lost a bet gave up his cashew nuts. His father, Mr Erastus Kazungu, said Silas’ friends laughed and mocked him when he lost, triggering his rage and shame.

STARTED CRYING

“He became angry and tried to reclaim his cashew nuts but the other boys did not allow him to. He left his friends and started crying before his mother asked him to go home and take a bath,” Mr Kazungu said during an interview at his home.

That was the last time he was seen alive.

Several other cases of teen and pre-teen suicides have lately been reported and although the police do not have exhaustive data on the number of child and teen suicides, media reports serve to lift the veil that shields what sociologists and psychiatrists have termed “a psycho-social problem”.

“The society has neglected the children,” Dr Mary Wahome, a psychiatrist, told Saturday Nation. “With all the frustrations in the society like poverty, the children are left feeling hopeless and helpless. They do not have people to turn to, they are judged when they want to express their feelings and they have to deal with pent up frustrations and issues that are beyond them,” said Dr Wahome, who is also the director of

She cited excessive access to technology through mobile phones, iPads and computers by children as the most prominent reason they commit suicide.

DEPRESSION

A Pew Research Centre report indicates that smartphone ownership accounted for more than 50 per cent of teenage depression in 2012, when this phenomenon began to increase.

Last year, a teenager committed suicide in Kamukunji, Nairobi, after playing an online game – Blue Whale Challenge – that dares players to take their own lives.

Mental health issues have also been attributed to the suicides.

A mental health expert, Dr Lincoln Khasakhala, said children need psycho-social care from families and friends. The society, he said, expects too much from children academically, ignoring their feelings.

In one such incident, a teenager committed suicide by jumping into a well in Migori County after getting the same scores despite repeating the Form Four national examination.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Apart from frustrations resulting from great expectations, Dr Khasakhala said some children are exposed to events that traumatise them, like sexual, emotional and physical violence which trouble their minds.

“Parents need to pay attention to their children’s feelings and behaviour at all times,” he said.

To solve the problem, Dr Khasakhala said parents, teachers and siblings have to offer support to children who look or sound troubled by seeking psychiatric help for them and keeping them from events that may frustrate them further like bullying.