16/12/2025
OWN YOUR MIND
Remember GBV, Mental health and Addiction, are not JUST .
They are .
People don’t because they are told to.They when they belong.
Culture gives us .Arts give us a language for pain when words fail.
Tradition creates safe spaces where healing happens together, not alone.
That truth came alive during Lwiindu lya Chuundu, the traditional ceremony of the Tonga Leya people, under the leadership of His Royal Highness Senior Chief Emmanuel Kalonga Sikute, when our Executive Director and Founder of Elevated Initiatives -EI, Coach Rabson Banda , engaged in a meaningful conversation with the King from Zulu land (South Africa). They exchanged notes around Systemic issues like Gender Based Violence, addiction and Entrepreneurship.
The focus was simple, yet powerful:
If we want healthier communities, we must meaningfully engage boys and men in mental health.
Maximizing on this rare gathering, our Executive Director also networked with Royal Highnesses from different chiefdoms dotted across Zambia who where invited, engaging them in honest dialogue on meaningful and effective male engagement in mental health, leadership, and community wellbeing.
Because when men are emotionally present, families are safer.
When boys are guided early, cycles are broken.
And when culture leads the conversation, stigma loses its power and will navigate unresolved issues of .
Mental health doesn’t start in hospitals.
It starts in homes.
In communities.
In culture.
When culture heals, communities recover.Addressing mental health beyond the health ecosystem.
Thabo Kawana
Bridget Chilombo Maka
Amref Health Africa
Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts
Ministry of Labour and Social Security Zambia
