Reflections Magazine Issue #63 - Fall 2005 | Page 12

SHU Professor
Speaks in South Africa
The Following article is a reflection written
after Dr. Patricia McDonald OP, ’69, Director
of Graduate Studies at SHU’s Metropolitan
Detroit Center, returned from work in South
Africa. Dr. McDonald was invited to attend a
Mental Health symposium held in the country.

T

he United States and South Africa partnered in cultural exchange programs for
a greater understanding of mental health
concerns. This past fall I attended a two week
program with the United States Delegation of
Mental Health professionals at the invitation of
our national office.

Robbin Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela was
held for nearly two decades.

The opportunity provided direct exchanges with
the South African government and their CEO of
mental health services. We toured Soweto and
stood in the city streets where Hector Peterson,
a 13 year old young man, was gunned down in
1976 for demonstrating for better living conditions, and experienced first hand the magnitude
of services needed to serve this part of the world.
In a nation of 33,000,000, the South African
government has set up programs to serve their
citizens in multiple parts of that nation. Given
the fact that as a nation they are only 10 years
old, they have already set up mental health
centers and services in the vast sections of their
nation. I was impressed by their efforts to serve
their citizens.

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10

Reflections Fall ‘05 - On The Road

A monument and museum dedicated to the genesis of
the Democratic movement in South Africa.

I had the privilege and honor of visiting the
homes of both Bishop Desmond Tutu and Mr.
Nelson Mandela. Both men lived on the same
street only a few blocks apart. Both these individuals have continually worked toward the betterment of their countrymen and countrywomen.
They are men of nonviolence who strive for
full inclusion of all human beings at all levels.
Amazingly they lived on the same street which
is the “only street in the world that boasts of two
Nobel Peace Prize Winners!”
A personal high for me was visiting Robben
Island, a few miles off of Cape Town, where
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 19 years as
a “political prisoner.” I stood in the jail cell, and
witnessed from his window his world for these
19 years. He never gave up his ‘spirit’ or his
‘hope’ for a better, more humane and equitable
world for all people.
Following our visit to Robben Island, our group
toured mental health treatment facilities, substance abuse programs, partial day treatment
centers and the Cape Town psychiatric hospital. It was here that I gave a presentation to the
psychiatric staff and our U.S. delegation on the
topic of “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” South
Africa (and much of the world) is dealing with
PTSD conditions, which need to be addressed.
I spoke with a Muslim woman who is their
only physical therapist. She indicated that they