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Why Mauritians are prone to mental health issues: a thread
Let’s start from the very beginning. The ancestors of most Mauritians were indentured labourers from India, Africa and China. Many of our ancestors were already living in poverty hence the idea of moving to a land where they can work, earn and build a better life for their-
- future generations. They were misled as they were illiterate, and therefore contracts they signed were riddled with clauses that they didn’t know about. They took a boat from their motherlands, for several weeks leaving their whole family behind, for several weeks before-
-finally arriving to Mauritius. Many didn’t make it due to illnesses on the boats. They lived in former slave huts and performed identical work to slaves and laboured under the same rule of sadistic plantation owners. Their working hours were long, conditions were harsh and wages
- almost next to nothing. They got whipped and abused for simple things such as waking up late, and had to work, no matter the weather, and their 5 year contracts were often doubled due to “misbehaviour”. We can’t even imagine the trauma they went through because of this-
- and this doesn’t even begin to describe the sort of trauma they endured. The British used their power to TORTURE our ancestors. Indian labourers were put under extreme pressure to turn to Christianity by the British, and a divide and rule strategy turned Afro-Mauritians-
- and Indo-Mauritians, Hindu and Muslims against each other to stop them from coming together and trying to raise awareness with petitions etc. These scars are still somewhat present, and Britain still haven’t taken responsibility of this (a whole different story)
The sheer torture and suffering our ancestors went through was more than enough to cause the beginning of generational trauma, passed onto our grandparents and our parents. Fast forward to Mauritius’ independence, the country was still in poverty and many of our grandparents-
- worked as labourers. Still working long hours, although nothing like the indentured labourers, pay was poor and often they found it difficult to make ends meet. Rationing still existed in Mauritius whilst my parents were alive- the 70s/80s- to put things into perspective!
Our grandparents are largely illiterate, which put pressure on our parents to do well, study and make a living. A lot of our parents chose to come to the UK, or Canada, Australia etc at young age (my parents were 19 & 20!), leaving behind everything they know & coming to a-
- country and they don’t know the culture, and experience racism in a way they’ve never known before. You can see where I’m going with this- it’s a generational cycle of trauma that gets passed down, and added on generation after generation. Our grandparents/parents must have-
- experienced symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD just to name a few and not even known, and never had the right tools to deal with it. This allll comes down to us; achievement behaviours, affiliation behaviours, the pressure from our own parents, sometimes therapising-
-our parents ourselves, suppressing emotions.. and sadly, SO much more. The more we raise awareness the better it will be for our future generations and we can break this generational cycle, since we actually have the tools to do so! Go to therapy, normalise it & talk to your-
-parents about this where you can. Educate yourself and others for the benefit of yourself!! Feel free to add more to this thread, I’m no expert, this is just how I see it and my own research :)
