Where traditional beliefs are more real than textbooks, treating mental illness is a balancing act for sangomas and medical doctors alike.

Sihle Batiya’s luckier than most – but the odds are stacked against kids with Down’s syndrome in the Eastern Cape.

Mentally disabled people in the rural Eastern Cape are considered worthless, even evil. When girls are sexually abused, mothers are no longer shocked.

A psychiatrist said two years ago that the suspect in a deadly attack on a Belgian crèche did not need to be sent to a mental institution.