MENGEDEGNA

By Bethlehem Tsegaye

Part of Being Black in Canada (Toronto). Bethlehem, who is of Eritrean-Ethiopian descent, migrated from sunny Addis Abeba to Winnipeg, Canada at the age of 12, leaving everything, including her family members, back in Ethiopia to start a new life here in Canada. We look into her experiences and obstacles she had faced as she opened a new chapter in her life by making a decision to move to a big city all alone. Today, She lives in Toronto and she reflects on mental health alongside Photographer, Producer, community organizer and Art + Health founder Aden Abebe. Together they discuss the stigmas attached to and the importance of mental health in their community. In this short documentary, Aden, 1st generation, born in Canada, shares with us her personal experience by looking back at her past photography work surrounding mental health and gives us an insight to how today she tackles the stigmas to inform and teach her community about the impact it has. Aden, and her non-for-profit organization Art+Health is committed to encouraging more conversations around mental health in her community and expanding on how dialogue is part of action. In the midst of a pandemic and a civil unrest happening back home, they hope their message about the importance of mental health awareness reaches beyond borders.