Joseline de Lima was wandering the dusty alleys of her working-class neighborhood in the capital of Togo one day last year, when a disturbing thought crossed her mind: Who would take care of her two boys if her depression worsened and she were no longer around to look after them?
Ms. de Lima, a single mother who was grieving the recent death of her brother and had lost her job at a bakery, knew she needed help.
But therapy was out of the question.
“Too formal and expensive,” she recalled thinking.
Help came instead from an unexpected counselor: Ms. de Lima’s hairdresser, who had noticed her erratic walks in the neighborhood and provided a safe space to share her struggles amid the curly wigs hanging from colorful shelves and the bright neon lights of her small salon in Lomé, Togo’s capital.
Persons:
Joseline, de
Locations:
Lima, Togo, de Lima, Lomé