Kicker: Grandmas to the rescue

NICK EICHER, HOST: Sometimes you just need a sympathetic ear and a little time-tested wisdom. There’s a tradition in Zimbabwe for grandma to be both listener and counselor.

GRANDMOTHER: [Speaking in native language]

Now modern psychiatry is catching on to the value of that crown of glory known as gray hair. Professor Dixon Chibanda figured this out and gave grandmas some basic training, then asked them to occupy what he called “friendship benches” in public places in African communities.

Audio from CBS news:

CHIBANDA: I needed to find a way of taking mental health into the community. I came across these grandmas and I realized how awesome they were in having this ability to interact with people in their communities.

Now there are thousands of grandmothers staffing “friendship benches” even in the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple: In New York 60,000 people in six months used them.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: As a granny myself, I endorse!

EICHER: It’s The World and Everything in It.

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