Boxing club helps fight Greenland's suicide scourge

By AFP/Camille Bas-Wohlert

Four times a week, youths meet to box in a school gymnasium in Nuuk, Greenland -- a great way they say of letting off steam in a place with one of the world's highest suicide rates.

Fight Club Nanoq is one of several initiatives to help young Greenlanders give structure to their lives and improve their mental and physical health.

Suicide, alcohol and drug abuse are major concerns in the giant Arctic land which struggles with social woes and a painful colonial history.

After a half-hour warm-up, the boxers set up small rings and start sparring, the coaches interrupting regularly to give tips and instruction.

All three coaches complained that young people have too much time on their hands, increasing their likelihood of winding up in trouble.

Eighteen-year-old Emil Lehmann Faber doesn't disagree, saying he started boxing "to have something to do".

Seven times world average

Many of his classmates and friends have nothing to do, he told AFP. "Maybe they more easily turn to alcohol or just don't do anything."

Greenland registered 39 suicides in 2023, almost 68 per 100,000 inhabitants -- more than seven times the global average of nine, according to the World Health Organization. Only tiny Lesotho in southern Africa has a higher rate of 87.5.

Yet suicides have dropped from a peak of 62 in 2010 after a concerted effort by the authorities of the autonomous Danish territory.

At Fight Club Nanoq, the 20 or so boxers -- a handful of whom are women -- learn to take care of themselves.

"The most important thing is not to fall into self-pity," said Efraim Olsen, a doctor who founded the club more than 15 years ago and is still boxing.

"You learn to cope with disappointment and you don't victimise yourself," he added.

Lehmann Faber and Aputsiaq Didriksen, also 18, have both boxed abroad for the club, an opportunity unthinkable for many Greenlanders their age.

"Many individuals struggle with feelings of hopelessness and a lack of opportunities for the future, exacerbating mental health issues," said Greenland's Minister for Youth and Sport, Aqqaluaq Egede.

The coaches say they see a big change in young people after they start coming to the club.

'Lack of help'

"They improve a lot in self-confidence and in their ability to cope with stress," said Olsen.

"Those who box here have a home, they have a job, they have a wife and children. They have never gone wrong," insisted Mahmoud Minaei, another of the club's founders.

They also learn discipline and respect, he said.

"They are able to be a part of a group, able to take commands from the coach, and able to obey the rules of boxing," said Olsen.

While the coaches talk freely about mental health and suicide prevention, many of the young boxers, like boxer Aninnguaq Eigaard, are wary of stigmatising Greenland.

But local authorities readily recognise that suicide is a scourge.

The national suicide prevention hotline Tusaannga "received approximately 600 contacts in 2023 from individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts," the minister said.

The number of people considering taking their own lives was "certainly higher" than that, he added.

Psychologist Maliina Lyberth said "mental health difficulties are everywhere around this country".

Greenland's government attributes this to factors like loneliness, drug and alcohol addiction, violence and inherited trauma.

Lyberth, who sees many of her patients online due to Greenland's vast size -- 2.2 million square kilometres (836,297 square miles) -- lamented the "lack of help" available.

In fact, the lack of resources make her angry.

"We need better mental health projects or places to go when you need someone," she said.

But accessibility is not just a question of geography, she argued.

"If someone is struggling with suicidal thoughts, they have to pay to get help," she said.