, that is why we lock him in the house . '' The desperate measures Daniel 's family has resorted to are not rare . African health services are often underfunded and overwhelmed -- no more so in the field of mental health . Watch more about the story '' CNN visited rural Kenya -- a country where less than one percent of the health budget is allotted to mental health -- to investigate the extent of the problems . Edah Maina , who runs the Kenya Society for the Mentally Handicapped , says the mentally disabled in Kenya have few options for long-term care and support . `` The entire family is affected and especially when the mother sort of loses hope and resorts to locking up the child because they have to go out and earn a living or they have to chain them up because they might hurt themselves , '' said Maina . Social workers in Kenya searching for those in desperate need found a mother and child on the floor of a squalid kitchen hut . John is 17 and severely handicapped . He can not speak and can not properly hold his head up
KANDARA , Kenya -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Daniel Mungai 's family keeps him locked in a room in a wooden shack that is just big enough to fit a bed , a cupboard , Daniel and his wheel-chair . His clothes and bed are soaked with his own waste -- and he 's been living like this for 15 years . Daniel Mungai is kept locked away in a small wooden shack and has been for 15 years . Daniel , 35 , started having seizures at a young age . He is sometimes given medicine for epilepsy and spent time at a mental hospital but his parents say they simply can not afford to maintain proper care -- they are struggling to cope . Both his parents are also now too old to help him properly . They live in the same compound in Kandara , Kenya , but in a different building . His father , Ndung ' u Joroge , said : `` We do n't lock him out of bad will . We lock him up because people have become very bad . He may come out here and then he is caught by young men