Pretoria - All hope is not lost for nyaope users, and Kgomotso Lebese from Mamelodi is proving just that after graduating from Tshwaranang Rehab Centre and receiving a bursary with the prospect of becoming a mechanical engineer.
Lebese, 24, is one of the four former addicts who kicked the habit and turned over a new leaf. They were subsequently awarded bursaries by NGO Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic organisation that aids refugees, forcibly displaced peoples and asylum seekers.
Lebese, Frank Ramakalela, Simon Ramashala and Sizwe Mkhize will be financially assisted to study at an institution of their choice.
But the road to recovery for Lebese and his peers was paved with numerous boulders and barbed wire.
For Lebese it started 10 years ago when he was trying to fit in with friends who were smoking cigarettes and dagga. He was soon introduced to something stronger - nyaope.
“My friends suggested we tried nyaope and see if it would take us to the next level. When I was high, I saw myself owning this planet and felt like I could do and achieve anything in life,” Lebese said.
He said he used various ways and means to get the money to buy the drug, which cost between R25 and R40. His ways included stealing from his family and neighbours and shoplifting.
He admitted that he had been in and out of jail a few times and even lived on the streets for two years.
Lebese said quitting drugs was no walk in the park and no matter how much family and friends wanted him to quit, it could not work until he told himself he was prepared to leave that life behind him.
“It requires one to be prepared to quit. As the old cliche goes, you can take a horse to the water, but you can’t force the horse to drink,” said Lebese.
In the past couple of years, Lebese has been in and out of rehab centres and relapsed without completing the programmes because he couldn’t manage it and was mentally not prepared to quit.
The final straw came when he became fed up with using drugs and living on the streets so he checked himself into Tshwaranang.
He managed to defeat his demons and has been clean since February. He admitted he still had a long way to go. “Now the trick is being reintegrated and absorbed back into the community. Remember we stole from these people, so now it is difficult for them to just take us back,” said Lebese.
Another way of overcoming a relapse was by keeping busy and changing his circle of friends.
Anti-narcotics organisation Thandanani says up to 70% of households in Mamelodi have a family member hooked on the highly addictive nyaope.
“We want to ensure that we go out to communities so that they access our facilities. We want to work with young people since there are high levels of school dropouts, teenage pregnancies and many women-headed households,” said founder of Tshwaranang Frans Kotlolo.
Drugs had a negative impact on communities leading to high levels of theft, school dropouts and unemployment, he said.
Kotlolo, who accommodates the addicts in his house, said the rehab would further work with the youth to ensure that they harnessed their energy into something productive.
Pretoria News