Shaking off drug addiction

MOKOPANE – A group of 15 recovering Nyaope drug users received certificates on Friday at the Mogalakwena Municipality Chambers after they participated in a three months treatment programme under the caring eye of the Drug Addict and Convicted Criminals Restoration Organisation (DAAC).

DAAC is an organisation operating in a temporary treatment centre in Mokopane. It states that this programme was an attempt to eradicate Nyaope use and to allow recovering users to rebuild their futures. The programme started in 2014 when DAAC pushed for a rehabilitation centre in Limpopo. DAAC says that Mokopane ranks very high (second) on a Nyaope use in Waterberg after Bela-Bela and that the lack of rehabilitation facilities in the province contributes to the problem.

The Mogalakwena Mayor, Andrina Matsemela, encouraged addicts to be rehabilitated and condemned the high usage rate of Nyope in Mokopane. The Mayor called for a drug-free society and urged parents to be good role models to their children. “We are calling for an end to nyaope in very corner of Mogalakwena,” she said during the recent ceremony. “We will participate in outreach programmes to make people aware of the danger of this drug. ”

DAAC hopes to open the Andrina Matsemela Rehabilitation Centre in Mokopane soon.

“Nyaope is like an epidemic outbreak and has encouraged the organisation to establish treatment programmes which include strategic endeavours to build a rehabilitaion facility in the community and rebuild the lives of recovering addicts by offering training and job opportunities with help of strategic partners,” says Tshepo Maswai, co-founder of DAAC.

The programme has successfully rehabilitated 15 Nyaope users out of the initial 52. “I’m very proud of myself that I was given an opportunity to restructure my life. Honestly, Nyaope is not just a drug, it is also a killer. I would encourage everyone to stay away from drugs,” says Seun Moyane, a recovering addict and a recipient of a certificate.

“The training programme is divided into pre-rehabilitation stage which offer medical treatment, counseling and support group structure and the post-rehabilitation stage which entails skill development programme,” says Maswai. The post-rehabilitation method has established a mutual plan with strategic partners such Better Best, Ivanplats and Folang Trust to provide assistance in areas such as skills and training.

“It is hard for recovering drug addicts to be accepted in the community,” explains Simon Mocheku, a recovered addict himself that now facilitates at DAAC. “Remember some of these people have stolen goods from their neighbours to feed a habit. They [drug addicts) have made mistakes that will make them enemies in the community. For them to reenter into the community, they need dedication and willingness to prove that they have changed.”

For Mocheku, the experience he brings in the organisation has played pivotal role in helping addicts in the process of rehabilitation. “I started using drugs in 1999 for about 10 years and I have been clean for nine years. Drugs take control of your life and destroy it,” he says, adding that after he realised that he was destroying his life, he tried to find help and through the assistance of social workers in the correctional sector he was rehabilitated.