Community abandon drugged children
ALEXANDRA - Some residents and organisations are concerned by the community apathy to the scourge of drug use by the youths.
Some residents and organisations are concerned about the community’s apathy towards the scourge of drug use by the youth.
They said the community had become insensitive to a real problem which was damaging the future generation, regardless of social status.
Many children from the age of 13 are said to be addicted to dagga, nyaope, cocaine and other drugs. And there is fear that a new and more lethal drug is now on the market – its effect includes putting the user to sleep for days, risking death from hunger.
Peggy Chauke, founder of Leratong Joy for One, a children’s non-profit organisation, said the community’s silence on drug addiction among the youth is concerning.
“All families are aware and affected directly or indirectly by their children’s drug use, stealing from homes to sustain their drug habit,”she said.
Chauke works with 46 boys and girls aged between 13 and 19 who are drug addicts. She said most of them first used drugs due to peer pressure, dysfunctional backgrounds and neglect. While others were chased away from the home by parents or guardians who couldn’t tolerate their drug habit.
She said others came from granny- and child-headed households with limited resources and an inability to instil discipline and family cohesion. “These children are easily lured in to drugs for instant gratification to lull their misery from poverty and suffering,” she said.
“They are forced to steal from their homes and other places to sustain this artificial gratification.”
Community liaison officer, Richard Miyambo, said the extent of children’s drug use and addiction was alarming.
“Many of them dropped out of school after getting addicted and parents and guardians are aware of this yet they choose to do nothing,” he said.
He added that the community also knew the drug dealers who live among them, but choose to remain silent while they destroy their own children.
An emaciated 18-year-old girl who looked much older, said she got into drugs due to peer pressure in 2010, and it took her only two puffs to get addicted to dagga laced with cocaine. She comes from a granny-headed household after her mother abandoned her as a baby. In-between sobs, she said the community shunned them instead of supporting them and helping them recover and become reintegrated into society.
Details: Peggy Chauke 079 581 2444.
