Soweto - “To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe,” reads a frame over the front doorway of the new government rehab centre.
The interior is crowded with bare doors leading to different rooms filled with necessities - play area, kitchen and neatly made beds - while banners detailing the effects of drugs on one’s body are hanged up high on the freshly painted cream walls.
Situated at the back of the busy Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in what was known as the old Cerebral Palsy Clinic, it is hard to imagine that there are 20 or so youth living in this small centre. But, they do so without any complaints because it’s the only place left where they can find hope.
Sitting quietly, the patients - mostly in their twenties - play board games together with their counsellors. The mood is light and laughs are exchanged between them.
The centre is run by government and offers free assistance to both alcoholics and drug addicts who want to end their addictions.
Known as the Substance Abuse Treatment Centre - the facility, which caters for over 18-year-old adults, is the first of its kind in Soweto and administers in-patient treatment services, after-care services and referrals to outpatient clinics and community based services for youth, mostly from the south of Johannesburg.
“This is a place of safety and we really hope that they will feel at home and that they will look forward to being detoxified. We hope they become skilled so that when they look back they say this is where we came from and this is where we are today,” Gauteng MEC for Social Development, Faith Mazibuko, told SAnews after touring the newly opened facility on Friday.
The youth used the interaction with the MEC to thank her for government’s efforts in getting their lives back on track.
“Thank you for this facility; we needed this facility. We needed this for a second chance in life,” said one patient.
Most of them told the MEC that after their time in the centre they want to go back and service their communities by teaching other youth about the dangers of using drugs.
Others, who have dropped out of tertiary, want to go back and finish their studies.
“I have always wanted to be an engineer since it is a scarce skill in the country right now - I want to get cleaned up and go back,” said another patient.
“We are all affected by this monster directly or indirectly. You either know someone who has been affected within your circles or you are the victim of this terrible activity. Families have been dismantled, jobs and lives have been lost, and careers have been shoved down the drain all in the name succumbing to the next fix,” MEC Mazibuko said.
Doctors and social workers also assist at the centre and patients are counselled on a daily basis.
“We offer hope to them,” explained one of the social workers.
With the opening of this facility, Mazibuko believes that the centre will help address a number of challenges such as the high crime rates which have been linked to the usage of drugs, especially as private centres are expensive.
“As government, we felt that we needed to play an important role in ensuring that all those that have been ravaged by these terrible things happening in our society – they can at least get into a place where they will receive stimulation, detoxification and proper treatment.”
She acknowledged that although sometimes they get into rehabilitation, most youth relapse and go back to drugs.
However, she believed that with the new centre, they will never be able to relapse again.
“Drugs will totally come out of their system and they won’t be on edge for looking for a fix. They will be better people and better citizens in Gauteng,” she said, adding that this will be achieved through the creation of halfway centres across the province.
These centres according to the MEC will help the department with skills development which will ensure that they are empowered.
Since the centre is free and due to the capacity of the facility, the local drug committees, which run awareness campaigns about drugs, help identify people who urgently need the rehabilitation.
People can also go through the non-profit organisations such as SANCA, who then refer them to the centre.
Asked why such a centre has taken so long to be established, the MEC said a budget needed to be created for it since it did not fall under their key responsibilities.
“After the development of the drug master plan, which was developed after the pleas from Eldorado park residents, it then became obvious that we as government had to find a way for it to be implementable.”
Gauteng has two other centres, one is Cullinan and another one in Magaliesburg.
MEC Mazibuko hopes to open more centres in Sebokeng, Ekurhuleni and in Bronkhorstpruit. – SAnews.gov.za
