Changing Lives

Michael (on the left) at a street soccer event in Kewtown where "ASA" came alongsongside Insp. Ian Bennett of Athlone SAPS (seen with Michael is Reece on shoulders & Jaqueline)

Michael's Testimony:

I have been an addict for the duration of 10 years. My drug of choice was Tik also known as crystal meth, I experimented with other drugs like dagga, mandrax & ecstasy.
It all started as a young boy wanting to have fun, little did I know that I was trying to cover up my hurt that I was trying to deal with. As a teenager I looked to the wrong people for acceptance, those people were the gangsters in the community. This is where I began experimenting with drugs, then became addicted to Tik & watched as it destroyed my family. They lived in fear of what I became, afraid, they did not know who would come looking for me at home, whilst I felt that the drugs were helping me cope with my problems.

 Five years into my Tik addiction, I was offered the opportunity to sell drugs on a major scale, I accepted. Police began to raid my parents home, however the selling continued. Even though this was ripping my family apart, they still showed me love. I had no regard for my family or their safety.

 My rock bottom during this period was when I was eventually picked up for possession of an illegal firearm and drugs. I was immediately confronted with the reality of the consequence of my actions, which was 15 years imprisonment. For the first time I was scared, who was going save me from this one?

 GOD had other plans for my life:
 Nobody could help me, hopelessnes crept in. It was then, that I turned to God, as I knew my fate was sealed in the hands of the courts the following day, it was a serious enough offence.
It was nothing short of a miracle that my life was spared. I recieved a second chance. I accepted the help I was offered & committed to an inpatient recovery programme. 

My life would be forever changed, I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal saviour & friend. Whilst on the programme I dealt with issues that had made me more susceptible to drugs. 
Family relations, trust that was broken was all restored. I learnt that it was more profitable to "HONOUR GOD with my LIFE".

Today I live for a purpose greater than myself, I offer assistance to those infected & affected by substance abuse. I'm currently doing my matric and also am a Youth leader in my community assisting with programmes that is aimed at transforming the minds of youth at risk and showing them a posative perspective on life. 

God has made this change possible in me, truly "CHRIST in me, is the HOPE of GLORY".

Insp. Ian Bennett Athlone SAPS

Active Social Assistance supported an Substance Abuse Awareness programme alongside Insp. Bennett of Athlone SAPS in Darling & Villiersdorp. The programme was hosted over two days as the farming communities are far apart from schools and place of work and you still find that some of the labour force including learners travel bare feet in this day and age. This reality is just a stone throw away from the Big City (Cape Town) yet we are so far removed from this reality "APATHY". 

Substance Abuse (TIK) has though found its way into the lives of these farming communities that were already struggling with the result of the "Dop" system. 

As Insp. Bennett begins to share his experiences & findings of the drug culture that exists within communnities & the reality of those infected and affected by substance abuse, one could pick up by the sad & almost blank expression on the faces of these learners, that they are definately affected in a negative way. Faces dropped, eyes became sad, little smiles became lost as the Inspector merely touch on certain points such as rape, violence in the home, etc.

Insp. Bennett empowering the kids (10111)

Drug paraphenalia seized by SAPS from school learnes used to inform kids of the dangers and the consequences of Substance Abuse

 

Our kids are not taking pencil crayons, pens, lunch, books or lunch money to school anymore. Parents, Guardians PLEASE love your kids, spend more time with your kids. If you not spending time with them, "WHO is"??? 

Faces of learners when the reality of the awareness programme came closer to home