Organisation raises awareness
KwaThema - “Drug awareness campaigns cannot be reiterated enough in our community, which has been experiencing a lot of crime due to many young people experimenting with drugs,” says Tlhabane Tsagane, centre manager of Make It Count Youth Development (MICYD).
MICYD partnered with the Department of Social Development to raise awareness of substance abuse and alcohol in the community.
Speakers from different organisations addressed the youth who filled the KwaThema hall last Friday.
Tsagane explains that their primary objective as a youth organisation is to assist the youth who are vulnerable and need assistance with skills development and life skills.
With the hike of nyaope and marijuana abuse in the community, the organisation sought to educate and warn the youth about the dangers of experimenting with any form of substance which may lead them to becoming addicted.
“We work with quite a number of stakeholders in the community, who enable us to execute our duties,” says Tsagane.
“We have a spectrum of programmes which help young people to take advantage of skills development programmes, to ensure a better future for them.”
Life skills, technical training, inter-generational interactions, social dialogues and campaigns are some of the programmes offered at the centre.
The South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (SANCA), Sibusiso Mdluli, spoke on the importance of the youth not even trying to smoke cigarettes or a hubbly bubbly, which makes them more prone to want to experiment with marijuana and other substances.
“Most addicts started with a mere cigarette, then elevated to more substances which give them a high, therefore it is important that we emphasise the dangers of trying out any substance that is addictive to the human body,” he adds.
