Saint Siya Save a Life extends a hand to help to addicts

KwaThema – Saint Siya Save a life Organisation reached out to the recovering substance abuse addicts at Witpoort Rehabilitation Centre in Brakpan, on Tuesday.

This was part of the initiative to honour the legacy of Nelson Mandela during the 67 minutes of charity.

Bongani Mmema says the initiative was to encourage and motivate the recovering addicts to keep up the fight to kick the addiction.

“We know that it is not going to be easy and is even more difficult when they leave the centre to return to the community.

“Many end up relapsing and go back to taking drugs because they don’t have the support of the community or get bored because they don’t have anything to do,” he says.

Bongani says during their first visit to the centre they learned that some of the recovering addicts who had been neglected and picked up from the streets, had agreed to undergo the rehabilitation programme.

“Some of them don’t have clothes and basic toiletries and depend on donations or centre management for support.

“We decided to collect over 80 packs of basic toiletries for them,” he says.

He says that this was to show them love and support as a community.

“We also encouraged them to join the Saint Siya programmes after completing the detoxing programme in order to receive more care and employment opportunities.

“The initiative was a combined effort from different stakeholders in the community,” he says.

Bongani says we should not isolate the young men and women going through a difficult time in their lives who end up taking drugs.

“They are not enemies but children who are crying out for help.

“We should all join hands to find solutions to help them kick the habit.

“These are young people who are supposed to contribute actively to the economy of the country,” he says.