Addicted youth in dialogue with London’s former addict
ALEXANDRA - Close shave with drug-induced death story shared with addicted Alex youth
The reality of drugs and substance-induced death was brought home to a group of Alex youth by an Englishman who saved his life just in time.
It could have been over for Mike Ovenden (31) if he had not acted in 2016 when he was warned of imminent death from a concoction of cocaine, heroin, crack, valium and others which hardened addicts dabble in to their demise. Also, his fate could have been aggravated by a combination of related psychotic and psychosomatic disorders of schizophrenia, paranoia, anxiety and depression.
He now looks years younger than the dishevelled appearance of him in a photo shown to this reporter at the height of his addiction. “I was wayward and uncontrollable and burgled people’s houses for items to steal and sell to fuel my street junkie habit,” he said.
“I slept at people’s doorsteps and was diagnosed with liver hepatitis with three months to live had I not mended my ways.” He admitted that he lost most of his childhood and early youth to drug abuse resulting in regrets he said others in Alex and elsewhere also carried and were looking for a way out.
He was in Alex as a guest speaker of non-profit organisation (NPO) Blessed Is The Hand That Gives where he engaged with local youths. His path to self-destruction resonated with the audience, which saw him miss out on critical development milestones and education which he is catching up on through life and technical skills programmes of global Christian-based NPO Adult and Teen Challenge.
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Nick Adams of the global organisation said, “The programmes for youth rehabilitation are also run in Pretoria and Cape Town and are making inroads in Soweto and hopefully Alex. The organisation started in gang-infested Brooklyn, New York to help gang members wanting to reform.”
Ovenden’s demise was triggered by parental violence at their London home. “It was bad and led me at 13 years of age into entry-level drugs to numb my feelings. I had to steal and burgled homes for money or items to sell to buy the drugs.”
His mother who had separated from his father, kicked him out of his home at age 16 when he became uncontrollable. “I became homeless, got hooked onto cocaine, heroin, speed and other hard drugs that numbed my appetite resulting in many days and sleepless nights without food.”
Ovenden’s change came in 2016 when he saw his life slipping away and credited his dad for urging him to embrace the offer of help from the Christian organisation.
“It [16-week programme offered by the organisation] involved 15 male group members working out their addiction by reliving and working through their painful experiences under a tough cross ministry-military boot camp style of discipline. I initially disliked the Christian approach and values but later warned up to the structured 15 biblical-based teachings which healed my heart.”
They included:
- Learning to love and accept oneself
- Dealing with temptation
- Dealing with one’s attitude
- Growing through one’s failures
- Applying the iceberg analogy to understand all challenges still hidden underneath
- Dealing with fear, rejection, bitterness and trauma.
He is part of the organisation’s bible college outreach work which helps him spread evangelism in the ‘byways and highways’ of those lost to drugs. He shares in the testimonies of the pain of others, and promotes related youth programmes and projects to help them stay away from crime and drug abuse, and motivates them towards models for prosperity achieved by others who quit the habit.
