Durban drug medication programme is changing lives

THE lives of men and women living on the streets have been changed for the better, thanks to a drug medication programme that was started under lockdown in shelters in Durban.

Berea Mail spoke to former whoonga addicts who have been undergoing the programme since the beginning of lockdown in April, and who are turning their lives around, thanks to treatment they received while in the shelters.

The programme is now being run by a team led by Monique Marks of The Urban Futures Centre (at DUT), at Bellhaven Memorial Hall in Stamford Hill, which has been turned into the ‘African Centre for Hope’, a wellness centre. Men and women are able to visit the centre to receive doses of methadone, an opioid used to manage pain relief and drug addiction.

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Speaking about his journey, Siyanda Mazibuko said he had been using whoonga while living on the streets, up until the beginning of lockdown.”We (the homeless) were told to go to the Durban ICC where we were registered and in the afternoon we were taken to Moses Mabhida Stadium in buses. By this time I was dying from withdrawal. The team came with methadone and after I was given it to help with my withdrawals, I started to feel better,” he said.

Siyanda said he thought he would only be on the programme for 21 days while staying at Moses Mabhida during lockdown, and then he would be back on the streets.

“I thought I would have to go back, and then I would start using again, but I was on the programme for 10 weeks. I started to feel better and better and my mind started to tell me that I could try change my life,” he said.

Commenting on this, Monique said the longer addicts are on methadone, the better their chances of maintaining their goals around drug use. She said therefore the 10 week programme was a longer process and had more success.

“While I was at Moses Mabhida, I got my doses of methadone down so that I could easily come off it. Afterwards Monique and the nurses got me into Newlands Park Rehabilitation Centre, where I went to learn more about my addiction and how I could prevent going back. I have learnt I have a disease that I will die with, but that it is up to me to treat it,” he said.

Siyanda’s vision is to speak to people about addiction and help they can get help.”It has to come from the heart, they can get help if they want it. I am doing well for now and am still working on what I want to do. I go to groups where I can express myself and talk about how I am feeling, and where I can get help to stay clean and change my old behaviours,” he said.

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Thabiso Dladla said his story was similar to Siyanda’s. He was also one of the men taken to a shelter at Moses Mabhida during lockdown, and who was battling withdrawal. “The social workers really helped me. I am feeling super, except that I don’t have any work or anything to do. This is bad as it is easy to get distracted and I don’t want to go back. I have been clean since being on the programme and I am happy, I am smiling. If you could see what I looked like and was like before, it was bad. Corona has been a curse for others, but it has really helped me, it has given me the chance to find myself again,” he said.

The programme currently has funding for the next four months, however assistance will be needed thereafter. If you are willing to get involved with funding the project in the future, contact Monique on 084 403 3934.

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

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At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.

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