Long road ahead for Lulama

THE recent appeal in Berea Mail for support for SANCA's Lulama Treatment Centre did not fall on deaf ears, however much more help is needed to save the centre.

According to director, Ishara Poodhun, following two articles about the financial plight of the centre in the media, they received further coverage on SABC and eTV news channels and radio coverage on North West FM.

“Through this coverage we had a mixed bag of responses, which started as a flood of donations and donations in kind such as toiletries. Someone also offered to help with maintenance work, however we will need a lot more to be able to turn this around. We are extremely grateful for the response and the help, which is enabling us to buy time and helping us limp along. We are still hoping there will be a more stable lifeline which will come through in the interim,” she said.

Poodhun said the power of the media coverage was that it had opened doors to people who had previously not been open to help.

“I have had people requesting we send appeal letters to their organisations, so I am grateful, but guarded, as I know all NPOs are in the same position. Some people have called just to share their concern and care, and this helps us carry on,” she said.

Walter Petersen said he felt the exposure had caused people to mull over the issue, and that people were trying to work out ways and means to assist.

“We really appreciate the response. We still have a stretch to walk and are still in need,” he said.

Walter said former patients had expressed their concern and said they did not want to see SANCA take a dip.

“We are restoring lives and enabling people to live purposeful lives, so now they want to give back, and are living beyond self. They are very supportive and want to be part of the process. They have formed a group to put their heads together to see how they can assist,” she said.

If anyone can help, contact Ishara on lulama@mweb.co.za or 031 202 2241.

Lulama changed my life

FORMER Lulama patient, Clive, said if it was not for places like Lulama, people like himself would have no hope of ever recovering.

Clive is nearly 56 years old, and has been sober for five years.

“We are in a living hell where, until someone throws us a lifeline, we are doomed to die a slow and humiliating death, knowing all the time that we are powerless over the cruel sickness that we suffer from. I have one regret in life – I wish that I had known earlier about Lulama, AA and the 12 Steps, as it may have been able to help my alcoholic brother to stop drinking. He could have been alive today,” said Clive.

Clive started drinking at an early age and got drunk for the first time when he was 14 years old.

“My father was a rep so we moved around quite a lot. I attended seven different schools and this was very unsettling resulting in very few friends and becoming very isolated. I was always trying to impress everyone and therefore always up for a dare,” he said.

By the age of 16, Clive had his own motorcycle which allowed him to get around easily, with access to girls and drinks. He started to rebel, bunking school, drinking, and generally getting up to no good. He also got involved with a rough crowd and could have easily ended up in serious trouble or even jail.

“By some miracle I managed to matriculate. I moved to Durban to study at the Natal Technikon and this was the start of the heavy drinking. I ended up dropping out of college and found employment. While working, my drinking had progressed to a very serious state. I had just put it down to being young and wild, however in hindsight this was in the prime of my alcoholism. Work was a big factor in my drinking as many of us drank at work as well as straight after work,” he said.

He said his girlfriend that he had been with for two years broke up with him and this just gave him more reason to drink.

“I met another girl from Swaziland who I eventually married, however she left me for someone else six months after we were married. At this stage in my life I was drinking ¾ bottle of whiskey a day, every day,” he said.

Following a move to England and a subsequent move back to South Africa, Clive could only get a permanent night shift job.

“This was one very bad move, as now I would drink first thing in the morning as this was at the end of my shift. The drinking got progressively worse, even to the extent that it was affecting my job. I changed jobs to get on day shift but this did not help much. The drinking was now progressively worse, a permanent ritual, getting drunk every day,” he said.

Clive said after his first daughter was born he thought he would be able to stop drinking as he would have some kind of reason to live, however, this was not to be.

“No matter how hard I tried I could not stop. A few years later I had a second daughter and things only seemed to get worse. My partner moved out and I was left on my own. After about six months I joined SANCA outpatients where I gave up drinking and smoking and managed to stay sober for five years. One day when leaving work I just decided I would have a drink. On the way home I bought some alcohol and secretively drank like this for a few weeks. I did it for about six months, but slowly it progressed back to the same old situation, only this time it started to get worse. My younger brother had passed away by this time. Now I began to need a drink before I could go to work. If I did not have the morning drink I was unable to control the 'shakes',” he said.

By this stage in his life his eldest daughter barely talked to him, his partner didn’t want anything to do with him, and his youngest daughter began to realise that he had a problem.

“I was by this time in such a bad state I did not really care what happened in my life. I seriously did not care if I lived or died. I had got into such a hole I did not know how to get out of it. As luck would have it I was eventually caught at work which resulted in a final written warning with the threat that if it occurred again I would be fired. I had no control over alcohol at this stage in my life. I insisted that I be sent to Lulama. At this point my liver count was in the region of 700. A normal person is around the 14 to 28 mark. I was as close to death as I think I could get,” he said.

Clive spent the next 28 day at Lulama and when he was released he was not sure what he would face.

“My family was in ruins. I didn’t know if I wanted to carry on living or what I wanted to do with my life. However, I listened to what they had told me in Lulama and did what was required of me. I went to the aftercare on Monday evenings. From there I progressed to AA and the 12 steps and attended three meetings a week.

About a year after leaving Lulama my life started to change. I took both my partner and my eldest daughter to a few meetings so that they could try to understand this sickness that I had,” said Clive.

He got a workshop and started to do the things he liked and then decided that it was time in his life to make some changes.

“I decided to go back and study. After completing my post graduate diploma I then started my degree. This I will complete in June this year. On 29 February, my ex wife asked me to marry her again,” he said.

Clive said he has realised that as long as he never touches a drop of alcohol again in his life he has finally started to live.

“Being an alcoholic means that I will always have to be on my guard. I will have to attend meetings for the rest of my life. I know that they have a very small success rate when it comes to people like myself who have an addictive nature, but if it wasn’t for Lulama I can guarantee you that I would not be here now. Had I not entered the rooms at Lulama when I did, I would have most probably have been dead within three to six months,” he said.