Dereleen James, a desperate mother of a teenage drug addict, wrote a letter to President Zuma two years ago beseeching him to rescue the drug-addled community of Eldorado Park in Soweto.
Dereleen is just one of many parents who has lost a child to the seemingly overwhelming scourge of drugs. When mothers are forced to lock themselves in their bedrooms to escape their own drug-crazed children, the problem can no longer be ignored.
At the time, the President arrived with his entourage and the very next day task teams, places of safety, counsellors and police were dispatched throughout Eldos. A wave of hope swept through the community, here was the help, the resources, the power and the interest that they had been crying out for. Excellent.
So how is Eldo’s doing now?
Well sadly, like the tide, the aid and interest in Eldos and its children has been swept back out to the sea of apathy.
Eight-year-old’s are addicts, lolly lounges are still very much a reality, and life in Eldos very closely resembles the memory of what it was before any intervention. However, all is not lost.
Mothers like Dereleen refuse to be silenced. She and others like her march the streets, engage with dealers, the addicts and their families to try and find a way to rid this community of the demon that is tik. These women are changing their community one person at a time.
Dereleen’s son is now in his seventh rehab. He is nineteen years old. Dereleen will never stop believing that her son will beat his addiction or that her community will recover from the devastation of its dependency and rise from its ashes.
Instead of escaping the horrors in Eldos, she is determined to fix them so that when her son comes home it will be a safe homecoming.
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