Drug awareness day brings new hope
A team of occupational therapists from UKZN Westville hosted a drug awareness day in Mariannridge recently.
THREE occupational therapy students from the UKZN Westville campus teamed up with various departments and services to hold a drug awareness day in Mariannridge recently.
Ntombikayise Shange, Claudia Menezes and Nomfundo Mlaba are final-year occupational therapy students and are currently working in Mariannridge as part of their practical work.
“When working in the community, we did a needs assessment and it was evident that substance abuse was a major problem in the community affecting their areas of occupation, roles in the family, education and employment,” said Claudia Menezes.
“To deal with this issue, we decided to host a drug awareness day and target the local high school, Mariannridge Secondary School, as we believed that intervention needed to begin at a school level.”
The project was implemented with help from Zwakele Shezi, a speech language pathology student also based in Mariannridge. The aims of the project were to create insight into the dangers of substance abuse, provide the pupils with better ways to deal with life problems and inspire and motivate the youth to work towards a better future.
The group invited a host of speakers – Rishi Hiraman, a social worker from Newlands Park Drug and Rehabilitation Centre, Monty Thomas from Zoe-life and DORCAS Relief and Development, and Musa Machi and Basil Green, both recovering drug addicts.
There was also a wonderful assortment of entertainment that included Eric Ngcamu and Bonga Hlongwana, dancers from Angel Player, who performed to not only inspire the youth but to possibly open up new doors for the high-schoolers and give them the opportunity to join the dance group. Prince Dube, a deejay from Eventiology, and Thobeka from the Mariannhill Youth Desk were also present.
“The project was a success. It was informative and entertaining for the pupils and they gained insight and learned about the realities of drugs as told by the recovering drug addicts. They also gained information about the different programmes available in the community that deal with drug-related projects, such as the Department of Social Development, Department of Health and the Department of Education,” concluded Claudia.
