New recovery centre provides new hope
The former Albersville Sports and Social Club building is now home to the Port Shepstone Recovery Centre.
A REHABILITATION centre providing addiction counselling and alcohol and drug treatment has opened in Marburg.
Those responsible for opening the Port Shepstone Recovery Centre, namely Anthony Gonzalves, Daya Moodley, Muthu Murugan and the supervisor of the centre, Nithia Nagia, have delivered significant success since September last year.
The centre, a non-profit organisation which depends on public contributions, was opened after an increase in drug and alcohol addiction on the South Coast.
A number of affected locals were sent to Durban and Pietermaritzburg and seeing this, the founders decided it would be best to open a centre locally.
The centre leases the Albersville United Sport and Social Club’s building at the Marburg Sports Complex. Since September last year it has received about 61 admissions and 22 patients have fully recovered.
“There is hope at the centre,” said supervisor Mr Nagia, who previously worked at a recovery centre in Chatsworth. He has seen that it’s possible to recover.
“We want to create a better society. The South Coast has been seriously affected by drug and alcohol addiction, with the youth particularly affected. These youngsters start with dagga and then go on to hardcore drugs,” he said. At the centre, 10 patients are admitted at a time and stay for three weeks.
The centre offers various programmes, including workshops, motivational talks, discussions, and meetings with patients twice a day.
“Everyone understands that addiction does not exist in isolation. Families and friends are often left feeling angry, hurt, bewildered and out of their depth,” said Mr Nagia.
He added that recovery often means getting the family involved as well, and for that reason the centre runs a family support programme.
In addition, the centre has open meetings on Wednesdays from 8pm to 9pm, and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on Thursdays from 8pm to 9pm.
Anthony Gonzalves said that the centre had been opened to help and inspire those affected by the social ills that plague the community today. “Those affected don’t have to be humiliated. Despite what they are going through, they are still individuals,” said Mr Gonzalves.
The official opening of the centre will be held at the Marburg Sports Complex on Saturday, March 2, time to be confirmed.
For more information, contact Anthony Gonzalves at 083 3012886, Daya Moodley at 072 1116640, or Nithia Nagia at 082 5120461.
