You normally see them in the location siting by the corner in a group or standing an the bus stop to help you catch a taxi to work, school, town just to get 2 rand from the drivers to feed their addiction but she is more than what your eyes see.
Like any girl in the hood Shandukani Mandamela has dreams and visions that she wishes to fulfil but Nyaope blocks her path to achieving all her heart desires. Mandamela said she used to be a drug addict before and managed to detox but the hard challenges that they faced with her brother forced them to relapse.
She said they used to live in Protea Glen but they decided to elope and moved to Orlando East where their biological mother was which is where they went back to using the killer drug that is affecting the youth.
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“I was six months clean when I moved to Orlando which cost my relapse. During that period we would do illegal things which would result to my mother talking the fall for our actions,” explained Mandamela.
Mandamela said her brother become more troublesome and stole a lot from home which forced her mother to move in with her stepfather and left them behind. By that time she had already found comfort in the arms of another addict, Mandamela was inlove which is the reason she decided not to go with her mother.
She said she normally visited her mother but life happened and her mother passed away. Her emotions escalated as she explained that ever since the situation got worse. What hurts her most does not know where her only maternal brother is.
Seeing her two friends recovering from the drug inspire her to also be eager to quit the drug, so that she can become somebody in life and be able to provide for the brother.
“I so wish I could be able to trace the whereabout af my brother. I wont lie I am currently not doing anything to help me recover or quit the drug but my wish is to go to rehab one day.
“While I am smoking there is nothing positive that I can do because all my attention is still on the drug but I’m inspired by my two friends,” concluded Mandamela.
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