Story of a drug addict

12 September marked a very special day in the life of 35 OT students and one very special service user from NPC. This service user is a Mandrax drug addict with a heartbreaking story of rejection, hatred, and a longing to be somebody in a communtiy riddled with drug dealers and drug users... His story is so deep and personal yet he came to share it with my entire class. This service user has been working with me for 7 weeks now. 3 weeks of detox and 4 weeks of intervention. We will call him Mr K* Mr K is a 19 year old man who came to NPC (Newlands Park Centre) with the idea that he will just come to rehab and prove to his family that he can stop using drugs, stay for a few weeks and the return to his family clean and just do his drug dealing and taking drugs behind his family's back. But something happened in the few weeks at NPC. A very short time but his mindset changed. I met Mr K in his 3rd week. During our initial interview, he did not want to look me in the eye. He was ashamed and had extremly low self esteem. He tells me now, a few weeks later, that his impression of me was- "what does this girl know about being a drug addict?!" I am so glad his perspective changed. As the weeks went on, Mr K emerged as a leader in the group sessions, he ws beginning to look people in the eye and he was an active participant in group and individual activities. Mr K came to my class with a twinkle in his eye. He was so honoured to be asked to come and speak. He spoke with confidence and pride in how far he has come. Girls in our class were brought to tears. He told us how far he had come, his fears for the future and how he wants to help other people that are in his situation. I think the tears were brought on by the pure heartache of his story and the absolute power of conviction and truth in his message. we were all rooting for his recovery. He changed so many perspectives of OT in our class. So many students afterwards had their "aha" moments. Finally, we can see how OT can help people and potentially save lives. It was a beautiful day of realisation and such an incredible milestone and accomplishment for Mr K. i went home that day and cried as i reflected on what he had to say. I reflected on how unfair and harsh life is but how incredible humans are to come back from such hardship. he said something so amazing that touched all of our hearts. He said that today as he speaks to my class, that he finally loves who he is becoming. He didn't recognise this person because all that he knew was the drug addict who was trying to be someone doing bad things. And finally, he loves this person he is becoming. So incredible. Drug addiction is a scary world. It involves death and violence and stealing. It's a dark place to be in where your whole life becomes consumed by the NEED for the drug of choice. "There is a difference between a drug user and a drug addict. Increasingly people are referred to as junkies. A junkie is a user whose drug addiction is so far advanced; that life is simply not possible without a daily dose of drugs. To get a dose, a junkie is willing to do almost anything: lie, steal, manipulate and blackmail. These features develop in the course of the increasingly progressive drug addiction." (http://drug-addiction.co.za/) Help lines for people with drug addictions: Call: + 27 (0) 79 604 4249 082 450 4414

The service user told us an interesting story with a strong message: There was a wise old man living in a community. All the members of the community would come to this old wise man and he had the answers for everything. He knew everything. A little boy in the community decided to test this wise man. The young boy caught a bird, alive in his hands, he put it behind his back and went to the wise man. He said: "Is the bird behind my back alive or dead?" The wise man knowing the young boy would crush the bird to death if the man said it was alive, and would let it live if the wise man said it was dead. The wise man looked at the young boy and said: "The life of that bird rests firmly in your hands." the moral of the story being that our lives are in our hands, only we can make those life and death choices for our lives.