Online Reporter
Michelle Musandinyoze, [email protected]
ELITE Endeavors, a local wellness and life skills hub, has launched an anti-drug and substance abuse initiative targeting key stakeholders in Bulawayo under the banner, “Not Even Once On Alcohol and Drug and Substance Abuse”.
The event mobilised both young and old people from across various suburbs and diverse backgrounds, among other areas, who will take the initiative to their communities.
The event featured valuable life lessons where individuals were being taught to respect their values, avoid groups that normalize substance abuse, practice assertiveness and equip locals with adequate knowledge about the risks associated with drug and substance abuse.
One of the youths who attended the programme, Nthabiseng Phuthi said that the NEO club has taught her to resist peer pressure, avoid entertaining negative thoughts of taking drugs and extend the same lessons to other young people in her community,” she said.
“I am now planning to engage a councillor from Emakhamdeni where l come from who will help me devise strategies to spread everything that l have learnt here.”
Another young person, Ms Amanda Matongatsuro from Entumbane said that she is now knowledgeable about drugs and substance abuse as she used to have limited information, which made her regard the issue as less harmful.
“I used to think that it was only young people who abuse drugs but l have come to realise that the scourge has no age limit and that we all face social problems that lead us to that decision,” she said.
“How we can upscale this to young people is through awareness campaigns as we can never talk enough about the subject. Many young people have even resorted to crimes such as stealing to fund their addiction, which is something that should be prevented,” she added.
Ms Matongatsuro also highlighted that through her community role as a peer educator, she has discovered that Entumbane has a high rate of “drug lords” compared to drug abusers, as many people source drugs from the neighbourhood and other surrounding areas.
Blessing Chigomere from Nketa 9 said that the initiative has taught him the dangers associated with drugs and mitigation methods, where he advised young people to be leaders of positive change and transform their communities, ensuring that they make long long-lasting significant impact.
Elite Endeavors director, Mr Simon Simbanegavi, shared the reason why people tend to abuse drugs, which is the desire to feed dopamine levels, which are a human being’s happy hormones. However, he strongly condemned making such decisions, calling them harmful.
“There are natural ways that can be used to attain dopamine levels such as exercising, which kills the desire to abuse drugs regardless of economic or social problems that one may face. It is always important to devise reasonable solutions to those hardships,” he said.
“This NEO initiative, which we launched today aims to prepare young people to make wise decisions as we also teach them how to sky rocket their memory better in school through functions of the brain, our club is inclusive of both the old and the young and we want individuals to resist the urge to abuse drugs even if it may come across as naturally wired in the brain.”
Mr Simbanegavi said they have also done outreach programmes in the Eastern and Western suburbs, where they have been conducting lectures with community members.
