Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba
THE turn of the 21st century has seen an unprecedented trend where the youths are expending their energy on drugs and alcohol abuse amid fears that the country may be nurturing a wasted generation if nothing is done to correct the social decay being experienced in most communities.
The trend has seen law enforcement agents playing cat and mouse games almost on a daily basis with drug peddlers and some youths who are turning to drugs at a tender age.
Calls however, continue to be made for stakeholders to come up with sustainable solutions to the problem of drug abuse.
In Zimbabwe, drug abuse is pronounced among youths and the most abused drugs include alcohol, tobacco and mbanje, lysergic acid diethylamide, and benzodiazepines and many others.
BronCleer has proven to be more than just a treatment drug for many youths. They have overdosed on the drug resulting in them having a deranged mental state.
Peer pressure is considered an influential factor in drug abuse in Zimbabwe. Many drug abusers begin experimenting with drugs during their teens and key findings from researches on drug and alcohol abuse in the country indicate that prevalence is at 57 percent among young people.
Peer pressure, breakdown of the family support system, limited knowledge about the effects of drug abuse and stress were identified as the major factors that drive substance and drug abuse among the youth.
The criminalisation of drug and substance abuse continue to make it difficult for young people to seek help when they suffer from the effects of drug abuse.
Drug and alcohol abuse distresses one’s physical and mental health, leading to anxiety, aggression, hallucinations, depression, and paranoia.
While many Zimbabwean youths battle with mental illness due to illicit drugs, that has not deterred others and that has led to the establishment of the International Young People Developers Trust (IYPDT) – a lobby group based in Kwekwe whose objective is to fight poverty and drug abuse.
The youth empowerment lobby group has embarked on a mission to empower young people in society through life changing skills while dealing with drug abuse among the youths in communities.
Formed in 2017, IYPDT has taken a bold step in fighting the decay in society through hosting conferences and creating linkages for entrepreneurship and leadership grooming as well as offering support on capital accessibility.
“We create partnerships and synergies with different funding partners and organisations to do campaigns as well as programs that educate and support youths who are part of communities. We educate the youths on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.
We have been conducting outreach programmes, mini documentaries, workshops, mentorship, community campaigns and grooming,” said Mr Alan Masenge, IYPDT founding president.
IYPDT held its inaugural conference in Kwekwe which saw 60 youths walking away with certificates on entrepreneurship and leadership skills after completing a week-long training that was conducted virtually and concluded physically. The youths were chosen from all Kwekwe suburbs which include Amaveni and Mbizo.
“We are taking this initiative from President Mnangagwa’s passionate plea for people to put their hands on the deck and build the country when he said, ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’ (a country is built by its citizens).
“As a trust we asked ourselves the role we can play as young people to contribute in the rebuilding of our nation towards achieving Vision 2030.
“We said as young people we need to engage our peers and come up with programmes that ultimately help towards achievement of that vision. Our belief is that every human being has a purpose. Some people only need mentors for them to unleash their talents.
This year we are launching a youth entrepreneurship hub here in Kwekwe before we move to other cities with the same project. We also intend to build schools in marginalised communities for easy access to education by the communities,” he said.
Mr Masenge said they have been giving knowledge, certificates and grooming the youths to take them away from poverty and drug abuse since 2017.
“We are now working towards sustainable money generating projects that create employment for youths with one project underway – a poultry and egg farming with a fowl run accommodating 10 000 birds already complete.
“We work on community partnership and voluntary basis and membership is free, our goal is to have membership clubs in high schools.
“Our long-term objective is to have a youth entrepreneurship incubation hub which will support youths in Kwekwe and provide office space for young entrepreneurs, mentorship programmes, conference and workshop facilities and look for partnerships and funding partners to support the cause,” he said.
Some of the beneficiaries of the inaugural conference say they have learnt a lot from the project with hopes high that they will embark on new life changing projects after the mentorship programme.
Miss Elizabeth Mafa said:
“I am happy with the mentorship I got from this programme. It was good to share ideas with some of the renowned business people who are also young like me.
Their journey to success is inspiring as they told us of their ups and downs in their quest to become renowned entrepreneurs. One huge take away from the programme is for one never to give up no matter how difficult the journey might seem.”
Mr Jack Ncube from Mbizo suburb said if the youths had something productive to do, they wouldn’t do drugs or substance abuse.
He said such initiatives by the trust were welcome as they assisted the group with business ideas as well as support to start businesses.
“The conference was really worth my time. I have learnt that there is no one size fits all when it comes to embarking on a business journey.
One speaker made it clear that you might need to follow your dream in areas that you enjoy as opposed to just looking for money. As young people we tend to follow where money is and we might end up falling in illegalities in the process,” said Mr Ncube.
“The journey we have started seems to be very promising. I was particularly impressed by the lectures of coming up with a clear business proposal which can attract capital through catching the eye of venture capitalists. Most of us thought that business is for those with sound backgrounds.
However, it has become clear that one can even get a loan based on a business plan hence anyone can start a business by connecting with the right people.”
Online Reporter