- Last December Dorcas, through her initiative, visited different drug dens in Mombasa.
- Thereafter, she took the addicts from Shimanzi den to a rehabilitation centre.
Image: SCREENGRAB
Pastor Dorcas Gachagua, the wife of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, is among people championing the rights of the boy child through her programme called Boy Child Initiative.
The programme's goal is to rescue young boys from drug addiction. This comes in the backdrop of prevalent drug use among youth, which has led to many family breakdowns, school dropouts and security issues.
Mombasa is one of the counties known for rampant drug abuse.
Last December Dorcas, through her initiative, visited different drug dens in Mombasa. Thereafter, she took the addicts from Shimanzi den to a rehabilitation centre.
One of the beneficiaries is Athman Hassan who has used drugs for the last 10 years.
Hassan, 39, said that the programme has helped him recover and go back to his career.
At 29, he was a young person living his life after securing a job in one of the government parastatals in Mombasa.
“I started working as a casual, but due to my hard work and determination, I earned the trust of my bosses and started earning promotions and good salaries. However, not long after I started using hard drugs,” he said.
Hassan added he started using drugs due to the influence of friends and the cash he was earning.
"I started reporting to work late or sometimes I didn’t report at all, especially when I had money. However, I was always pardoned because of my good work, my bosses were so patient with me because of my hard work," he said.
"I reached a point where my salary was not enough so I started stealing from my workplace and that is how my life took a different turn."
He said that he lost the trust he had with his bosses, lost his job and ended up on the streets.
“The streets have so many things so you have to use all means to get money, it doesn't matter whether it is in the right or bad way, the little I used to get didn’t help, I could use it to buy drugs."
However, and through the Boy Child Initiative, Hassan is a transformed man who recently graduated after six months of treatment at a rehabilitation.
"The programme brought us from a place where we could not even recognise ourselves to a place where we now know who we are,” he said.
During the six months, the programme sponsored him to undertake a 10-day STCW at Bandari Academy in Mombasa after the treatment.
Hassan and many other beneficiaries are worried the programme might end after recent decision by the state to scrap the budget allocated to the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President.
“There are things which I didn't have but now I have them through this programme. If it (budget) were to stop as a result of the cuts, it will affect not only me who has accepted myself but also those young people who have seen the transformation in me and want the same opportunity,” he said.
He added that during his recovery journey, dealing with withdrawal symptoms was difficult but he overcame it. Hassan says he did not give up because he had decided to quit.
“When I shared my decision to go back to school with management, they took the matter seriously because they saw how much I needed to do it."
Hassan, who is now a qualified and certified seafarer, did a mandatory course for seamen, which entails security and safety in May.
“I had experience, I didn't have papers but now I have both, just waiting for a job opportunity,” he said.
Hassan, who expressed his gratitude to the programme, said that going to rehab was a turning point in his life because he could foresee a bad ending, which was either prison or death.
“We have so many leaders but they have failed to do what the Second Lady did to us despite seeing how boys are suffering because of drugs,” he said.
Ndago Said, another recovering addict and beneficiary of the programme, said drug use in Mombasa is like a pandemic which spreads everywhere.
He said that the scrapping of the budget from the Second Lady's office might cause panic to the boys benefiting from the programme, something which might lead to relapse of those who are already recovering.
Said, who started using drugs at the age of 23, said that his expectation after graduation was to change his geographical area.
“Before I started using drugs, I used to work in a shoe company in Nairobi. I was into drugs when I lost my job and came back to Mombasa. Things worsened when I lost my wife and now it is 14 years of using drugs,” he added.
Through the support of the programme, he is in the process of getting a passport and applying for a visa which he will use even he seeks job opportunities in Canada.
“I saw an opportunity online where there is a new shoe company in Canada looking for people and since I have the experience, I am trying my luck. I have already applied so it is upon me to finish phase three of my recovery programme before I go,” Ndago said.
“But if this programme will be affected by the decision from the President, it will kill my dreams. We want the President himself to support the programme to save the lives of those using drugs not only in Mombasa but in all the counties."
Hussein Ngolo, 63, is another recovering addict who has used drugs for 10 years.
“We joined the programme in bad health because our bodies had already been affected by drugs but now we are now living a normal life, we eat and dress well and we can now think and reason out with people,” Ngolo said.
“We have people who used to wake up and the first thing they think of is stealing but things have changed, the programme has transformed our lives and behaviour.”
He said that he still cannot go back home because he has no job to sustain himself and his family. He's still pegging his hopes on the boy child programme.
Bella Asengi, clinical coordinator at Eden Rehabilitation Centre, said that the Second Lady personally took the initiative of taking the addicts to the rehab.
In December, the centre received 20 addicts out of which six left the centre after 90 days of treatment. Another 13 graduated and one was transferred to the rehab in Diani.
“Through the support we have been getting from the Office of the Second lady, we have been able to take them to school to undertake different courses like driving school. When they came we showed them a lot of love and care but now so many things are pending,” he said.