Toll free helpline, call us on 0800720033 - that’s how Reverend Wangai Gachoka, the National Campaign against Drugs Abuse (NACADA) representative started the workshop that was held in Mathare valley on 3rd September 2011.
This workshop brought together staff from all Maji Mazuri projects, with the aim of discussing the damage that drugs has caused in our societies and what we can do to stop it.
A few weeks ago, women from a province in Kenya took to the streets to demonstrate and ask for help, because alcohol was killing their men, at a very scaring rate. The negative impact that drug abuse and addiction has had on our society leaves no doubt that i, we, you, need to do something about it.
It is with this in mind that Maji Mazuri planned this workshop.
The sessions by Rev. Gachoka opened our eyes wider to the reality that we have been facing in our programs, and the message that rang in my mind most is, there is help, reach out and get help.
The Reverend also pointed out the changing trends especially in the dating world where drinks are spiked, and on the streets, in the buses where handkerchiefs containing a lethal substance are rubbed on people’s faces and they pass out and are taken advantage of and most of all, the well known phenomenon, do not accept any food or drink from a stranger, and yet the reminder that is now constant, do not leave your drink unattended.
At the end of the day, as the sun set on Mathare valley, i remember looking at every member of staff as they left to go back to their respective projects and i thought, i am glad we are doing is, i am glad Maji Mazuri is making this information available and we are now able to reach out better.
