{"id":46047,"date":"2023-11-09T11:04:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T09:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/congregations-fight-underage-drinking-20231107\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T08:10:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T06:10:18","slug":"congregations-fight-underage-drinking-20231107","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/congregations-fight-underage-drinking-20231107\/","title":{"rendered":"Congregations fight underage drinking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Reverend Odwa Buso, public relations officer of Kairos Assembly, confirmed that as church members they are playing a major role in ensuring youth stay away from alcohol and drug abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said that they are doing this by hosting sports tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buso said this during an Anti-Pens Down Campaign hosted by the Eastern Cape Liquor Board (ECLB) at Southernwood Hall in Mthatha, last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said that they had hosted these tournaments working together with ECLB, with the aim of creating something that will shift the minds of the youth from alcohol and focus on something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are also trying that on Sundays, they must also attend church services, but unfortunately they have to attend their weekend classes at school. They also come back from school very late, but we are trying our level best to talk to them. We are always encouraging them to stop drinking alcohol because they are destroying their future,\u201d said Buso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Liquor Board, Mgwebi Msiya, said that ever since they started these campaigns before the Enyobeni incident which left 21 young people dead, they had seen few changes, but that does not mean the problem of underage drinking is sorted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Msiya confirmed that also launching the Ambassador programme had assisted a lot, because it also created more change. According to him, these ambassadors are some of the learners attending schools in Mthatha. He said there are 10 schools participating in this programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div contenteditable=\"false\" data-embed24=\"Blockquote\" data-pos=\"middle\" id=\"embed_165e476f\">\n<div class=\"text\">After we launched this programme, we then trained them to know how they should pass the message of ECLB to other learners. We created a Whatsapp group, and they are reporting each and every thing that is happening in their schools. They even informed us if there is an arrangement of Pens Down parties planned by their school mates. After we decided to work closer with learners there is a change, and they are playing a major role. We believe that there is still more to be done; that is why we appeal to parents to also take part in this.<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"citation\">Msiya<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>He confirmed that they will not win this battle alone, which is why they are working together with churches and parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Msiya said that parents should play a major role to solve this problem, because they are the ones who live with their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are having a challenge of youth who become parents at an early age, who are still living their own life and not acting as parents in front of their children. We are saying when you are raising a child let us be an example to our children. Nowadays it is easy to get alcohol; that is why it is important for us as parents to ensure that we are not doing any how in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div contenteditable=\"false\" data-embed24=\"Images\" data-pos=\"middle\" id=\"embed_5d66c769\">\n<div class=\"slide\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"campaign\" data-smallsrc=\"https:\/\/cdn.24.co.za\/files\/Cms\/General\/d\/9809\/ab1d09a64b9b4d39b4ad6c38176cbeb1.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0762b410feaf4834b1f9055be0387900.jpg\" title=\"Chief Executive Officer for the Eastern Cape Liquor Board, dr Nombuyiselo Makala, addressing learners who attended the Anti-Pens Down campaign in Mthatha. \"><p><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\">Chief Executive Officer for the Eastern Cape Liquor Board, dr Nombuyiselo Makala, addressing learners who attended the Anti-Pens Down campaign in Mthatha. <\/div>\n<div class=\"img_accreditation\"><span class=\"source\" style=\"display:none;\"><\/span><span class=\"photographer\" style=\"display:none;\">PHOTO: BABALWA NDLANYA<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reverend Odwa Buso, public relations officer of Kairos Assembly, confirmed that as church members they are playing a major role in ensuring youth stay away from alcohol and drug 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This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Congregations fight underage drinking | Mthatha Express<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/congregations-fight-underage-drinking-20231107\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congregations fight underage drinking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reverend Odwa Buso, public relations officer of Kairos Assembly, confirmed that as church members they are playing a major role in ensuring youth stay away from alcohol and drug abuse.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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