Substance abuse is a growing problem in the youth demographic in South Africa, with children as young as 12 admitting to having used and experimented with gateway drugs, such as alcohol and marijuana.
A local non-profit organisation, the Nelson Mandela Bay YMCA, opted to commemorate Youth Day this year by holding a substance abuse prevention workshop at their centre in Gelvan Park.
The event was attended by learners from surrounding Northern Area high schools, where they were sensitised to the adverse effects substance abuse has on the growing teenage body.
Representatives from prominent organisations, such as the Department of Health, the Department of Social Development, Love Life, Indlela Mental Health, NICRO, Miet Africa, and community pastor, Timothy Burton, helped shed light on how substance use affects various parts of our lives, from our health and well-being down to our relationships with others.
“The sole purpose of the YMCA is ensuring that young people are empowered to build just, sustainable, equitable and inclusive communities, and that is done by developing youth holistically.
“The triangle in our logo represents the mind, body, and spirit, and this is why we intentionally invited the stakeholders that we did,’’ said Lerato Lebopo, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay YMCA.
“Each theme was carefully curated by our stakeholders to cater for certain aspects of adolescence, in order to make the knowledge being imparted personal and relatable.’’
“Learners are taught about the effects of substance use at school; what makes this workshop different from that is that the information comes directly from people who witness first-hand the toll substance abuse has on people.”
For over a year now, the Nelson Mandela Bay YMCA has been running the Department of Social Development-funded substance abuse prevention programme “Ke Moja”, a youth-focused initiative aimed at school-going children that seeks to prevent drug dependency through the provision of information about drug abuse and the establishment of registered treatment centres.
