RELAPSE IS PART OF RECOVERY

Welcome back to all those who read us regularly and a warm welcome to those who are new to this community. NPO PLUS serves the NPO sector by networking organisations with funders, municipalities, advocates, influencers and passionate fans.

We offer a directory listing for R50.00 which is scheduled to be distributed globally at the end of May. This week, we focus on the drug issue in South African communities and focus on an NPC called Save-A-Life who offer a full life-cycle approach to addiction, they collaborate with addiction centres so that relapses are not the end of the road.

Yesterday: So those of you who know me already will know that I hang out in a small town on the West Coast of South Africa. The winter nips at the edges of town, her open fields will soon be frozen at night. A young boy trots beside me as I run my errands, winding through the streets to get to Shoprite and get some R5.00 bread. We pass a young man that sits regularly asking for food and I greet him as always but he scowls at me and turns his face away so I ask my chatty companion, "Hey Liam, what's wrong with Owen?" 

"Ja Ma," he tells me, "he's just angry because he wants all the help. Him and Chris was shooting up last night Ma, his arms stink so much, it's like he's dead but he doesn't want to stop." 

"Liam, I tell him, he can't stop."

He starts relating a narrative I have heard too many times. "Ja, but everyone has tried to help him, you know that tattoo he has on his arm?" 
 

"No, I tell him, I haven't noticed it." 
 

"That's a son-af tattoo, it's from Pollsmoor, he was in jail for attacking someone. It's a mark from the 28's." 
My blood runs cold. 

"My Dad was a 28. Once they mark you, you are trapped for life" 

As some of you will know from our writing about an NPO called, "Balls not Guns," the drug-gang-poverty triad in the Western Cape seems at times impenetrable. Liam whose name I have changed, recounts that he is not like his Dad and he will never join a gang. He, by some providence, still has a choice, but it means living on the street.

Without going into detail about the numbers gangs of Pollsmoor, suffice it to say that they are responsible for some of the most brutal crimes.. Forgive me if I am cynical but there is a massive systemic discontinuity in how we approach our social ills. We insulate the wealthy and police their privelege, while we chastise the impoverished victims of oppression and addiction, demanding that they take responsibility.  

This is where Save-A-Life has got something very seriously right when it comes to dealing with the full cycle of addiction and it's shrapnel of impacts.

Save-A-Life facilitates life long support within groups that manage lapse and relapse. While rehab centres do the hard work of saving lives and dealing with core issues, they are not all empowered to walk the long road that is sometimes required to achieve the change that brings freedom. Save-A-Life walks hand in hand with families dealing with every issue that caused addiction, perpetuates addiction and entrenches addictions in dysfunctional environments. They treat relapse as a healing step on that long journey. This means that rehab centres can assist time and again without being blamed for failure. It means the person in recovery can identify and exorcize the traumas and triggers that impede true liberation and it means that they can live, connect, grow, earn and rebuild their lives. For more information about Save-Life, contact Reverend Oswald Cloete, progressive leader of Save-A-Life:
 

+27 64 886 1937

As always, with love. The link below will take you to our group. https://chat.whatsapp.com/KfapDUFMbFI9A2lvNrn7E5

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