WHILE many people spend their birthdays with their friends and family, Reikhutsitse Malala decided to spend his with nyaope users.
Reikhutsitse from Soshanguve in Tshwane cut his birthday cake at Mabopane Train Station in Tshwane on Friday, 20 January.
The social media activist and member of Clean Up Hub has become accustomed to annually cutting his birthday cake with nyaope users, Clean Up Hub and close friends.
He said by sharing his cake with them serves as a reminder that Clean Up Hub is actively available to help users who want to kick the habit.
“The NPO is currently working with three rehabilitation centres in Gauteng and they have been able to successfully place over 200 users in rehab,” he said.
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Reikhutsitse’s annual birthday celebration is another instrumental campaign by the NPO to raise awareness about the volunteer rehab recruitment programme which has been running since 2017.
“We are here again to recruit volunteers who want to go to rehab and get help. For a user to get help, they need to volunteer out of their own will and not be forced by their parents,” he said.
He said in the past, it was painful to see users they took to rehab discharge themselves or relapse, but they successfully rolled out programmes to address this.
Mandla Moela (29) said he was happy that Reikhutsitse came to them, and he was encouraged to go to rehab. He said he got started in drugs two years ago after he lost his job.
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He has tried to kick the habit on his own but finds it difficult to do so.
“I have tried a couple of times but with this load shedding now, I can’t even keep myself busy with internet or TV at home. I am forced to come here and keep myself busy,” he said.
