Dala Newsletter is a column dealing with issues relating to health in relation to alcohol and other drug use. It also deals with issues in this field in an effort to foster demand reduction through dissemination of information on effects of alcohol and other drugs on the individual and thus the Kenyan society. For more information call the goinghomedotcom Trust on 0733-989083 or visit our website at www.goinghomekenya.org

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More students join in to educate the public on alcoholism through the production of audio-visual materials. 'Hallucination' a documentary on drugs. Kenya Institute of Mass Communications (KIMC) production with Kathryn Kosgei (seen left with editor Peter Gathu) a third year student as the Director. goinghomedotcom had the opportunity to partcipate in this production

The deafening 'Sound of silence' Slightly over 100 days of the new Kibaki led National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government have gone by the so called 'honeymoon period'. A wide range of areas are being overhauled (or at least efforts are being made) as per pre-election campaign promises. In areas as diverse as corruption to the comfort of prison inmates are being tackled and this is extremely commendable coming after years of lethergy and rot in government. No less a person than President Kibaki himself has personaly taken charge of the fight against the deadly HIV/AIDs scourge. But an ominous silence hangs over the issue of alcoholism and other drug abuse. In spite of the valiant effort by the mainstream media to highlight this pandemic almost daily, nothing has been heard from the top. Intead in a curious twist the fledgling Office of the National Coordinator, National Agency for the campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) has been downgraded from the Office of the President to the Ministry of National Heritage. This move was made right at the beginning of the NARC led governments reign and since then - SILENCE!

British American Tobacco (K) Ltd (BAT) continues to blind Kenyans using a thick 'Smokecreen' with what if they are to be believed is a laudable effort to stop or discourage underage smoking. The dense, thick, pall of smoke billowing from the smouldering embers of the 'underage smoking' debate are so thick and emotional that nobody seems able to see the real issue. This ‘smokescreen’ is deliberately maintained by the tobacco industry. In a nutshell this issue can be summed up by the statement - "there are no ifs or butts - cigarette smoking is bad." Here then is the catch 22 situation for BAT. How do you hoodwink Kenyans that you are a reposible manufacturer who does not sell poison to underage children? Here too is BATs major task. How do you sell poison for human injestion? For that is exactly what they sell. That is what their 'product' is. Poison. Countless studies have shown that very few people worldwide (Kenya included) start smoking after age 19 - 20 So without teenage or younger smokers, BAT would go bust. So BAT has to sell their poison to youngsters to stay in business. In order to blind you to this fact the PR department uses a 'smokescreen'

"I only drink beer",The issue of illicit brews is a hot potato in Kenya right now, inspite of the 'official silence' from the top office in the land. Neither the President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki nor the head of the opposition Uhuru Kenyatta has taken down the gauntlent thrown down by the elctronic and print media on an almost daily basis. Stories and pictures of the horrors and suffering caused by illicit and other brews whose fitness or otherwise is the subject of public wars between the manufacturers and the Kenya Beareu of Standards, government chemist and others charged with checking standards. This however has served to draw attention away from the main culprit - beer. is the most common defence given by those who would justify their consumption of alcoholic beverages. Yet all the terror and horror ascribed to illicit brews can be ascribed to beer. True illicit alcohol is a major problem but it merely acts as a diversion from the real problem - alcohol. Alcohol (ethanol) is a poison and a drug. Alcohol is in beer. That is why people drink it. Thus beer is a drug. The argument that 'its only beer' simply does not wash. The only diffrence between beer, Chang'aa, busaa, muratina, mnazi (palm wine), etc, champagne, whisky, gin, vodka, rum and wine is the concentration of alcohol. We only drink alcohol for the mood altering effects it posseses. So the problem which has to be looked at here is the 'drinking culture' in Kenya. And this starts with beer.

'Five, Seven, Seven, Four! (5774)' is a humerous look at another Kenya Breweries 'the-more-you-drink-the-more-chances-you-have-of-winning-to-hell-with-your- responsibilities' competition. The competition called pambazuko was later halted for alleged tampering leaving customers high and dry, and with an extremely bitter after taste in their mouths. And of course they were poorer, if a little wiser.

Kelele Mbaya (Open Letter to Kelele Ringtones Individuality comes naturally to humans and what marks us as unique persons in their own right. Fine I have no quarrel with that. However when that individuality affects the group norms followed by the group, and which enable us to co-exist peacefully then the offender should be suitably rebuked. Kelele Ring Tones seems to have set out on a campaign to make bhang smoking attractive to the Kenyan youth. This in spite of the slow but sure realisation slowly dawning on Kenyans that there is a alochol and other drug use problem in Kenya of a magnitude to warrant it being declared a national disaster.

We Need To Get Booze Out Of Sports Much as sports in Kenya needs all the financial help it can get especially fledgling sports like rollerblading it is clear that many forms of help we can do without. The sponsors product is usually associated with the sport and depending on how popular the sport is the two - sport and product soon become synonymous with one another. Alcohol specifically beer has become connected with certain sports in this country to the point of being inseparable. In Kenya the 'Tusker' brand of beer and its ubiquiutous yellow and black colours are seen sports as diverse as football and now cricket. But nowhere are the effects of this sponsorship by 'Tusker' so visible than in the sport of rugby. Apart from the dressing getting more lewd by the ladies there is nothing different from this as far back as the days I was in high school in the mid-seventies. But my parents or any other adults would not have allowed what we used to do to go on. Today it is accepted. So when adults attend and openly give booze to toddlers, then it is time 'to get booze out of sports.

goinghomedotcom Ltd's website finally goes 'live' Finally slightly after two years since I tryped out the 'intro page' in what was to be the first of hundreds of pages, (if I had known what I was letting myself in for maybe I wouldn't have started.) we have finally gone live. Thanks to the many good people out there who gave me suggestions, and helped me out with the site in other ways. You are too many to mention by name but I guess seeing the site finally up vindicates all the hours you spent figuring out layout and content etc. But I would be remiss without mentioning James Kamawira, (Kham) who has been with this project since the beginning, including all the artwork (including the logo) and usually when he was very pressed for time and of course the Science and Engineering Research Center (SERC) Nairobi who not only donated computers, taught me webdesign and are now hosting the site - all without charging a single cent. It would not have been possible without you. God bless all of you and may the site help us help others as we walk the recovery road together.

'Musical chairs' is an existing game involving a given number of chairs but always one less than the number of contestants who cavort round them until the music stops forcing them to scramble for a seat. But how do you play musical chairs with the drug alcohol?

'Rugby and Kenya Breweries - still no touchdown' The rugby expose has also born fruit albeit cosmetic on the part of the brewers. The organizers of this years ‘Tusker Safari Sevens’ said they had put in place measures to reduce underage drinking, and other incidents of misbehavior stemming from intoxication. including educating bar tenders. All this is as a result of media pressure from the two houses KTN and EAS and once again kudos to them.

'Pride, Prejudice And The Press - Bad News For Drowning Alcoholics' Egotism or conceitedness, self-admiration, self-centredness, self-esteem, self-importance, self-love or self-praise, would all have been a good description of me back during the period when I still drank alcoholic beverages, but was still in denial over my alcoholism.

'Kenyan Terrorism - The Real Bogeyman Within' When terror is spread, people become terrified, alarmed, dismayed, frightened and anxious, living on the edge and fearful of what will happen next.

'Going Home After 27 Years' I started smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol in form one in Lenana High School in 1974 to show I was a tough guy and thus impress girls. This was the impression many of us had from all the movie heroes, ranging from the late John Wayne to Clint Eastwood. Tough talking, hard drinking macho types who always got the bad guy, then the girl before riding or driving off into the sunset.

'Pssst...Did You Know?' How will the church help you if they too are not only ignorant but seem to feel there is nothing to learn for is not drunkenness a sin and alcoholism merely some scapegoat to allow people to escape their responsibilities? By hanging on to the age old myths about alcoholism the Church is indeed doing a great disservice to hundreds of thousands of alcoholics and their families.

'Three Years In Recovery - A Report Card' "Is there hope for an alcoholic?" wonders the heading on the homepage of my website (www.goinghomedotcom.org) a question I typed in seemingly another lifetime and to which many Kenyans daily await an answer.

'Uncle Moody' should set government mood on alcoholism The prisons too are congested with thousands who should be in rehabilitation for drug use or are in prison for drug induced crimes who also urgently need help. Yet nobody in the government wants to mention the word alcoholism. Uncle Moody is it because your boss ordered that it should not be

Expelling alcohol and other drug abusing students not the solution The ongoing saga at Nyeri High School and other schools round the country should serve to bring to the fore the fact that we are at a cross-roads over the use of alcohol and other drugs in schools and the direction we choose now will determine future outcomes.





Dala News November 2003




• Before you die, have one for the road!
• Drink and drive the deadly Russian Roulette!

Dala News December 2003

• Domestic violence and alcoholism treating the problem not the symptom
• Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) 2003 Awards-A Bitter-Sweet Experience

Dala Newsletter archives

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