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The East African Standard - 'The Big Issue' - Monday December 10, 2001

Alcohol has devastated David Ogot (pictured left). But he can't just stop drinking. he narrates his 30-year struggle with alcoholism to writer Ochieng Ogodo

My journey to what became an addiction started in 1974. I was in Form One at Lenana School. Out of curiosity, i stole a bottle of beer from my father's liquor cabinet.

I wanted to find out why adults drink one bottle after the other. Unknowingly, I'd hit the long road to alcoholism. By Form Two, I was drinking heavily and smoking. Then I started absconding classes which explains why I scored low grades in my 'O' levels.

Fortunately, I had inherited writing skills from my mother, a renowned writer. I wrote three short novels which were published, but I spent all the proceeds on beer. Later, I secured admission to a college in India on the strength of my writing abilities.

It is here that my indulgence trebled. Four years later, I boarded the plane back home without any certificate. My relatives pursuaded me to seek help from a great preacher in Nyanza. The man, it was said, had helped people out of pathetic situations like mine. For me he was no use. I returned to drinking with a vengeance. In 1989 I was employed as a staff write with the Kenya Times newspaper. I had become a seasoned patron at the pubs, and a frequent visitor to police cells.

In 1992 I moved my family out of the guest wing of my parents house. This was after the birth of our fourth child. I had constant quarrels with my parents, not only over my drinking habits but also over disappearance of household items.

I pilfered stuff and sold to get money to drink. Confronted, i would vehemently deny. denial is the forte of an alcoholic. I stole anything of value that I couls sell to perpetuate my drinking habits. I became a bother to relatives and friends in whose offices I would turn up at unusual moments and insist on being given money.

When you become an alcoholic you cease caring for yourself or your family. It was around this time that I lost my job at Kenya Times due to heavy drinking. However, this did not deter me.

However, now that I could not afford beer anymore, I resorted to drinking chang'aa. At the chang'aa dens I found a very welcoming crowd. Nobody looks down upon you - In fact they crown you as their king if you can buy them a few rounds. Soon, I got hooked on illicit liquor. I would go on month-long drinking sprees.

I stopped caring about my personal hygiene. bathing ceased to be a necessity. I would sit at one corner of the den for 24 hours drinking. I had become so popular in the chang'aa holes that I would get the stuff on credit.

Chang'aa traders care for their regular customers and can even bail you out of a police cell. That's how I managed to drink although I was jobless. I would visit relatives who owing to my shabby looks quickly gave out money to get rid of me.

Apart from writing, I was a talented guitarist and hilarious stand-up comedian. I was beginning to cut a place for myself in entertainment through impromptu acts in social places. In 1993, I participated in the Carnivore Star Search contest and became an instant hit, winning first overall position. Invitations started comiing my way but whatever I earned went down the drain - alcohol, alcohol and more alcohol.

I lost several opportunities because i never cared to honour appoitments when I sat down to drink. Contracts could not stop me from drinking. they came and passed unnoticed.

In 1998, just on the off chance, I applied for film and television trainign at the Mohamed Amin Foundation. I secured the chance. This was an incentive to get back to some useful life, so I vowed diligently to complete the course. I stopped smoking and drinking. But my sober and blissful life dissipated with ten-day all-expense-paid trip to Cape Town, South Africa.

Upon return from South Africa, we were scheduled to sit for exams in a week's time. I was sure I had conquered my problem, so it came as a suprise when I resumed drinking shortly before the trip. The news of the trip had given us a festive mood, and my urge for alcohol blossomed again.

My latest drinking spree left me with a fractured arm after an accident, and I missed not only the trip, but the exams. So I could not graduate. I went back to the bottle for consolation, and the hopes in my people, including my wife were dashed. The entire family were saddened by my relapse.

By 1999, I had reached a stage where I was moving from one chang'aa den to another, from one bar to the other where i could get "quorum" (those of my calibre). I would even spend a week without going back to the house or changing my clothes.

On May 14 that year, my mother and my wife checked me into the Chiromo Lane Medical centre. I was in a pathetic state and had to be detoxicated. various medical tests had to be carried out including checking my liver or whatever remained of it.

When I could leave my room I went for group therapy and individual councelling sessions three times a week. Also, there were sessions with Alcoholic Annonymous. Twenty three days later I was discharged. My parents paid medical bills in excess of 100,000.

Days after leaving hospital as a brand new individual I got myself a job. But all was well for only six months before I went back to old ways. During the december festivities of that year I felt confident that I could handle liquor in a responsible manner, by having just a little at a time. I lost it again.

On June 19, 2000 I was back at Chiromo. I was discharged on July 3. Shortly afterwards, I was at it again and after certain incidents I realised I would either end up dead or in jail.

A doctor friend of mine told me of Asumbi Rehabilitation Center, a Catholic Church run rehabilitation institution in South Nyanza. I checked in at sumbi on September 30. The treatment was completely different. One had to be locked up. It was a drug-free regime with emphasis on holistic forms of treatment.

I left Asumbi on February 2, 200 equipped with life skills, love for sports and emphasis on diet. I came back a good boy, but relapsed in June this year. I decided to have only two mini-packs but the devil got hold of me again. I plunged into a four month drinking binge.

I stopped last October and for two months I have had a smoke and alcohol free time. I am looking foward to a new life.

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