|
Dear Sir/Madam,
"Drug abuse takes center stage at fete" screamed the headline of the story (DN 10.08.04) and though this headline could have applied to the content of most of the article which centered around drug abuse awareness presentations it applied equally to the tail end.
This centers on the arrests of several schoolboys who were arrested during the ongoing national music festival for ferrying in alcoholic beverages of all sorts including the illicit chang'aa a fiery distilled liquor which periodically kills or blinds large numbers of Kenyans due to impurities or other lethal additives.
The five students arrested were released "after top education officials intervened." In the same papers editorial entitled "A sad reflection of our society" the paper laments that "students had the audacity to buy the alcohol from some dens and ferry them to the KICC was a sad testimony that we have seasoned and dare-devil drug peddlers in our schools."
The truth of the matter is this statement can as well been used to describe the shenanigans we got up to in the mid seventies when I was in high school. Only difference was there was some semblance of regard and fear of the authorities. It was not that easy to walk into a bar without being taken to task let alone God forbid in full school uniform as is often the case today.
At the same time we are now the parents today and in an attempt to look liberal have literally abandoned our children. The rules governing our use of alcohol will be what we determine them to be not what the west or other societies decide. It has to be based on what is good for us and our youth.
Laugh and say these are the fanatical rantings which usually accompany those who have left of using a drug like alcohol or tobacco. As a recovering alcoholic I realised that to continue drinking was to die and there was a way out - abstinence.
Since then life has only got better. Problems are still there except now I am sober enough to tackle them sensibly. I succeed in some endevous fail in others but I am sober enough to get up and try again. It is from this position that I write and tell parents to take charge once again for it is your children who are dying. Those five boys who were arrested at the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC) did not start drinking last week or last month. They probably started years back. Many will end up alcoholics, many more will die even killing others in the process. Is this ranting?
My primary job in life at the moment is to keep sober one day at a time. This is a full time job and occasionally when I am able to try to pass a message of hope simply by showing that if I (and thousands of other Kenyans) can get sober, so too can your son, daughter, husband, wife, brother or sister.
Please do not pass the buck to teachers or the clergy for these are your children and the buck stops with you. Last I heard the government was not giving funds for funeral expenses of addicts. Nor were the churches nor teachers. And this unbridled alcohol consumption today has further risks, which were non-existent during my time. HIV/AIDS! I am sober because there was a need. My wife, parents and others helped and of cause God. But for God to help, you must first make an effort.
If I had waited for the government to help, or the teachers or the clergy I would be still drinking but the more likely scenario I would be dead. Let us act and act now. We do not need competions which cajole us to drink mindlessly-the more you drink the more your chances of winning.
Today's parents, my peers who were drinking in school in the mid-seventies know no more about the dangers in uninformed alcohol consumption as do their offspring. Education officials should not try and sweep these incidents under the carpet. But it is still to parents. Learn about alcohol and other drugs then teach your kids. If not you might as well buy a gun and shoot them dead yourself. This makes more economic sense. Cut your losses.
For about two weeks now the Daily Nation has had a slew of well researched articles on alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Look for these issues if you missed them. Read them again carefully this time if you had just glanced through but learn for even though the Daily Nation is doing a highly commendable job, you as a parent still have to read these articles. So whichever way you slice it as a parent you have to wake up with the inescapable fact that THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU!
David Ogot Sr.
10th. August 2004
Nairobi, Kenya
| 