VICTORY OVER DRUGS
Tumelo Sengawane, 35, who was first exposed to illegal substances at the age of 14, now uses his organisation, Drug Free Is The New Cool, to help people recover from drugs and substance abuse.
His journey has been a rough one.
“My first encounter with an illegal substances was at the age of 14 when I was doing Form 1 at Bokamoso JSS. We would jump the fence with some of my friends and just go into Bontleng and sometimes Old Naledi,” he said.
He told The Midweek Sun that the ugly turn of events started one day in Bontleng when some older boys offered him to smoke. “I instantly decided that a bit of smoke won't kill, plus I had to prove to myself that I was not scared to try. For me, it felt like an initiation into adulthood,' he said.
After a few puffs, he liked it and that is how he was introduced to drugs. He also started drinking alcohol at an early age of 15. This, he said, went on until he completed his Form 5.
“When I was doing Form 5, my father passed away way. It had a blow on me. I started drinking and smoking a lot more, especially on weekends. I would go out and only come back home on Sundays,” he said.
His worst experience at the time was trying space cakes, which were considered more intense compared to cigarettes or alcohol. Space cakes are made with a dose of drugs, especially weed.
“I got extremely high when I ate them, and this is when my addiction level couldn’t be controlled anymore,” he said. Things got worse when he was admitted for his tertiary education in South Africa where he continued with his drinking and smoking habits.
“While on my second year, I was introduced to cocaine. That was the first time ever I had a line. I was attending a party and someone offered.'
While at it, he felt guilty because his mother had always warned him about such. He would promise himself to quit but never succeeded because someone always offered. In the blink of an eye, his girlfriend passed on and things got worse for him.
“My girlfriend passed away when I was still in university and that's when I felt the world had come to a standstill. It felt like God was punishing me. I went on a smoking and drinking spree and ended up failing at school and had to return
home,” he said.
When he reached Botswana, he was afraid and ashamed to go back home. Therefore, he stayed with friends. “None of them were using any drugs at that time except for weed, so it meant I had no access to cocaine and automatically got stuck with just alcohol and weed.”
He later on moved to Francistown where he was introduced to Methcathinone, better known as CAT. As a drug dependent individual he was vulnerable and always found himself in fights. The worst was when he almost cracked someone’s head with a softball bat, and the incident consequently sent him to prison. He knew that there was no escape because he nearly killed a person.
'The biggest problem about using illicit addictive drugs is that when you want to quit, you fail. At one point I had suicidal thoughts. I wanted to kill myself while driving.'
Sengawane was finally jailed in 2015 for causing grievous bodily harm for the incident in which he nearly cracked someone's head, and time in prison afforded him an opportunity to introspect.
“Prison was hard, being locked up and controlled and trying to survive was not easy. However, I found God inside prison and admitted that it was the life of drugs and alcohol that ruined my life.'
He was sentenced to two years but spent one year and two months behind bars. He came out of prison with intentions of quitting drugs.
“I didn’t realise that I was an alcoholic and would defend my drinking habits so much that I sadly went back to both drinking and smoking heavily. God saved me once again as I decided to quit weed in 2016 and quit smoking in 2017 and started actively talking about drugs and recovery from drugs,” he said.
In 2019, he put his life together after he lost everything.
“I experienced my full recovery through faith because that is where I got full support. In the streets, people were demoralising me and saying that I will relapse again like I always did. So I cut out places I used to go to and focused on church and my healing,' he said.
This month, Sengwawane will be clean for four years from alcohol, eight years clean from CAT and cocaine and seven years from weed and six years from cigarettes. He has now completed his studies through the ISSUP platform, having done Introduction to science of addiction and continuum care for addiction professionals and Continuum care for addiction professionals and Co-occurring disorders, as well as Delivering recovery support services.
This enables him to professionally assist people especially through his organisation which deals with drug prevention and treatment.
“Our vision is to see a drug free Botswana as we do community interventions through walks and outreaches, educating people on alcohol and substance use. The hope is to continue to identify those we can help,” he said.
They are currently preparing for a walk in Maun this Saturday. The walk and community outreach initiative against drug abuse and illicit trafficking will lead to a dialogue on Monday 26th on International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit trafficking.