DOORWAY to Restoration Anti-Drug Coalition spent their Saturday morning cleaning the streets of Vergenoeg in a campaign called “Young People Taking Charge”.
The coalition’s chairwoman, Cympitha King, said the aim of the clean-up campaign was to help improve the living conditions of the local community, as pollution was a health hazard, especially to children.
The coalition was established in February this year and their aim is to unify the community, promote healthy attitudes and behaviour, and develop local solutions that create a safe, drug-free community.
“The reason behind the coalition is that we have seen that young people are abusing narcotic substances.
“Families are being broken apart because of this tragic epidemic.
“We want to educate people of East Bank about the dangers of drugs because pupils have this tendency of skipping classes to go and smoke,” said King said.
King said many young people had have lost interest in pursuing their education because of the poverty they came from.
“Some children are raised in households where the parents are alcoholics and drug addicts, so they don’t get any inspiration to make in making their lives better.
“We are in communication with the local ward councillor to make a sports field as there are no recreational grounds for the young people.
“We are also going to approach the municipality in order to get a mobile library, to help improve the literacy of the children here,” she said.
King said the clean up cleaning campaign was is not only about cleaning the streets, but also about giving hope to those who had have lost theirs.
“This is about uplifting the youth and showing them that they are not defined by their circumstances at home.
“They have the power of changing all of that,” King said.
