Anti-Drugs Awareness and Counselling Program
Those who facilitated the focus group
counselling session included Francis M. Sayon Jr, Jayah B.D. Konuwah, Annita S.
Morlue, Patrick Kpaka, Princess David, Urias Tarpeh, Charles Ricks, Luisene
A.K. Scott, Aaron Hallie Peters, Abu S. Kaba, and Lee P. Jackson, Jr.
During the focused group discussions, the
facilitators familiarized themselves with the participants and had the
participants introduce themselves. The participants were further engaged in
meaningful dialogue, which diagnosed what led drugs/substance abusers into the
act, how long they had been into the act, how they get funding to support the
act and their experience with when they are into and out of drugs/substance.
The dialogue also investigated their current educational levels and their
previous careers prior to being drugs addicts.
The event was also facilitated by YALI Cohort 41 participants who partnered with LYFT Africa to have the program implemented. A total of Liberian Dollars $56,800.00was expended to implement the program. The event was climaxed by a soccer match after the counselling session on 17th December, 2022. The soccer match was played between volunteers of LYFT Africa and youths from the Bennie Man Ghetto. The soccer match ended 2:4 in favor of the youths from the ghetto.
RISK SUMMARY & CHALLENGES
• During the first event, it was
challenging to get the ghetto youth from the ghetto to attend the event.
Mohammed & Prince who were the five stars (heads) demanded finance from our
team to get their members activated to attend the event, something that was not
initially stated and against our policy.
This risk and this was mitigated through peaceful dialogue by our
psycho-educators who further explained the benefits of the program to the
youths and our intent.
• Holding planning meetings with five stars of Bennie Man Ghetto and visiting the ghetto to recruit participants was a very high risks because our team members could have been caught up in raids by the Liberian Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA) of could have been entangled with violence. However, we mitigated the risk by visiting the ghetto during the evening hours, which was a peaceful time, and a time when majority of the ghetto youth had returned from hustling.
While the youth were attending the event,
the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency and a joint security team raided the
ghetto and burned it down. This threatened the second phase of the event
because the youth planned not to attend the second event. To mitigate this
risk, we intervened by providing materials for the reconstruction of the ghetto
such as nails and zinc which made them attend the second phase of the
Anti-Drugs Awareness and Counselling Program.
As an organization, we believe that the burning ghettos in communities in Liberia is not a one-shot remedy to eradicating drugs. It even places people, places, and things at risk. Hence, LYFT Africa has taken an innovative approach to collaborate with community leaders, five stars (heads of ghettos), and other stakeholders to implement Anti-Drugs Awareness and Counselling programs in communities to minimize the high consumption of illicit drugs/substances amongst community dwellers, especially youth.
IMPACT:
The program directly benefited at least 47 participants from the Bennie Man Ghetto in Neezoe Community. Though over 47 participants attended the event, only 13 signed up to attend LYFT Africa’s post-counselling session.
SHARED EXPERIENCES OF DRUGS/SUBSTANCE
ABUSERS
During the focus group counselling, participants shared pieces of their life stories with our counsellors, extracts of which are provided below:
Abraham Karboin, Male
During LYFT Africa’s Anti-Drugs Awareness and Counselling Program, Abraham was a member of Group B headed by our volunteer Counsellor Jayah B.D. Konuwah. During his narration, Abraham informed the counsellor that he faced psychological trauma after losing his mother and father due to the deadly Ebola Virus epidemic in 2014. His parents were the only source of his survivor, and other relatives were not willing to assist him after their death.
Prior to their death, Abraham assisted his parents to sell in their mini-shop after school hours. This give them their daily bread and supported Abraham in school. This psychological trauma coupled with the influence of bad friends led Abraham to mismanage the business that he inherited and started consuming drugs and other narcotic substances.
Gradually, he became an addict and started consuming drugs as frequently as he gets money. In order to support his hobbit, Abraham engages himself into several illegal hustles including stealing and duping people of finances and materials that he sells to get money and support his hobbit.
Now, Abraham is a high school dropout whose only means of survivor is the illegal and source of happiness is drugs.
Paul Blay, Male
Paul was a counselee in Team C which was
headed by Counsellor Abu S. Kaaba. During the counselling session, Paul
narrated that he got into drugs out of curiosity because many of his friends
were into the consumption of drugs. Due to how they praised the high, sensational
feelings gained from consuming drugs, Paul became curious and decided to ‘try’.
After several trials sand increment in his trials, it gradually led him to
addiction.
Prior to being an addict, Paul was a petit
trader who sold slippers and used the profit to sustain himself. He has been an
addict for over five years and started consuming drugs while he was just a 7th
grader. Unfortunately, due to the high level of drugs intake, Paul discontinued
school while he was in the 11th and consumes drugs at least twice a day.
He mismanaged the little business he was doing and started washing car, stealing and living on deception to earn money to support his hobbit. He tells the
Mallah S. Tokpah, Female
Mallah is a female and drugs/substance
abuser who lives in the Neezoe Community. At LYFT Africa’s Anti-Drugs Awareness
and Counselling Program, Mallah found herself in Group A where she was
counselled by Princess David and Annita S. Morlue.
Due to Mallah’s passion for dancing, she
joined a dance group in her community where psycho-social factors lured her
into taking drugs. Mary, one of Mallah’s friend was the one who introduced her
to drugs in 2017. Gradually, Mallah became an active drugs user for several
reasons including numbing pains during dancing and being bold and brave to beat
stage fright during public gathering.
Mallah engages into prostitution and
steals from her mother to support her hobbit. She also sells some of her
personal belongings when there is no money to buy drugs.
Due to Malah’s bad hobbit, she dropped out of secondary school and hangs around in the neighborhood with the young people from the Bennie Man Ghetto.
KEY LESSONS LEARNED
• To plan future events with the
involvement of all stakeholders including community leaders, community dwellers
and program beneficiaries;
• To be clearer with program
beneficiaries, especially at-risk youths about the benefits of our programs to
them and inform them that there are no financial beneficiaries for participants
(where they aren’t);
• To engage in peaceful dialogue with program beneficiaries where there exists bridge of information, conflict, miscommunication, etc.
STAKEHOLDERS
1. Rallay Payne, Block Leader, Block ‘B’,
Neezoe Community;
2. Mr. Nyema Klafleh, eminent citizen,
Neezoe Community;
3. Mr. David M. Kpehe, Principal, SWEEP
Solid Foundation School.
4. Prince D. Kollie, Five Star (Ghetto
Leader), Bennie Man Ghetto, Neezoe
5. Mohammed Fahnbulle, leader, Bennie Man
Ghetto, Neezoe
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