Mbare school in drug awareness campaign

MBARE is mainly considered as the epicentre for illegal drugs. The problem has further spread to schools around the location where pupils have also been caught in the web.

Illegal drugs have become a menace, threatening the eminence of the educational sector which has retrospectively blossomed because of the various policies being instituted by Government such as the STEM initiative.

That is the main reason why the Evangelical Enterprise of Zimbabwe partnered with George Stark High School, one of the most affected schools in Harare’s oldest location from the menace in order to find practical and spiritual solutions.

The school has an unconfirmed number of pupils who have been expelled because of drug and substance abuse.

The message was, ‘the church should be proactive in the fight against drug abuse as it is the upholder of the moral fibre in society’.

Speaking at a drug awareness campaign held on last week at George Stark High School, team leader of the Evangelistic Enterprise Zimbabwe, Bishop Guide Makore said various societal vices such as prostitution, poverty and rape were a direct result of drug abuse.

“We are facing a lot of challenges because people are abusing drugs, youths are abusing drugs and even the elderly are also abusing drugs, so this is an awareness to say drug abuse is our killer, drug abuse is our enemy, drug abuse promotes poverty, and drug abuse will never help you leave a legacy in life for future generations,” he said.

“The objective of this campaign is to promote the moral behaviour of learners, it is to promote what we call life skills, and it is to promote competence in schools so that they get good results. It is to promote anti-drug abuse awareness in our communities, in our schools and in our nation,” said Bishop Makore.

Bishop Makore said the church should lead in the process to eradicate the scourge.

“We believe we are going to have an impact in our community because we are bringing the God factor which enhances the moral fibre of the society, the Ubuntu because families and marriages are being destroyed because of drug abuse,” he said.

“We are starting from here and we hope God is going to help us and we are inviting all stakeholders but the church as the salt and light of the world, must lead this process in our nation,” added Bishop Makore.

Bishop Makore said drug abuse had resulted in youths getting lured into prostitution and some ending up being trafficked.

“There are children who are being abused and some lured into prostitution and others ending up being trafficked because someone, somewhere is abusing drugs” he said.

“Those who are supposed to be the protectors of the girl and boy child are ending up being the abusers of the very child which has been given to them by God,” said Bishop Makore.

George Stark High School Ambassador Kestina Wilson urged pupils to desist from drug abuse as parents invest their resources on them to ensure they have a better future.

“It is such a blessing to have a parent who sends you to school, buying uniforms and all your needs,” she said.

“Of late there has been negative publicity on George Stark High School, so we have started this initiative in order to eradicate the abuse of drugs and substances. Let’s show the world that good things can also happen in Mbare,” said Wilson.

Businessman Callisto Jokonya encouraged pupils to concentrate on their studies and take a leaf on successful people who made it from Mbare.

“Take a cue from people who came from Mbare and made it in life like Dr Herbert Murerwa. You have an opportunity to study, open your mind and do great things,” he said Drug abuse is now very much prevalent to the extent that even the girl child is now entangled in the snare. What is now surprising is the fact that the issue is now prevalent in girls as much as it is with boys and you wonder what will happen to our youths if the issue is not resolved as a matter of urgency,” said Salom Sibare,a pupil from Roosevelt Girls High School.

The problematic issue of drug and substance abuse in Zimbabwe has reached alarming levels with scourge now linked with trafficking and spreading of various diseases such as HIV and AIDS. What adds to the worry is that children as young as twelve years are now also using drugs.

Researches have shown that most youths are lured into drugs because they see others take them and they “deliver” but as they continue taking them they start craving for more and more until they end up being addicts and their lives ruined in the process.

Some are forced into drugs due to economic hardships, poverty which results into frustration, so they resort to drugs as a way to forget their daily life challenges.

“Pupils have got a tendency of rationalizing that drugs like Marijuana help you gain a form of intelligence that will result in one excel in subjects like mathematics,” said William Vitu, a pupil from Oriel boys High School.

“In this ill conceived process, one ends up getting addicted and apart from failing to achieve the pre conceived ‘intelligence’, they end up failing their school work and risk getting mental retarders and other diseases resulting from abusing drugs.”