NPO founder is tackling drug abuse
And getting people to help others in need
AFTER discovering that her 23-year-old son had been grappling with a substance abuse problem for more than 10 years, Gugulethu Mfubu decided to take a stand and help others in the same situation.
Mfubu, a social worker by profession, opened the doors to her non-profit organisation, Lisebanzi Foundation, last year in the hopes of uplifting the communities of Gompo and Nompumelelo.
“I was gutted when I learned about my son’s drug addiction. He destroyed me. It was a tough journey to such an extent that he stole everything in my house.
“But I told myself I needed to be hands-on with this problem and help my child as well as many others who are suffering from this problem.
“I’m so glad he has changed his ways now because he even joined me in trying to make a difference in other youngsters’ lives,” she said.
Her son often introduces his friends struggling with substance abuse to the organisation to get help.
Mfubu, 42, started working with youngsters at schools in Gompo and Nompumelelo to prevent substance abuse at an early age.
“I work with these kids where I have introduced programmes to help them deal with any drug-related issues they may face.
“We also have dialogues with the families outside of the schools to make sure that the environment they are in is a good and stable one.
“I saw the need for my work in the community while I was doing door-to-door visits enquiring about anyone who may be facing these problems,” Mfubu said.
Her work also extended to empower men and women in the community to better themselves and start up organisations that could spread deeper into the community.
One of the organisations that started about a month ago is Thuma-mna, which helps disabled, ill and aged people in the area.
Mfubu’s goal is to introduce community transformation as she believes residents in Nompumelelo and Gompo can benefit greatly from being active citizens as opposed to sitting back and watching crime, teenage pregnancy and substance abuse increase while the morale of the people nosedives.
“[Some of] the people in these communities are not working.
“They are sitting around and roaming the streets while they could be doing something more impactful.
“This could change the community because now they have something meaningful to do and even go ahead to opening their own NPO further down the line,” Mfubu said.
She added that she does all the work out of her own pocket as she has no funding available to her. — tisoblackstar.co.za