Daniels forges ahead with farm rehab centre
The Institution of Grace Drug and Rehabilitation Centre will officially open its doors on May 1 at a farm in Gqeberha.
PA councillor Marlon Daniels hopes the centre will bring relief to struggling families and that those who book themselves in are able to kick their drug addictions.
The centre, aimed at teenage boys and men, will form part of an extended branch that has been operating in Johannesburg for nine years.
Drawing from his own personal experience with drugs,
Daniels said he was all for second chances and believed there was a genuine need for the centre to be established in the city.
Daniels said when he attended high school he experimented with drugs and was thankful the experience did not turn into an addiction.
“I thank God I do not have an addictive personality, but I see how peoples’ lives and families are destroyed.
“I have friends who sold their houses to pay druglords.
“There is a scourge of drug addiction, a social ill that is so terrible. I listen to the challenges families are facing in so many households across communities. It weighed heavily on my mind so I decided ‘let’s do this’,” he said.
Daniels said the ninemonth programme would see counsellors, social workers and volunteers come on board to assist while he was still in the process of procuring beds for the facility.
He was in talks with the farm owners and hoped the centre would be able to make use of the horses on the property for equine therapy as part of the programme.
The programme, which is still under development, will consist of counselling, arts and crafts and physical activities involving farm work.
Institute of Grace Rehabilitation Centre founder Pastor Curt van Heerden of Johannesburg said the institution aimed to deal with the root cause of the problem facing addicts.
He said both individual and family counselling was particularly important.
Representatives from the Johannesburg branch would visit Gqeberha in the coming days to co-ordinate a suitable programme.
“I would say that we are probably 90% to 100% successful in terms of how many individuals complete the programme.
“The problem often occurs once they leave the centre and how they implement what they have learnt back in society.
“Our aim is to transform the mind of the addict and doing so by the means of a holistic approach.
“For the [Gqeberha] programme we want to include horse riding and farm work.
“The structure of the programme will remain the same, but we will tailor it in a way that is relevant to community struggles,” Van Heerden said.
Males aged 16 and older are welcome to enrol for the programme.