SDA youths march against drug abuse

By The Standard | Nov. 4, 2017 | 2 Min read

HUNDREDS of youths from the Chitungwiza Federation of the Seventh Day Adventist Church this week took to the streets and marched against rampant drug misuse by young people within their community.

By Sofia Mapuranga

The march started from Chinembiri Primary School in Seke, while others walked from Chitungwiza Municipality Head Office in Zengeza, before convening at Chitungwiza Town Centre.

Speaker after speaker at the event identified the challenges affecting youths, attributing the rampant drug misuse in the town, particularly among young people, to poverty, unemployment, physical and sexual abuse and failure by parents to offer parental guidance to their children among a host of other reasons

Justice Bennet Hlahla, the Seventh Day Adventist Chitungwiza Youth Federation president, said the awareness campaign was necessitated by the need to ensure that the church played a role in addressing some of the social challenges affecting people, especially the youths.

“We realise that we cannot totally eradicate drug misuse, but we can educate each other so that youths are capacitated with the information to make informed choices,” he said.

Chitungwiza Federation of the Seventh Day Adventist Church youth pastor Innocent Chinhengo said there was hope even among those who were already addicted to drugs.

Detective Sergeant Tendai Muchena, from the Harare Central Police Station, urged parents to offer guidance to their children to reduce the rampant cases of drug misuse.

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“The current economic challenges are forcing parents to divert all their energies to the bread and butter issues, while neglecting the moral upbringing of their children,” she said.

“We have parents who think that giving their children too much money is love. No! These children end up using that money to purchase drugs, which is why drug misuse is rampant among children from well-to-do families.”