A mother’s heartbreaking journey: Battling her son’s alcohol addiction for 22 years
In a poignant revelation, a mother from Darwendale has opened up about her arduous 22-year struggle with her son’s crippling alcohol addiction, shedding light on the devastating toll it has taken on their family.
Nkululeko Sibanda, now 63, shared the distressing story of her 38-year-old son, who embarked on a path of alcohol consumption back in 2002. Despite being married with two children, he finds himself unemployed, relying on sporadic jobs and resorting to theft to sustain his addiction to cheap, illicit alcohol.
The weight of financial burden, emotional abuse, and physical danger inflicted upon Sibanda and her family due to her son’s addiction has left her battling depression and grappling with low self-esteem. In her tireless pursuit to find help, she has reached out to various organizations, only to find the cycle of addiction too formidable to break.
Sibanda is now imploring for a united effort to address the underlying causes of addiction and provide comprehensive support to affected families, including increased access to education and rehabilitation facilities.
“He is popular in the community and his friends buy illicit alcohol for him. He drinks tumbwa and other hot stuff,” revealed Sibanda with a heavy heart.
She recounted the most harrowing incident when her son sold a cherished inherited house and squandered every penny on alcohol. The anguish of witnessing her son’s self-destruction intensified as she realized that counselling had not yielded the desired results.
“When he was 26, I took him for rehab, he relapsed, as he would miss sessions,” Sibanda lamented. Desperate to protect her family, she resorted to obtaining a protection order against him, ordering him to stay away from their home. However, after five years, he returned and adamantly refused to leave, even declaring that they would have to kill him instead.
Sibanda passionately advocates for a collaborative approach in tackling drug, alcohol, and substance abuse. She urges the government to address the producers and suppliers of illicit alcohol while emphasizing the importance of educating communities about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse, as they inadvertently enable the addicts.
Furthermore, Sibanda calls for the establishment of additional rehabilitation centers and skills development programs to support recovering addicts, ensuring they have meaningful activities to engage in post-rehabilitation.
“The Government must deal with producers and suppliers of illicit alcohol. Communities must also be educated about alcohol and drug abuse because they are also enablers.
“There should be more rehabs and skills development centres for the addicts so they have something to do after rehab,” she said.
