SOUTH African drug activist Ellen Pakkies has urged Namibian youth to carefully consider their options when making choices that may impact their future.
The mother from Cape Town, who made headlines in 2007 after admitting to strangling her drug addict son Abbie, is in Namibia to join the fight against drug and alcohol abuse.
She was sentenced to 280 hours of community service, with the presiding magistrate saying the system failed Ellen.
Her story was adapted into the film,
‘Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story’ (2018).
Pakkies started her tour of coastal schools at the Walvis Bay Private School yesterday, where she talked to pupils.
She then proceeded to other schools at Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, where she will educate pupils about different types of drugs, and the consequences of their abuse.
Pakkies lives in Lavender Hill, a Cape Town neighbourhood where drug and alcohol abuse is prevalent.
“We are so used to coming home and taking out drugs, and to just start smoking. Do you not know that you are messing up your own life? Some of you tell your parents that you just sit there while others are smoking. It makes no difference. You can get addicted by just sitting there,” she noted.
She urged young people to think about how they are making their families and communities unhappy, and causing disunity through their actions. Pakkies said she could not sleep peacefully for seven years, as she thought of what her child was going through.
“My windows were broken. Police were coming to my house, but could not do much. You love your child so much, but you don’t know what else to do because the child just won’t listen to you,” she continued.
Pakkies also advised parents to pay close attention when their children’s behaviour starts changing, and to support them.
She was aware that some young people are facing challenges at home and in the community, and thus urged them to find positive people in the community to confide in, and to try and find help.
Pakkies said pupils must also start supporting each other to save each other.
She was invited to Namibia when pastor Chris Jonathan saw the movie based on her story and that of her son’s struggle with drug addiction.
“I am learning that I should appreciate what I have, and what my parents are doing for me. It totally changed my whole perspective on life. What is the point of discovering such an evil world when you can make a difference in the real world? Drugs are just dangerous,” Brandon Snygans, a pupil at one of the schools, said.
Pakkies will visit schools at Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Karibib in the Erongo region, where the problem is worrisome.
Walvis Bay is also the hub of the illicit drug trade in Namibia. Her tour will likewise include churches and other organisations.
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