Walvis teenagers get new role model

• TAATI NIILENGECHILDREN at Walvis Bay are getting inspiration from an unlikely source – a former drug addict who has decided to use her past experience with drugs to save the lives of teenagers at the town.

Hilia Kapolo fell into the cycle of alcohol and drug abuse when she was only 13 years. She was introduced to these social evils by friends, and from then on, her teenage life was ruined.

Ironically, Kapolo was an obedient child who was raised in a Christian family, and remembers that she was also a bright child at school before the drugs.

“My life turned from being loved by everyone in the community to being rejected. My own family struggled to get to terms with how I had changed. I lost my education, childhood, friends and much more, just because of these social evils,” she stated.

Kapolo became a teenage mother, and now she has four sons aged 12, nine, seven and three.

She does not even remember how this all happened, but feels depressed when she recalls a life of always getting into fights, being in constant trouble with the police and not giving motherly attention to her children, who were sometimes rescued by relatives.

One day in January, she woke up and started thinking about her life, and realised that she could still have a second chance.

“I did not go to a rehabilitation centre. I just got up and decided to tell my friends that I am no longer interested in using drugs and alcohol. I also went to my family and community members. Somehow, I needed to also show my boys that I was someone new. They had only known my bad side. Most importantly, I wanted to save children in my community.”

Life has changed for the better for Kapolo as she has started earning the respect of the community again.

People who used to look down on her are now inviting her to tell her story in churches and at workplaces, while parents with troubled children ask for her help.

She is teaching teenagers about the dangers of alcohol and drugs and other related factors like peer pressure, teenage pregnancy and HIV-AIDS, and most importantly, to stay in school.

She especially gives public talks, and shares her story on radio in order to reach as many youths as possible.

Kapolo warns young people that life without an education is a waste, and that drugs could ruin their future.

She also gives children from the age of 12 assignments every week to find out about these evils, and to spread the word in the community.

Kapolo said some children fall into the cycle of alcohol and drug abuse because their parents are also addicts. She therefore plans to use them as ambassadors to talk to their own families.

A participant in her workshops, Matha Ukoneka, said she is learning things at the children’s sessions that she never knew about.

“We are learning things that we are not taught in schools or at home. We are also learning to stay away from bad friends, because they will teach us things that children should not do. There are many people in our community who drink and smoke. I do not want to be like that,” she noted.

Kapolo also rescued six children aged between 12 and 14 from the street who were using drugs, and approached their parents to tell them that she went through similar experiences and wanted to save their children.

They now meet separately at her house every week for counselling.

She also plans to work with the police to expose the drug lords whom she knows, and the houses where teenagers acquire drugs.

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