By Buziwe Nocuze
- The 35-year-old man was beaten and hospitalised for a week after stealing to fund his drug addiction in Cape Town.
- After recovering at St John’s church, he used a R370 grant to start selling muffins and scones at taxi ranks.
A 35-year-old man from Cape Town is rebuilding his life after quitting drugs.
He now sells muffins and scones at the taxi rank. Community members nearly beat him to death when they caught him stealing.
He spent a week in hospital.
“I was using drugs, and I was not working, so the only way to get money for drugs was to steal other people’s things, and that almost cost me my life,” he said.
While recovering, he thought about his life and whether he wanted to continue being a thief and drug addict.
After leaving hospital, he went to St John’s church for help. He stayed there for three months.
“I applied for a government grant of R370 and used it to buy ingredients. I then started selling scones and muffins at the taxi rank,” he said.
He sells scones for R3 and muffins for R2.
“Selling at the taxi rank was not easy but the people who supported me told me how proud they are about the decision I took and that drugs were going to get me killed because I was doing bad things,” he said.
“I don’t have a kid, but I do have siblings and my mother, they can not believe that I have stopped using drugs without their help. I needed to do this on my own, and not that someone forced me to do it. I bought groceries, and I also took my mother out for lunch,” he said.
“Seeing teenagers doing drugs breaks my heart, I spoke with them about the dangers of doing drugs and I know that the decision to stop using needs to come from them but I cannot just watch them and say nothing, I believe that I will be able to get through to one or two of them because drugs won’t take them anywhere.”
Pictured above: A taxi rank.
Image source: File
