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Immersed into drugs, pained by discrimination…fresh breath at last

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[Debora Ebole, who was immersed in drugs for over 17 years of her life. She is now fully recovered and works as a field officer for the Anti-drug Organisation, Reachout Centre Trust. Photo/James Kazungu Lamiri/March, 07, 24].

“I have been through a lot in my life, I gave up and at times I was just confused waiting for death following desperation, but here I am, living different life, disentangling other people caught in the drug dependence trap”

This is the painful tale of Debora Ebole, a mother of four who has seen it all since things started falling apart while she was in Form three.

Ebole, 40, was forced out of school after she was impregnated. That was just but the beginning of the end of a glowing dream in her bright future life that turned sour and every time she meditate in a nolstagic manner, tears flow freely down her cheeks.

Debora decided to travel to Mombasa to search for her mother who was then working at the Mombasa law courts, however, her mother was not receptive, leaving an expectant Debora with no option but starts life in the Mombasa streets.

“It is at that point that I was introduced to cigarette smoking, that would later lead to puffing Marijuana and within a twinkle of an eye I was into hard drugs,” she painfully narrates during the interview, which was disrupted and handled in intervals after Debora was overwhelmed and sorbed uncontrollably.

Now that Debora was so immersed into drugs, there was no turning back. She jumped from one drug den to the other from Magodoroni in Kisauni, to Bombolulu, in Nyali Sub county. She was once arrested and locked up at the Shimo la tewa maximum prison in Shanzu for a year while she was pregnant.

Delicate affair

When she was freed, now with high urge for drugs, she plunged back to the menace, Heroin being her daily menu on the table.

“Indeed walking into drugs is very easy, since you will do it alone or perhaprs with friends, however, walking out of the menace is an axe to grind. You will need many people including selfless activists, religious leaders, counselors, among many others since your friends who pushed you into drugs will not be around to ease your both physical and psychological pain,” revealed Ms Ebole.

[Debora Ebole breaks down during an interview at the anti-drug Organisation Reachout Centre Trust offices in Mombasa. Photo/James Kazungu Lamiri/March, 07, 24].

She suffered Tuberculosis (TB) which was treated and she completely healed, but with the daily dose of heroin and other assorted drugs she could not remember, she returned into drugs and this time she contracted the chronic TB that required upto to 12 injections. This sums up to an injection every month from January to December, and if still critical, its treatment may take upto 18 months.

“I was treated, followed doctors instructions and completely healed. I later contracted cervical cancer this might have been as a result of multiple sexual partners, but since it was detected early enough, I was screened, treated and healed too,” she revealed.

Tough journey

Debora Ebole was into substance abuse for 17 years. Almost a half of her life has revolved around substance abuse.

“I have suffered various chronic illnesses, I have been sexually abused, I was extremely down and lost all the hopes of seeing my children grow until some were taken to a childrens home. It reached a time when I said enough is enough and I had to try every available avenue to recollect my tattered life,” she disclosed.

Disentangled

Ebole would later agree to be registered for Methadone treatment after outreach workers from Anti-drug Organisation Reachout Centre Trust (RCT) reached out to her in Magodoroni drug den in Kisauni.

Methadone is a medicine used to treat heroin dependence. It is taken daily to relieve heroin withdrawal symptoms and reduce cravings for heroin. The aim of methadone maintenance treatment is to reduce person’s illicit drug use and eventually help them walk out from the menace.

To date, The female substance recovery champion is and will always be thankful to Reachout Centre Trust specifically to the Executive Director Taib Abdulrahman and Faizah Hamid, who is the Organisation’s Programs Manager who led the way for Debora’s health transformation and who for the last 6 years she has been a dedicated Field worker after she successfully extricated herself from drug menace.

“Though it was not easy for me to give in to the treatment, I later agreed and in 2016 I was fully in treatment under the Medically Assisted Therapy (MAT) that has seen more than 2,000 other colleagues who were dead in drugs get treatment, counseling and reintegrated back to their families,” she said with a broad smile.

[Debora Ebole, participating in the recent conducted Cervical cancer awareness forum at the Reachout Centre Trust Organisation’s offices in Old town, Mombasa. Photo/James Kazungu Lamiri/March, 07, 24].

Debora Ebole is now a dedicated field work official and an employee of Reachout Centre Trust, the same Organisation that removed her from drug dens, helped her and thousands others trapped into substance abuse through the Methadone treatment, counseling and reintergration back to their families. The anti drug Organisation further, in a bold move to deter them from relapsing, initiated sustainable livelihood projects for the recovering drug users.

 

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