In the Johannesburg suburb of Coronationville, drug and alcohol abuse among youths is rife, and the larger Gauteng Province has the highest number of drug rehabilitation admissions South Africa. The 77 Percent meets students and counselors, who with their own history of gang membership and drug abuse, are trying curb gang activities and addiction in schools across Gauteng.
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00:00Listen to this, listen to this. It's not even about the problem.
00:04It's how we handle the problem.
00:07It's a passionate plea in the face of a silent killer.
00:10Counsellors from the fear-free Life NGO
00:13implore young South Africans like Emichle Mabuto to avoid using drugs.
00:19I actually got offered drugs by my friends.
00:22My mother separated me from them.
00:25So that's when I became right and
00:28felt like this what I did was wrong.
00:31And that's when I picked up my mistakes and be like,
00:33I won't do it again.
00:35She's from Coronationville in Johannesburg.
00:39It's a tough neighbourhood,
00:40sandwiched between a growing informal settlement and gang territory.
00:44Drug abuse is rife here,
00:46with some teens experimenting with alcohol and marijuana.
00:49But harder drugs are increasingly common.
00:53Lean and Xenics is like things they use,
00:56like they put under their tongue.
00:58And the lean, obviously, they mix it with a cold drink to become high.
01:03Counsellor Eugene Peterson is a former drug addict
01:06and is five years sober.
01:08With his fear-free life colleagues,
01:10he works across several schools in Gauteng,
01:13the province with the highest number of drug rehab admissions in South Africa.
01:18My dream was to die.
01:20I know it's weird. My dream was to die because I didn't have a vision.
01:23Our kids are going through now. It's what our kids are facing.
01:26And all that we say is, he's naughty, but he's not naughty.
01:30You don't know what he's facing.
01:32You don't know how is it for him to stand up and there's no meal.
01:38How is it for him when his mother doesn't grab him and say,
01:41my son, I love you.
01:43Defying hopelessness, unemployment, hunger and gangs
01:46is a tall ask for youngsters like Emichle.
01:49But the counselling programme has already helped her.
01:53I came here to maintain my anger issues and calm down my nerves
01:58and speak out to people because I'm not actually a talkative person.
02:02I don't talk. I just keep it in and it hurts me from the inside.
02:07Sometimes I will settle down with my mum and tell her what my issues are
02:12and tell her that this and this is this.
02:16And that's when she will help out and tell me to do this and do that.
02:24Like Emichle, many teens admit they feel angry, but can't always say why.
02:29While drugs may prove a temporary escape,
02:32fear-free life is on a mission to show even a brief high can come at a tremendous cost.