Rejection from society and loved ones can lead to loneliness, low self-esteem, aggression, and depression. So many young people today have no hope, no parents, and nobody who cares about them.
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SBONELO MAPHALALA is from the rural Maphumulo township in Kranskop, KwaZulu-Natal. He admits he was always a naughty child who did not want to listen to good advice and rejected any discipline. He started with minor crimes as a young child, such as stealing from other children. The habit quickly grew into more serious crimes. By the time he was in high school, he had taken an interest in pornography, and it quickly turned into a severe addiction.
Not surprisingly, he started to smoke with friends, and not long after that, he was into marijuana – one of the drugs linked to brain damage. His grades started going down the drain, and in Grade 11, he stabbed a boy in a shebeen. He stole from shopping centres, and he was caught, but he was jailed in a juvenile detention centre because of his age. And so began the vicious cycle of going in and out of prison for the next few years.
Things got worse between 2009 and 2019 – 10 years of wasted time. He was on the road to destruction. He joined gangsters and devil worshippers, and things went from incredibly bad to worse. The jail was now a place he called home – where he could get free food, clothes, and shelter. He would also take clothes and other stuff from prisoners by force.
After he was released from prison, he was back on the streets. But somebody from Maphumulo told him about the KwaSizabantu Mission, where they help people with drug issues at no cost through the CYPSA restoration programme. He committed himself to the CYPSA restoration program. It was not long before he started to change for the better. Sbonelo is now a free man, healthy and happy. He is one of the many volunteers at the Mission, where he helps during its many events. He says, “I feel at home at the Mission where I now live, and I am comfortable with what I have achieved for the first time in my life.”
About CYPSA
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