Im and Addict...a Reject!

Lol, so the title might be a little strong, but I'm telling you around Christmas and New Years time, that sounded just fine. Had even a ring to it!

I am a survivor of Rehab, ladies and gentlemen! Yes! And I wont go without saying that I was locked up against my will for no better reason than to separate me from my boyfriend. Now, the Parents could have sat back and sipped on their tea thinking that they had won the battle, but I assure you, they have not won the war.

Although a fore warning was issued, I never thought it would actually come to pass. But it did! So two days before Christmas I was packed off and driven to a small duplex compound that I swear coulda gone for 250,000/= a month at most (about $100) each. Behind wimpy iron gates, I didn't even wait to hear the sound of the car leave, or look into the faces of my triumphant father and distraught mother.

I must admit, at first I was just disgusted. Thinking to myself, that I have probably 24 hours before they came picked me up and that was that. Nope, they left me there for the Christmas and New Years and I am sad to say I wouldn't have asked for it to be any different! Not only did I get to meet other 'clients' but I also left that Rehab after I had imprinted on it some of my Nali-ous characteristics.

That female nurse was right to complain to the guards, before she was sacked, that the Director shouldn't have brought in a couple of Muzungu's (white washed blacks). Its not our fault that she didn't have the best toilet mannerisms, and couldn't understand a word of English we would say when we heartily kicked her out of our private bathroom and forced her to share with the guards. Its not our fault that we took more attention from the boys than her. Its not our damn faults that we had an actual interest and certain seriousness about the drugs being randomly distributed. And for crying out loud, its not the damn girls' fault that Nali was added to their pool.

No more blindly taking drugs before bed time. Hell, in fact it was no more drugs period! Out with the zombie looking clients, in with the fresh full of energy people who could sit and hold proper conversations without falling asleep mid way! No more survival tactics, we became a family- and by God the bond we made can only be tested over time.

The only thing that bugged me the most was the fact that, like my own parents, Ugandan mothers and fathers have no clue how to take care of their own. I mean it. There were these four boys, age 15/16 and I swear two of them hadn't ever tasted a single drug, let alone drank any liquor. The other two were well into their experimental stages, and you could see that it was something they would eventually learn to moderate or drop in the near future. I mean, come on! The worst bit was, they had just been pulled out of boarding school for the holidays, straight into this 'facility' until they were ready to go back to boarding school of the remaining advanced years of their high school.

Talk about not wanting to take responsibility for your own. No wonder these kids grow up, angry and hateful. Then they get their chance to fly off and never come back. What parents don't know, is that those teenage years are the ones we need them the most. They make the greatest impact on our lives, and if that impact is going to be made by another hopeless looking, shitty feeling individual branded an alcoholic, who is to say these kids wont go bar hopping to find the kinds of friends they have been labelled to be similar?

Rehab is no kind of bar to set for your kids, take it from me people.

That's when I kind of lost it for Serenity Centre. How desperate could they be to actually admit these kids, tell them everyday that they are alcoholics and counsel them to be better recoverees? Recoverees from what? I wondered. That's just fucking insane, I'm sorry. But if the Ugandan society is comfortable going down that lane, then I'm telling you we are in for it in the long run!

Now, having promised myself that Id refrain from directly attacking the Centre's pathetic programs and methods, at least I can say that as Addicts...Rejects we gave those people a friggin run for their money. Not only did we manage to escape twice (while I was in there), but we also snuck in a good deal of cigarettes and happily smoked daytime or evening.

As a student of Psychology, I think this trip was a crucial and beneficial one for me to take. At least I have a clue how it feels to be on the other side of the table, and I now know what not to do should I ever want to start my own Rehabilitation Centre in Uganda.

To all those clients that were there the time I was, you can only be reading this if you are successfully out of that damn program. My advice to you is to keep your activities to yourself and in firm control, heed only to the words of strength and growth that we were told. Throw those pills (I know you hide them), that nurse's image, and all those damn ideas that you have a disease that cannot be controlled, out the damn door. Its high time you took responsibility for the damage that you choose to do, you're in no way close to being as messed up as they said we were.

That is just not an excuse anymore.

I love you all, except of course Mr. PeePee who made our lives a living hell, and hope to see you bright and wiser in the future. To the old guys, don't forget us when your writing your wills, we walked you around when your feet were too damn swollen to get you to the bathroom!

From one Addict...Reject to another,

God bless your soul!