My name is David. I am 25 and I live in Bwaise.
I started smoking marijuana and chewing miraa in my first year at university. Within two years I had dropped out, and I was doing odd jobs, and worse, to pay for the next day. My mother prayed for me every night. I avoided her because I could not bear to see her face.
When I tell them my story, I can see some of them listening the way I wish I had listened.
The Rise Together team met me during a street outreach. They offered practical help first: harm reduction information, a meal and a place to talk. Then they offered me a mentor. He was a man who had been exactly where I was, and that changed everything.
Through the programme I trained in tailoring. I have now been sober for more than a year and I run a small tailoring business from a stall near the market. I also speak to young people at community sensitisation events. When I tell them my story, I can see some of them listening the way I wish I had listened.
