I sold all my household goods and drank Sh320,000: Inspiration behind the doors of rehab

 He sold all his household goods and drank his Sh320,000 bob severance package

Kenneth Kamau, 34, had lived quite the rocker life He was expelled from two different high schools over substance abuse, drug abuse, and selling liquor He sold all his household goods and drank his Sh320,000 bob severance package down to the last red cent

With drug and substance abuse on the rise among teenagers and young adults, the need for rehabilitation centres has risen. But what really goes on behind the scenes? Josaya Wasonga finds out.

"Are you here voluntarily?" That is the first question you are asked as soon as you check into rehab centres in Kenya.

 If you are there voluntarily, they then confiscate your cell phone and any documents on your person and check for any 'rehab-illegal' substances like cigarettes, drugs or alcohol.

They open a file in which all your documents are safely kept for the day they release you. And if they scrutinise your clothes and find them dirty, you will be asked to clean them. In the posher rehabs, you may get uniforms.

 If you are on medication, you must have a doctor's report to prove that you need to take the medication. But the administration keeps the medication, and they are the ones who administer them to you. After that, treatment begins.

This may include detoxification, substitution, counselling and psycho social counselling. The treatment options explored depend on an individual and the drug you are hooked on.

Kenneth Kamau, 34, had lived quite the rocker life when in 2012, he decided that it was time to get clean and checked himself into Teen Challenge Kenya rehab centre in Ridgeways Nairobi.

"I was expelled from two different high schools because of substance abuse, drug abuse, and selling liquor to other students."

Substance abuse led him to a downward spiral that saw him lose his job in 2005, constantly steal from his parents, sell all his household goods, drink his Sh320,000 bob severance package down to the last red cent, and later, to sustain his habit, get into petty theft.

When Kenneth almost died in Nairobi because of his alcohol addiction and rough living, his family took him in. Again. But the vicious cycle worsened.

"At that point, my father gave up. He told me that he had tried in vain to help me, and he had now given me permission to drink myself to death."

Three months later, in December 2008, Kenneth's father died.

"Those last words haunted me so much. Years passed but what spurred me to change my life was when in 2012, I saw a friend whose life had been ruined because of substance and drug abuse.

 He looked good...and clean. I had to find out how he had gotten his life together. And that is how I learnt about Teen Challenge Kenya (TCK).

TCK is a faith-based 12-month residential rehab for men and women, 18 years and above. TCK was started in 1998 by John and Ann Martins, and the institution now has one women's and two centres for men.

"I got into the one-year program. The program is voluntary, which is why it has a high success rate. It is a Christian program.

After six weeks, I was allowed one five-minute phone call over the weekend, but I could only speak to an immediate family member. They also allowed for a visit from an immediate family member."

In the fourth month, he was permitted to go home for one day, and he was accompanied by a member of the staff of TCK.

In the last month, clients are there only from Monday to Thursday, and they go home over the weekend. This is how they start reintegrating persons into the society. Today, Kenneth is a counsellor at the centre.

Discipline is crucial to recovery

Jorgs Ark Rehabilitation Centre is situated in the serene Tigoni neighbourhood. When Erica Mwebia*, 29, went to Jorgs three years ago because of a drug addiction, she had reached the end of her rope.

"The first step I was taken through was an intake interview and assessment where psychiatric and medical exams and a drug test were done."

"I was the typical rehab and relapse case; I had been in and out of other rehabs two times," Erica confesses. "

To best evaluate my situation, the experienced counsellors at Jorgs spoke with some of my close family members so they could get to the bottom of my addiction and, most importantly, plan how they could get me out of this demon which had cost me practically everything."

"I was introduced to heroin by my boyfriend while in my early 20s. He was a foreign national and the hustler type ... the type that you don't really know what they're doing, but they always have money to burn," Erica says. "It started as a weekend thing, and then, before I knew it, I was hooked."

When her boyfriend was deported in 2010, Erica was left with an expensive habit on her lap and nothing in her wallet to sustain the habit.

 She went the route that many addicts take; pilfering and selling anything that she could lay her hands on. She sunk further into this pit when she got into commercial sex work, using the proceeds to buy drugs.

Fortunately, her family did not give up on her. After relapsing a couple of times, they brought her to Jorgs.

Erica says that she benefitted from the group therapy sessions and one-on-one counselling at Jorgs. Hearing other addicts sharing their experiences made her realise that she was not an oddity.

"The activities at the rehab are programmed down to the last minute, which made me put some discipline into my life. From the workshops, I got to know that what I was dealing with was not a starehe but a disease."

"When I got out after three months, I was clean. But my counsellor made me realise that the real job was staying clean on the outside.

I made drastic lifestyle choices, like dropping some friends and hangouts, which has prevented me from relapsing."