Reach your Dreams

Social Media for Social Change - Video

Marlon Parker talks to Nick Booth about Impact Direct in South Africa from Podnosh on Vimeo.

OUR FINNISH GUEST

We were privileged to have a very special guest with us this week.Her name Eija from Finland.She heard about Marlon Parker and The Reconstructed project and was interested to see what we do in and around the Impact Centre.

We picked her up from the Sweet Orange Guest house in Seapoint where she was staying while she was in Cape Town.We brought her to the Imapct Centre and spoke her through some of the projects that we are currently busy with.Then it was time to take her on a "field trip" in and to the surrounding areas that we work in.One of thee areas i took her to is Kewtown,one of the areas that we are doing lots of work in,including counseling,feeding and all types of ministry.

Our guest was not feeling to well on hewr day out on the Cape Flats due to bronchitis and we had to get her back to her guesthouse.It is always good to have guest from over seas with us and we really enjoyed Eija.We are hioping that she will be coming bacj to come and do some training with us next time she comes to Cape Town.

God bless you my friend:-)

A True Hero

This evening as I was reflecting an exciting day presenting at the SAFIPA conference and being part of this year's Mail & Guardian Young South Africans to take to lunch I realised who are our true heroes.



With so many extraordinary individuals around us, I would like to commend and honour one of our Reconstructed Team members for putting others before himself. Craig "King" Ross lost his father yesterday and the sudden loss of a father, husband and friend is a very traumatic experience. Craig selflessly came to offer support today via our Drug Advice Service (DAS) helping many people (1293 messages today alone) across the nation even though he lost his father. The manner which he serves his community and others in South Africa is incredible. Yet very few people would give credit to the work he is doing and the lives he is touching and this without expecting anything in return. Therefore this post is to honour Craig for showing us what true Reconstruction is all about that he would put others before himself in the midst of a time of mourning for the Ross family.

He is a true example of a son for his father the late Mr. Ross and we know that he will carry on a legacy through the work he is doing reconstructing communities. Craig "King" Ross you are a true hero to many and your father is proud of you. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family during this time.

Reconstructed PodCasts for Empowerment

Here are the podcasts by the Reconstructed Team:

Episode 1: In the beginning (Brent, Monique, Craig, Reagen and Bradley)

Episode 2:Prof. Alexander address at Reconstructed Graduation 2008

Episode 3:The story of Craig Ross

Episode 4:The story of Brent Williams

Episode 5:The story of Monique Theron

Episode 6:The story of Bradley Naidoo

Episode 7:The story of Reagan Allen

You can follow the reconstructed on Twitter (@reconstructed)

Total Transormation in Christ: From Drug Dealer to Drug Counselor

This is a story published by Marlo Wallace Boux on her blog...The Joyful Christian Wife .She is the host of The God Talk Radio show that is based in Winnipeg,Canada.I just want to thank her for given me the opportunity to share my story with everyone out there.May God bless her and all the wonderful work that she is doing.Here is the story that was published

Note to JCW readers: Originally, I wanted to bring this story to you in audio podcast format, however, a difficult phone connection made this very challenging. Instead, I present Brent William's story in a written interview.

Brent Williams hales from Cape Town, South Africa. He is a former methamphetamine addict and an ex gang member. He is, however, so much more that those things. He is the son of a loving mother who risked her own life to see him through those days and journey with him to where he is today. He is also first and foremost a devout Christian. Now a drug counselor, himself, Brent works to help others get off the destructive path that he, himself once walked.

JCW: Brent, describe your life with gang and meth before you handed it over to the Lord.

BW: My life was totally out of control. I was one of the first meth dealers in the area where I live. I got involved in various horrible gang activities and was harming everyone around me. And being on meth and other hard drugs for eight years did not help one bit. I became so dependent on drugs that nothing else mattered to me.

I had been trying for numerous of years to come off from drugs and was struggling all the time. There were times that I would stop for a month, or two months at a time, but then would find myself doing drugs again. After this happened I would go into a pitiful state where I would go on a binge and would wonder how this could happen again. I would condemn myself and would say things like: "Will I DIE doing drugs?"

I became withdrawn from the family and my gang became my life and family. I respected the gang members more than I did my own mother and father. Because I was using so long, I also became psychologically unstable. I would go on all sorts of 'trips'. I always thought that people were out to kill me. I even started to think that the people closest to me wanted to kill me.

JCW: Talk about the day you decided to follow Jesus.

BW: That morning I had broke up with my girlfriend. At this point I had already lost everything that was dear to me; my relationship with my parents, my job that I had, and most of my belongings. Losing my girlfriend - for me - was just the last straw.

So I did what most (if not all) drug addicts do when they are faced with issues and problems in their lives; I ran to drugs. I went on a drug binge and this particular day I was feeling at my lowest. The more drugs I did the more depressed I became.

The drugs were not making the pain go away. It was only making it worse. When evening came and I had had enough of the drugs, I went home and told my mom I was going to commit suicide.

She told me not to talk like that as it was foolish. She told me:"Why don't you give Jesus a chance and He will take away all your problems. I asked "what can Jesus do for me" as I have done so many harmful things to others including my mom.

Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

I had nothing to lose and called out on the name of Jesus to help me with my drug addiction. I felt a warmth and love in me that no human could possibly give you and I felt the tangible presence of God. I burst out in tears and commited my life to Christ that evening. The urge and desire to want to do drugs was taken away by the power of Jesus.

JCW: Brent, talk about the transformation – your triumphs and struggles over the past 2 years.

BW: I know that God allowed me to be tested so that I would have a testimony to share with many out there that are still trapped on drugs. I found that everytime I shared my story, healing was taking place within myself. I knew that going back to drugs was not an option for me any longer.

I am presenting hope to a person that is finding himself in a hopeless sitaution. So as long as I am on the face of this earth I will serve Jesus and won't stop spreading the gospel and what Jesus has done in my life.

In terms of the struggles - I have been faced with many tests over the last two years. I realised that I need Jesus Christ every single day of my life. Early this year something happened to me and I thought that it was the end of my walk with Christ. I wondered how God could allow something like this to happpen.

I was thinking I was going to go back to using drugs. But God is faithful. He will allow us to be tested but will always provide a way out. So through all of that I had to trust God with my emotions and had to ask The Holy Spirit to help me.

The word of God also says that what we go through is to shape and mould us and prepare us for the purpose and plans God has for our lives. So I am back on track and can already see how God is working in my life. So, yes, this is a narrow road that I am walking on and it can be difficult at times but i just have put my trust in God.

JCW: Would you talk about your work at the Impact Center?

BW: I am currently a drug counsellor at The Impact Centre. Myself and friend Bradley Niadoo are also running the Daily Drug Programme. This is where recovering addicts come in on a daily basis to break being caught up in the vicious cycle of drugs.

We start our day off with a daily devotion and commit the day to God. We then take a break and they come back for life skills training and then we have reflections of the day and what they have learned.

I am also working in schools where we do in-house counselling with problematic youth who gets sent to us. We also do online counselling and am one of the counsellors on that particular project. I am also very involved in the ministry side of the Centre. I consider everything I do at the Centre ministry.

**You can hear Brent give his testimony courtesy of Impact Direct Ministries Podcast.

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I want to thank Brent for sharing his personal story. If you would like to learn more about him you can find him online at his blog. If you are on twitter you can follow Brent and read what he is doing with Impact Center.

Reconstructed we salute you

Firstly a huge thank you to everyone who has voted for this blog, you have truly made a huge impact on the lives of The Reconstructed Team. Just to be mentioned in the same breath as blogs such SARocks, Thought Leader (by Mail and Guardian), Moral Fibre and all the others is a humbling experience for us (see image above), taking in consideration that this blog is managed by young men and women who just over a year ago had very little to live for.

For many of them this highlighted that through using a simple medium such as blogging and engaging with others using social media that their lives will be changed and their voices will be heard again. They can leave a positive footprint and slowly begin to re-write (re-blog) their lives which for many is needed after a dark and cold past. To think that in this group 90% of its contributors have not completed school or formal education, had a past caught up in substance abuse, gang related activities and crime. This is just a breath of fresh air to see how their lives have been reconstructed and how they are now using what they've been taught and teaching others who has joined the Reconstructed Team.

To all the young men and women of the Reconstructed, I salute you for a job well done!! You've shown that change is possible and that there is always hope for those who believe that all is lost.

Finalist for SA Blog Awards 2009

Thanks to all who nominated us for the SA Blog Awards. This is a great testimony having young men and women who's lives were destroyed by substance abuse and gangsterism, and through blogging have began a journey of reconstruction (Some of our bloggers in picture above).

So to help us make this journey even more memorable please vote for us http://www.sablogawards.com/2009/ for the "Best Group Blog" or click on the widget on the right and follow the instructions. You will receive a confirmation email that you have to respond to to confirm your vote. Thanks for voting.

Mom 2.0 - Blogging Video

Mother’s drug agony ends in Praise

Whenever I see this picture it gives me hope. Hope for every mother or father out there who has a child caught up in drugs or gangs. This is the amazing story by Allida Williams:

As a mother, I always had great expectations and high hopes for Brent, my only son. And almost 9 years ago I was faced with the nightmare that my son was on drugs.

Everyday I would watch Brent visit neighbours, which I naively thought to be innocent and safe. Suddenly his behaviour changed, he became aggressive and withdrew from the family. He frequently asked me for money and became careless about his appearance.

I only accepted the reality once I saw Brent deteriorating before my very eyes. I was forced to accept that my son was addicted to drugs and that help was needed.

This motivated me to do research on drugs and contacted various rehabilitation institutions in order to rid my son from this curse. We were unable to place him in any rehabilitation institutions due to fees being too costly. My state of health weakened as depression overtook me and the hope for my son’s future disappeared.

Brent became involved in gang related activities, lost his job and started selling drugs one after the other. Hallucinations haunted him almost everyday which resulted in him imagining that there were people trying to kill him.

Brent threatened to kill his father and myself on numerous occassions, this was the extent the drugs called TIK controlled him. He lost all respect for his family and the community. I was ashamed of my son. I became fearful and heart sore as I watched my son’s life being destroyed by TIK.

Every night I would cry myself to sleep and I continually blamed myself for his state of mind, a situation in which I was totally helpless. For 8 years Brent had to feed his drug habit, leading to greater harm, fear and pain to us.

One day I found him with cuts on his legs, bleeding and claiming that he accidentally hurt himself. Knowing that he lied, I realized that my son was at breaking point, as he continued to threaten to kill himself. There was absolutely nothing he or I could do to save him from his destructive drug abuse and related activities. I knew that only a miracle could set him free, thus urging him to call out to God.

The very moment he broke down and cried out to the Lord Jesus for help, God sent help his way. A family friend Terrence Hendricks (who belongs to Impact Direct Ministries), told us about a place that could help him. Brent was taken to the Impact Direct Ministries (founded by Pastor Roger Petersen) walk-in-centre where he was counselled and supported. Since then Brent was equipped by Pastor Roger Petersen and other mentors to become a leader himself.

He was sent on several community-based and leadership courses that helped him to plough back into his community. Together with other young men who were also helped by Impact Direct Ministries and under the leadership and guidance of Pastor Roger Petersen: they now go to schools, organizations, companies, clubs and shopping malls where they do presentations and outreaches on drugs and the effects it has on you. Through these outreaches they have helped many drug addicts and families.

I am so grateful to the Lord for giving my son and our family victory over the monstrous affects caused through my son’s past drug addiction. Instead of fear and tears of sorrow, our home is now filled with so much love, peace and a hope of a great future for our family. And this is my prayer for every mother and family.

Brent’s Profile:
Name: Brent Williams
Age: 30 Yrs
Area: Bridgetown, Athlone
Substances: TIK, LSD, Alcohol, Mandrax, Exstacy, Cocaine(Crack)
No. of years: 8 years addicted


Its amazing to see how both Brent and his mom are now engaging with technology using it as a medium to share their stories to give hope to other families.

Drug Advice Support (DAS) celebrates 20 000 conversations

Yesterday DAS celebrated 20 000 conversations since its inception. What makes this such a great achievement is that it was done by young men and women who many thought had no hope for a changed life, but whose reconstructed lives are now touching a nation. We are not just celebrating the fact that we've reached another milestone in this project but also the lives of the reconstructed team, who against all odds conquered the fight against drug addiction and crime. Today they are beacons of hope in our communities and to many others who feel all hope is gone. This is a testimony that a Reconstructed Life leads to a Reconstructed community. Well done to the DAS team on this great achievement. Follow us on twitter @reconstructed

SA Blog Awards 2009

We have decided to nominate The Reconstructed Blog for the South African Blog Awards 2009. Please click on our Gadget on the right and vote for us. You will receive a confirmation email which you have to click to confirm your nomination.

The Reconstructed Podcast Episode 6: The Man of the Moment

As we continue with on our journey of reconstructing lives of communities, we continue the Podcast series with the story of Reagen Allen.

Atlone Living Lab: Change is Possible

Bradley Naidoo sharing how change is possible no matter what the circumstances.

Reconstructed Podcast Episode 6 "Bradley Naidoo: The Man of the Moment"

Throughout your life you meet people that enters and leaves your personal space, but very seldom you meet a man of the calibre of Mr. Bradley Naidoo. Listen to his story

Episode 6:The story of Bradley Naidoo

Using Free and Open Source Software to fight drug abuse

An article appeared in the UWC campus newsletter...

"An increase in gang and drug activity on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape Province has been causing tension within communities. These activities have a negative impact on citizens in these communities and contribute to a sense of helplessness. Reconstruction or rehabilitation of ex-drug addicts and ex-gangsters are challenging due to communities with tension not being able to empower these citizens or the addicts themselves being unwilling to be rehabilitated. This presented the opportunity for the use of technology as part of the helping substance abusers to rebuild their lives.

A project called DAS@Mxit was the brain child of Marlon Parker, an IT lecturer from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The project uses mobile and web technologies, including the popular cell phone chat application Mxit. In collaboration between CPUT and UWC's Free Software Innovation Unit in ICS, a system was developed to offer counselling, advice, frequently asked questions for people impacted by drug and substance abuse. DAS@Mxit is aimed at (but not limited to) MXit users. This allows a user to send and receive text and multimedia messages to and from PCs and phones via the Internet, rather than with standard SMS technology." ...

Paul and Wesley, key architects and developers on the DAS project (Source:dkeats.com)

Life Changing

This young man responded to an invitation for prayer during the open air held in Carnation Square today. He decided to recommit his life to God.

Find your Angel on MXit

Last Friday, 12 December 2008, at the graduation of The Reconstructed we launched a new 24hour service "Angel". The Angel project on MXit was birthed out of the need that many of our young people need to be informed about the dangers of substance abuse on a platform that they will be able to interact with. Angel is a collaboration between CPUT, MXit and Impact Direct that provides MXit users with information concerning: substance abuse, HIV/Aids, Abuse, depression, stress and coping.

Each of these topics are then further explored. For example Substance Abuse have topics such as "What is Substance Abuse?, What is Addiction?, Type of Substances, Stages of drug dependency, Signs of Drug Use and categories of drugs. Under the Type of substances Angel gives more details about the most common drugs and this will be updated on a regular basis. Each of these substances are then further broken down. Each drug will be described and discussed (Street names, how it is used, characteristics, short term effects, long term effects and withdrawal symptoms).

Other than just giving more information about the various topics Angel also provide a "Find your Angel" service which gives users of Angel contact numbers to various services in the different provinces. We realised that many people don't know where to go to for help when facing certain social issues and we're trying to help people especially our youth with the info in a way that they are comfortable with.

Angel is an additional service to DAS (Drug Advice Support which only runs Tue and Thu 3-5pm) and runs 24/7 and no cost involved to subscribe to the service. We are excited to see how Angel will be used to change lives accross our nation.

First Reconstructed Podcast

As part of the Reconstructed Graduation we launched our first official Podcast with the help of Jayne Morgan from Podcart, who did an awesome job with our reconstructed team capturing the essence of what we do in Communities In Tension (CiT).

Our first podcast gives an introduction to 5 of the Reconstructed team whose lives have been reconstructed and who's using technology now to empower their communities. This podcast will impact your life and its amazing to see how technology can be used to transform the lives of individuals. TO download our first Podcast go to Impact Direct.

Graduatio,Graduation,Graduation

The social media graduation is still on my mind if i could have my way i will blog posts about it the whole of next year.the pics and the rest of the stories will follow soon