THE GIFT THAT GROWS
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Woensdag, 14 November 2018 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | e-pos: nuus@tygerburger.co.za
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Black Friday is coming REFORMED DRUG ADDICT: USING LESSONS LEARNED TO HELP OTHERS
From ‘mess’ to a message CARINA ROUX
H
e’s got nothing to hide, for in his ‘‘mess of a life’’ there is a message, says Allan Rehbock (51) from Ruyterwacht. And if you listen to his journey to the present, one can’t help thinking he’s got more lives than a cat. Often people with children involved in drugs and gangsterism think there is no way out, he says. ‘‘Families are so at wits’ end, they don’t know what to do.” But there is hope, and Allan says he is living proof that it is possible. Allan, born to a mixed-race couple in the ’60s, grew up in Simon’s Town. He says he first got involved with drugs at age nine. “By age 11 I was certified a juvenile delinquent for selling drugs at school.” He was sent to a place of safety in Wynberg and transferred to Die Bult Industrial School in George. Here things just escalated, he says. With his dad being a “coloured” man, Allan says he was not fearful to enter the so-called coloured areas to obtain dagga and other drugs. This, he says, elevated him to have that power of authority over others – “not because they were scared of me, but because I could get the product [drugs] they wanted.” He says he used to get some of the boys to break into shops in town – “especially the suit shops because in the ‘African’ areas where I got the drugs from they wanted suits. They paid me ‘richly’ for the suits.” Eventually Die Bult could no longer deal with him and he was sent to Tokai Reformatory. From here he would repeatedly run away and often found himself in the gangand drug-infested areas. Things progressed, and Allan became a driver for a gang figure, picking up and dropping off drugs or money. With anything in life, whether good or bad, there are consequences, says Allan. He was in and out of prison and spent a total of 21 and a half years behind bars. He had a son born while he was in prison who he met for the first time at age six in 1991 when he came out of prison again. Allan picked his son up from the boy’s mother one day and
says they drove around between areas like Lavender Hill, Mitchell’s Plain and Grassy Park. “As I was a driver/bodyguard I became a bit of a wanted figure and they used to open up fire on my car quite regularly,” he says. On that fateful day Allan’s son got shot while he was in the car with him. His anger at his son’s death manifested in Allan becoming more violent himself and having many a close encounter at death’s door. In a long list he mentions his hip being blown off by a shotgun, a shot in the knee, metal plates in his face after losing part of his cheekbone, his car being driven off Ou Kaapse Weg, 89 days in a coma, months in hospital... He lifts his shirt to reveal a scar on his stomach and shows the elevation on his hand where a bullet still rests. In 2000 he was in a head-on collision on his motorbike and was told he would never be able to become a father again. “Me and my wife had two children since – they can’t explain it.” Allan says he has never been religious – “Yes, okay, God is there”. But all these things drew him closer to God and he came “to a point of full surrender.” There are many factors to this, he says, but the main thing is to be obedient to what the Word of God says. He is far from perfect, says Allan, but he’s got a vision of striving to be better than he was yesterday. What he picked up from the gang and drug world is the arrogance, he says – “Jy kan my niks maak nie”. When he looks back he says this was also evident in all his downfalls, “because I thought I was untouchable”. Today Allan says he can implement the lessons he learned to help others fight the battle against addiction. He shares his story at schools and churches and registered a nonprofit organisation called Healing Waters a few months ago. There is a lot of denial around the issue of drug addiction in some of the more affluent areas, says Allan. Here parents often think money can solve all their problems. Allan believes in tough love and follows a
three-phase approach when a parent contacts him about their child who is an addict. First, he will sit down with the parents alone, then with the child and lastly all together. What is needed is an intervention. He says sometimes it can take a week or two or a few months until they get to the point where someone says, “You know what, I do have a problem”. Then they are in a good place, says Allan, “now we can move forward and do a placement”. Allan says he looks at the situation in the home – sometimes there are parents who are alcoholics or on drugs and when the situation is not stable you have to get the addict out. If he sees that the situation at home is stable he can offer an outpatient programme, says Allan. “Especially if they work then you don’t want to cause disruption.” He will then offer sessions in the evening over a sixweek period – three hours a week. The programme he offers is based on his own journey and deals with feelings of rejection, low self-esteem and self-image. Drugs are not the problem, says Allan. V To page 3.
Allan Rehbock
PHOTO: CARINA ROUX