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By Henry Owino
Nairobi, Kenya: Drugs and substance abuse among adolescents and youth in Kibra Sub-County in Nairobi is really a worrying trend. Children as young as five years old are already abusing drugs in their tender age, not knowing its effects.
A few school children have been caught with hard drugs in their bags, some found smoking in washrooms during breaks, yet others swallow drugs that react with any hot drinks. Mostly, these happen due to peer pressure, availability of drugs, environmental influence, and poor parental upbringing.
As part of the church calendar of events held annually, Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) fellows made an effort to sensitize Kibera residents on the effects of drugs and substance abuse.
The SDA church did this through an awareness walk campaign in various streets and estates of Kibera, sensitizing the public on drugs effects. Kibera is an informal settlement with a population capacity of approximately one million from all walks of life.
The misuse of drugs and substances in Kibera slum is almost being normalized as residents abuse them anytime and anywhere, despite being illegal. It is a booming business run by young people, including school-going children.
Kibera Drug Dens
Police officers stationed or operating in Kibera are part of the scheme. They collect money from the sellers as bribes, while others are drug barons under the pretext of patrolling.
The officers usually conceal their identities and possible traps by taking the shortest time imaginable in the drug dens to pick their daily agreement pacts.
According to a local resident who sought anonymity, many chemists within the slum, especially in the Gatwekera area, sell narcotic drugs under the guise of medicinal ones. The regular and well-known customers use coded words given to the drugs while purchasing them.
“Normal buyers or law-enforcers cannot detect the cartel deal even if they are shopping together simultaneously. They collude with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market,” an anonymous person claimed.
For instance, the tap-tap name has been used for so long that many have realized its meaning, hence changed to a new coded word. It helps to dodge strangers noticing the illegal business.
With this trend, the future of the ambitious young generation is bleak and heading to the dogs unless urgent intervention is made to reverse it. Today, there are many school dropouts, poor academic performance and teenage pregnancies, and intimate violence as a result of drug abuse.
Parents have always blamed teachers for not being strict with learners on school attendance and academic performance. On the other hand, teachers blame parents for neglecting their responsibilities at home.
The local authorities argue that parents set bad examples for children who quickly mimic or adopt bad habits. It is high time that concerned institutions intervene and help the young generation from being wiped out by drugs and substance abuse.
Church Intervention Support
It is for this reason that the SDA church took it upon themselves to participate in a drug awareness walk in Kibera. The one-day event held on Sunday, 25 May 2025, provided the necessary information needed by residents.
The drug awareness walk aimed at sensitizing the public was organized by South Nairobi-Kajiado Field (SNKF) and implemented by the Southern Nairobi Station Chapter. Participants came from the seven Districts that make up Nairobi Station, according to the SDA governing administration.
The church Districts represented include: Newlife, Kibera, Mashimoni, Langata, Karengata, Karen Community, among others within the neighborhood.
The theme of the awareness walk was dubbed: “Together, we rise against Drug and Substance Abuse -because Prevention is the best Investment”.
The Scriptural guide came from the Book of 1 Timothy 2:2. This emphasizes the need to pray for one another, authorities, parents, teachers, and children to lead a disciplined, quiet, peaceable life in Godliness and honesty in society, as it pleases the creator.
To achieve the target during the drug awareness walk, the SDA church partnered up with NACADA, the national organization leading in the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the country.
NACADA is a government institution under the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of Government. Its core function is to coordinate a public education and awareness campaign against alcohol, drugs, and substance abuse in the country.
Other partners who sponsored the anti-drug campaign walk include: SNKF Health Ministries, Better Living Hospital, SNKF Youth Ministries Department, EKUC Health Ministries, Jeremic Adventist Academy, Namunyak Medical Centre, CANA Hospital, CfK-Africa, and AAR Healthcare.
Curbing Drugs and Substance Menace
According to Senior Pastor Jacob Akali, Director of Nairobi Station, the drug awareness walk was aimed at creating awareness on the effects of drugs and substance abuse. It was intended to curb drug and substance misuse, abuse, and sales to young people.
Pastor Akali explained that the church’s Department of Health, together with other departments, for instance, pathfinders, ambassadors, and youth, saw it necessary to support and help colleagues who are going astray. He said one is safe when drugs and substance abuse are becoming rampant in a community, especially among young people.
“Our objective of this drug awareness walk is to reach out to our own church members and the community around, to inform them about the effects of drugs and substance abuse. We want it stopped because it is sinful and destructive to life,” Pastor Akali explained.
“We have expertise such as psychotherapists, medics specialized in numerous fields among us here and drawn from various institutions, ready to offer help. They counsel drug addicts and users for either short or long-term therapy depending on one’s situation,” he added.
The NACADA toll-free 1192 is a 24/7 helpline that offers assistance to any person regardless of their situation.
Samuel Kaunga, team leader from Better Living hospital situated at Nairobi Central SDA church, said most abused drugs are marijuana/bhang, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, prescription drugs, inhalants, among others, on the black market.
Kaunga said most people take drugs because they want to change something about their lives. So, they think drugs are a solution. Unfortunately, eventually, the drugs become the problem instead.
“Difficult as it may be to face one’s problems, the consequences of drug use are always worse than the problem one is trying to solve with them. The real answer is to get the facts and not to take drugs in the first place,” Kaunga explained.
Representative from EKUC Health Ministries receives certificate of participation from Pr Jacob Akali, Nairobi Station Director.Kaunga pointed out some of the reasons why young people take drugs: to fit in a group, to escape or relax from troubles, to relieve boredom, to seem grown up, to rebel, to experiment, among others, which never solve the intended problems.
Depending on the amount taken, drugs change normal body functioning. A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down). An even larger amount of poisons can kill.
“The truth about any drug is that only the amount needed to achieve the effect differs,” he emphasized.
Drugs are a liability as they directly affect the mind, distort the user’s perception of what is happening around them, and as a result, the person’s actions may be odd, irrational, inappropriate, and even destructive.
In summary, your drugs are essentially poisons. The amount taken determines the effects.
