In an attempt to get the focus of rehabilitation out of big institutions and into the home, Mrs. Mumbi Mwangi has introduced a rehab center at Kimbimbi in Mwea East Sub-County Kirinyaga County.
Mwangi the founder of Azriel Counseling Rehabilitation and Treatment Center said she came up with the idea of establishing the facility after realizing what suffering drug addicts were going through due to a lack of professional services.
Mwangi said she came to understand the magnitude of the problem when she headed a local school for several years and realized how desperate some of the parents became in dealing with some of the social problems affecting their children.
She said since the establishment of the institution at her home in 2019, they have managed to restore the health of several victims involved in alcoholism, drugs, and even domestic violence.
“We have engaged local extension officers who are able to attend to the victims from their localities and only admit those we realize require total isolation from their environment,” she said.
She said the facility currently has 18 patients undergoing different treatments for the first three months before they are released to their homes where they continue with home-based care for further rehabilitation and reintegration back into society.
“At times we have tried to assist the victims without admitting them to any kind of local rehabilitation centers. Our supervisors make home visits and work directly with families of people with addiction,” explained Mwangi.
However, when additional assistance is needed, the local supervisor gets in touch with us and we are able to admit the victim to our center,” Mwangi said. The arrangement, Mrs. Mwangi noted, has helped to reduce the cost in terms of distance, cost, fear, or failure of the support system.
She said referral to large city hospitals or centers has in the past been out of reach for many of the victims thus the strong argument in favor of setting up a small village or community-based rehabilitation centers.
“It is a visible, practical, low-cost base for coordinating rehabilitation activities in the home, and for providing backup services outside the home,” she said.
She said Kenyans should understand that drug addiction was just like any other ailment and as such, victims should not be mistreated nor discriminated against.
Mwangi Kariuki is one such survivor who was brought to the institution after he could no longer concentrate in school. Mwangi dropped out of school in form two after engaging in Miraa chewing and could not stop however hard he tried.
“I was brought here by my mother and I am responding well to the program since I no longer have the urge I used to have when I was admitted here at Azriel,” Mwangi said.
Diana another patient, who only preferred to be addressed by her first name said she had an alcohol problem which led to the breakup of her family and the loss of her job.
Diana, a mother of two said it was her friends who took her to the rehab center where she has since overcome the problem and would soon be going home back to her children.
“I have seen it all, especially some victims who are brought to this center by armed policemen and relatives due to their high degree of violence but they sober up after our professional staff start administering the required treatment to them,” observed Mwangi.
By Irungu Mwangi
