Page 19 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 28
P. 19
Community
teens are “self-medicating” by turning to
substance abuse as a way of escaping the
pain of the tycoon and social cruelty. These
are children and teens who are addicted to
their excess flood tides of stress hormones,
adrenaline and cortisol.
The Elnino flood tides are washing away
hopes effortlessly without hesitancy because
the stressed environment no longer hosts any
vegetation. We continue to watch the heavenly
tears of floodwaters carry away chronicles we
once held dear, never realizing what corruption
and violation of city plans are costing us.
These construction sites are undermining our
psychological and physiological health and
family cohesion by interfering with healthy
human development. We are creating and
nurturing a hostile environment while ignoring
the realities of our pains. Substance abuse in
our cities among children and teens is about
the vulnerable seeking relief and hope to
manage the painful inner turmoil created by
illegal construction approvals and the tycoon’s
humiliation of human development.
ISSUE 28 | JUNE 2024 19
