It’s never too late to say no

Stay away from drugs! This is Janine Mouton’s warning to young people. Janine knows what she is talking about as she  battled with addiction since the age of 25. “Drugs were more potent then, you just smoke a bit and you’ll be high,” she reflects. Janine’s story has a happy ending though. With the help of her uncle and aunt, she is free from drugs and today is involved in community outreach programmes against alcohol and drug abuse, with Circular Friends, a support centre based in Katutura. “When you’re a junkie, you feel like you’re nothing, but now I feel like I’m someone again,” Janine said. (Picture): Janine Mouton, left with Shirley Saadi, whose parents have always believed and stood by Janine during her trying times. (Photograph by Johanna Ileka)