Philemon Njoroge
Hi, my name is Njoroge and I was born on 23rd of March 1990. I was raised in Makadara area which is along Jogoo Road and went to a local primary school called St Micheal’s Primary School. At this institution is where I had my first encounter with the booze. My father enjoyed his bottle almost as much as I do now and seldom send me to the local wines and spirits to get him his favorite sachets, at the time hot liquor was sold in plastic bags that we referred to as sachets.
At the age of 12 years old I drunk my first alcohol on my usual pick up errand for my father at the local wines and spirits. I tore a small hole into the sachet that I had bought for my father and had a taste. This was the beginning of my long love affair with alcohol. Throughout that year I would sip through the sachet and when I got home would hurriedly put it into a glass and add some water as I served my dad, he never found out that I was shorting him on the sachets I bought for him.
I continued with my trickery until class seven when I met a partner in crime by the name Peris, she was my new desk-mate and we shared a common love for alcohol at an early. She also had easy access to alcohol like me since her father was a drunk too and used to regularly send her to the wines and spirits to get him liquor. She was very resourceful and would carry some alcohol everyday for the both of us to drink, Our favorite time to drink was always during P.E.
Alcohol was a usual part of my life by the time I had cleared my class 8 exams and during that holiday me and my friends from school would meet up almost daily for the proverbial drink yet we were only teenagers. I also upgraded my social skills this holiday by learning how to smoke bhang in preparation for high school.
I was fortunate enough to join Muchiri Muchiri High School in Ruai where I developed skills of jumping over the school fence to obtain my drugs of choice for me and the rest of my cronies. This continued until 3rd form where I confessed my crimes to the school administration and found salvation, I was suspended for a while but was able to resume and do my form 4 exams without incident.
Shortly after completing high school I found a job at a local car wash at Uhuru Estate and due to peer pressure I was back again on the alcoholism roller-costa and this time I was doing the trifecta of alcohol, bhang and khat (miraa). This was in the year 2010, I had joined a computer college and a driving school where I attained the relevant certificates, however my alcoholism was on the rise and I could not keep a permanent job, most of my jobs were casual. In 2012 I moved to New Kaputei Town in Kisaju as a way to change my environment and maybe reduce my reliance on alcohol. This did not really work in fact it may have had the opposite effect. I was at rock bottom and to support my habit I did many casual jobs including picking up bottles and cleaning the local drinking den in order to get free alcohol. I had been on this winding downward spiral until early this year when due to some trouble accessioned by alcoholism I had to leave New Town Kaputei and move in with my brother at Mukuru Kwa Reuben. The life at Mukuru Kwa Reuben mainly consisted of drinking with my brother and this was not helping my situation,
Luckily through the efforts of my mother and well wishers including a loan facility from Yawezekana sacco, I managed to get a place at Levuka treatment center and I’m very grateful to have received this life changing opportunity.