{"id":5717,"date":"2022-04-21T18:13:05","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T18:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict"},"modified":"2022-04-21T19:47:25","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T19:47:25","slug":"birro-saves-former-drug-addict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict","title":{"rendered":"BIRRO saves former drug addict"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>From graduating top of his class from Limkokwing University to selling sound equipment to feed a ravenous drug addiction, Kgosi Tau found salvation in the hands of the Botswana Institute for Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Offenders (BIRRO). Mmegi Correspondent KATLEGO ISAACS reports<\/b><\/p>\n

Having freshly graduated as valedictorian in sound technology from Limkokwing University in 2020 with prospects to become a big name in the local entertainment industry, Tau\u2019s future seemed promisingly bright right out of school.<\/p>\n

However, while in school, Tau learnt that the entertainment industry is a brutally competitive, fast-paced, and sleepless industry that often needs some form of coping mechanism in order to survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the nature of my course, and just studying sound engineering, you\u2019ll find that a lot of people who are in that field of entertainment mostly deal with substances or are addicted to substances to cope with the environment\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Tau said his journey to addiction started among school peers as alcohol and cigarettes, it slowly progressed its way into regular marijuana use, until Tau found himself snared by the grasp of harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin.<\/p>\n

Battered by his unsuccessful attempts to break his way into the entertainment industry, Tau found himself increasingly desperate for short-term relief from the stress of constant defeat. This translated into more consistent drug use to the point where his addiction found itself clashing with his finances.<\/p>\n

The clash led Tau to sell the sound equipment he had relied on to shoot him into the entertainment industry to feed his growing drug addiction, further exaggerating his desperation.<\/p>\n

As his desperation grew so did his alienation from friends and family until Tau realised he had a problem influenced by the people around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was mostly around such types of [drug] users in school before I graduated, so by the time I finished school and I was valedictorian, I found that now before I could even get a job my addiction was holding me back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I realised I had a problem I went across the country searching around for somewhere that could help me, then I happened to stumble on BIRRO on Facebook and I called their number.<\/p>\n

I spoke to the president of the organisation and told him my story, and he said that he has a programme tailor made for people like me,\u201d Tau recollected.<\/p>\n

Not wasting a second, Tau applied for the BIRRO boot camp programmed in May 2021 and spent the following 10 months being extensively rehabilitated in the organisation\u2019s rehabilitation facility in Bokaa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went through probably the longest rehabilitation period of anyone who had ever been to the boot camp, but I felt great about it.<\/p>\n

They kept me active and away from bad influences, to the point where when it was time to leave, I really couldn\u2019t. I came back and asked them if I could volunteer for them and bring in more people in need and they let me. I\u2019ve been here ever since,\u201d Tao said.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, BIRRO director Mothei Sejakgomo said that BIRRO has seen impressive recovery results over the past year, indicating the effectiveness of rehabilitation. \u201cFrom May 2021, we had 275 students involved in our boot camp Bokaa, 105 of which showed fruitful results while others are still on the path to recovery. We will be moving to Morwa and Mosadi Tshwene to better cater to the needs of recovering addicts.\u201d Sejakgomo stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe encourage parents to let their substance abusing children that are still schooling to come for these boot camps as we have measures to allow students to continue their studies while they recover with us,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main mandate is to help addicts, and to send a message that it is possible to live a happy and sober lifestyle, even when surrounded by these substances,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Sejakgomo\u2019s focus on the mandate of the organisation is aimed at the youth like Tau to keep their noses clean and away from the dangers of addictions. However, the organisation remains committed to rehabilitating former convicts back into society as functional and productive members. He urged the public to offer former convicts a second chance to reintegrate into society to avoid them slipping back into the same habits they had before.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. From graduating top of his class from Limkokwing University to selling sound equipment to feed a ravenous drug addiction, Kgosi Tau found salvation in the hands of the Botswana Institute for Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Offenders (BIRRO). Mmegi Correspondent KATLEGO ISAACS reports Having freshly graduated as valedictorian in sound technology from Limkokwing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-5717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nBIRRO saves former drug addict - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From graduating top of his class from Limkokwing University to selling sound equipment to feed a ravenous drug addict ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BIRRO saves former drug addict\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From graduating top of his class from Limkokwing University to selling sound equipment to feed a ravenous drug addict ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-21T18:13:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-21T19:47:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"BIRRO saves former drug addict\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-21T18:13:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-21T19:47:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict\"},\"wordCount\":734,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict\",\"name\":\"BIRRO saves former drug addict - Botswana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-21T18:13:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-21T19:47:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"From graduating top of his class from Limkokwing University to selling sound equipment to feed a ravenous drug addict ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"BIRRO saves former drug addict\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BIRRO saves former drug addict\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\",\"name\":\"Botswana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BIRRO saves former drug addict - Botswana","description":"From graduating top of his class from Limkokwing University to selling sound equipment to feed a ravenous drug addict ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BIRRO saves former drug addict","og_description":"From graduating top of his class from Limkokwing University to selling sound equipment to feed a ravenous drug addict ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict","og_site_name":"Botswana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-04-21T18:13:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-21T19:47:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"BIRRO saves former drug addict","datePublished":"2022-04-21T18:13:05+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-21T19:47:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict"},"wordCount":734,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Botswana","Botswana"],"articleSection":["all news","community","homepage-english","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict","name":"BIRRO saves former drug addict - Botswana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg","datePublished":"2022-04-21T18:13:05+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-21T19:47:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"From graduating top of his class from Limkokwing University to selling sound equipment to feed a ravenous drug addict ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6261b49922f3f.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"caption":"BIRRO saves former drug addict"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/birro-saves-former-drug-addict#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BIRRO saves former drug addict"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/","name":"Botswana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}