Luvu Tells Of Old Life With Substance Abuse
A mother’s personal experience in dealing with drug issues at an early age has prompted her to ensure that her children do not go through the same experience she went through growing up.
Karalaini Luvu, a mother of nine, on Friday showed her full support for her daughter who was in Kindergarten at the Nasinu Sangam Primary School for International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (IDADAIT).
Ms Luvu said during her childhood there wasn’t much awareness on drugs.
“The environment I grew up in wasn’t something I wanted my children to grow up in.
“I have made mistakes although unknowingly, I was lucky enough to realize it myself by just seeing what drugs actually did to people.
“I didn’t hide my experience from my children. I explained to them and told them my whole story of what I’ve been through in my childhood and how important it is to make the right decision,” she said.
She believes home is where children are taught about drugs and peer pressure is not always the cause.
“People say it’s about peer pressure but it’s not. It all depends on their home manners, the way we bring our children up, the teachings, the love and the messages we give our children matters.
“It’s a lie that it’s always peer pressure because I have gone through it and I believe it’s about how one approaches drug addicts.
“I have seen how violent people become when they are on drugs and I feel lucky I realized drugs were serious enough to ruin my life,” she said.
Ms Luvu said drugs are scary, that children don’t deserve to grow up in such an environment and awareness on drugs amongst children saves lives.
“My eight children have studied at this school (Nasinu Sangam Primary School) and I had been supporting them all throughout but what I noticed was that it’s always about marching, posters etc.
“Some children find it hard to understand things that well, so it’s better for them to see.
“ I wanted to come up with something which will help children better understand through visualisation, so the kindergarten was set up into two sections that were one for drug addicts, which is all black stating that they’ll be distanced from their loved ones and another side for drug-free, which is all about happiness, peace and love.
“I want them to know the reality of drugs closely,” she said.
Nasinu Sangam Primary School
Headteacher for Nasinu Sangam Primary School, Kaushila Lal, said it is important that children know and learn about drugs and its consequences from an early age.
Ms Lal said the weeklong program at the school focused on educating the children in the most creative ways to avoid being influenced by drugs and what harm it does to them.
“We want children to know drugs are a no, and that there are many ways that they can avoid being influenced into drugs and bad habits.”
“We tried to make the school into an environment to make them better understand, children at this age like things which are portrayed in a colorful or interesting manner.
“For the weeklong awareness, children had different themed colored ribbons to be won, hats, accessories and oratories by children from different years.
“Children are the best ones to create awareness,” she said.
The theme for this year’s IDADAIT is Understanding and Sharing Facts on Drugs: Save Lives.
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