John Mwangi, 24 years, lives in Kihara in Kiambu, Kenya with his family. He does construction and labour jobs for a living and is a patient at MSF´s Methadone Assisted Therapy clinic in Kiambu.
"I started first with other drugs, then transitioned to heroin when I was introduced by a friend. I was working and then one day he came and told me that he had found a better drug. He told me to come with 80 shillings. I went and tried, that is how I was introduced."
When using heroin, work became difficult and so he quit. He still needed money to buy drugs, but as he had no source of income, he joined a gang.
"We used to go at night and break into people´s houses. One of my friends was killed in the process. From there I left the gang and went to Nairobi where there is a lot of heroin. I met a boy from our hometown who snatches phones and he taught me. One day I was caught, beaten, and I stayed in a ditch for a week, unable to move. That was my changing point. I thought I was going to die."
He says that the family had excommunicated him because he had stolen a lot of things from them including his parents cooking gas and his grandmother´s goat. At some point he also used to hide from them whenever he saw them. He then decided to seek help.
"I was afraid of MAT because my friend had overdosed and died. There were a lot of myths about MAT, including that people thought he had died because he started attending a MAT clinic. However, I started noticing that everyone who was in the MAT program was going back to normal. I wanted that for myself, so I tried it," he says.
John started to get treatment in Nairobi, but later moved to MSF´s MAT clinc which is closer to home. This is what he has to say to the people who are still using heroine or would want to start.
"Heroin will destroy your life, the people who get hurt the most are your family and your parents. The MAT clinic helps people. It helps you restore your relationship with family. Even if you don’t believe in it you should give it a chance. Because drugs at the end of the day are death. But with the MAT clinic, there is hope."
He adds that his future plan is to buy his mother a piece of land, marry and build a house for his kids.
"I would also love to have a school to be a counsellor Even if it will change just one life the way mine was changed. I would like to thank MSF for the clinic because we were really struggling and a lot of guys struggle. We are slowly going back to who we were before we came under the influence of drugs."
Opened in September 2019, the MSF Methadone Assisted Therapy (MAT) clinic in Karuri aims to reduce the morbidity and mortality of people addicted to heroin. The facility incorporates opioid substitution therapy and outpatient care including services for HIV, TB, mental health, wound care, sexual and reproductive health, NCDs, Hepatitis C, social support, and counselling. Currently, MSF has enrolled 455 patients into the program.