Plumstead film-maker Sharon Farr has made a documentary, Spirituality of Recovery, that aired on SABC 2’s Issues of Faith on Sunday August 4 and Monday August 5.
The documentary explores the effects of drug addiction on South Africans.
Filmed at various secular and faith-based rehab facilities, programmes and communities, the film explores how spirituality can be pivotal in achieving and maintaining recovery.
The film’s subjects share their personal journeys of pain and difficulty and how they found and continue to find peace from addiction through spiritual growth.
Most of the addicts follow a 12-
step programme and sustain their recovery through the ongoing support and fellowship they find at support groups like Narcotics Anonymous and other aftercare programmes.
Living Hope Ministries runs a Christian outpatient treatment facility in Muizenberg and an aftercare programme at Lakeview Community Church in Retreat.
It caters mostly to addicts from surrounding communities, including Lavender Hill, Lotus River
and Grassy Park where tik use is high.
Addiction counsellor Jerry Mboweni runs the Living Hope Aftercare Programme and weekly 12-step and life-skills programmes.
The film shows him working with the recovering addicts and telling of his own journey from being a heroin addict living on Athlone’s streets to where he is today.
The film is also shot at the Sultan Bahu Centre in Mitchell’s Plain, Tharagay Place in Kenilworth and with the Marcus Garvey Rasta community in Phillipi.