RISE OF A ZOMBIE NATION

(Pic: Shutterstock)

We live in very interesting times where there is no longer a the separation between a movie title and a real-life event.

We live in a time where dying on the job is becoming more and more of a reality due to the amount of money required for people to retire comfortably. While youth unemployment in South Africa is becoming a national crisis which our politicians and business leaders choose to ignore, there is another time the bomb ticking away in the dusty shadows of most townships, moving from one young man to another and one wonders in whose hands it will eventually end up.

When I was in high school drug abuse was something we heard about on TV and read about in newspapers. In those days if you smoked weed you were considered a rebel, in these days people smoke weed as a past time exercise. If you smoked drugs such as cocaine, mandrax, tik; just to name a few; then you were considered to have rich kid problems. Irrespective of the type of drug you did, each came with its own fair share of trouble. Unbearable side effects, some would steel just to get a fix while others would resort to prostitution. Some were eventually able to kick the habit and regain control of their lives, while others were completely shunned by their friends and families resulting in them dying alone in some dark corner. These are interesting times we living in.

Nyaope also is known as Whoonga made its debut around 2010 on the township streets of Durban and after some carefully considered highs made its way into many other South African townships. With the standard of living continuously on a climb, even for a drug user, this drug was destined to be a hit among many of South Africa’s youth who have chosen to forget about their struggles, just for a few hours a day.  

South Africa is no stranger to social ills, and just like any other social epidemic there has been numerous youth support programs developed to try and keep the youth of the country of drugs and focused on positive activities. There have been many educational programs developed to help educate people about the effects of drug abuse (as if people didn’t know already).

Just as the country was starting to gain momentum in the fight against nyaope, in early 2017 a new trend was discovered. I was on my way one morning when I heard the radio presenter having a deep discussion around Bluetooth and I wondered to myself, what could be so fascinating about Bluetooth that we didn’t already know? Ever since I was introduced to the so-called smartphone, I have been sharing different files via Bluetooth, but I have never heard of being able to share blood, and this is when I turned the volume up.

It appears that times have gotten really tough for many in the townships. With the economic climate in the country doubtful to some and volatile food and petrol prices, it seems like the whoonga drug has been upgraded. Bluetooth is the sharing of the high through minor blood transfusions. The blood can be purchased for as little as R10 for 10 millimetres of blood. As concerning as this sounds, what really intrigues me is the level of science that went behind solving these communal high problem whoonga users were facing. I mean, 1 – someone figured out that through blood transfusion they can all be high, 2 – one saw a gap in the market and decided to capitalize by charging a price for a specific amount of blood and through supply and demand created their own source of income. Quite fascinating indeed, but we are dealing with a ticking time bomb of which if ignored will get out of control very quickly. Already HIV patients are being attacked for their ARVs, people’s houses are broken into only to have the gas inside the plasma TV stolen. Considering the amount of medication most people in this country are on, soon people are going to be getting attacked just to have their blood sucked. It would be like a bunch of zombies roaming the streets looking for their next fix. Sounds ridiculous but nowadays desperate times call for desperate measures.

Maybe it is about time that all economies and politics focus on the youth and their positive development and not so much on the old and dying.