Theo`s recovery story is one that has left everyone who knows him truly inspired. Heroin is one of the hardest drugs to quit as it is both physically and mentally addictive. So very few are able to quit and stay clean.

Theo a former Vuka Skhokho volunteer, had a bad Nyaope relapse two years ago. That literally left him homeless and living on the streets of Alexandra. He found himself the victim of mob beatings and foraging in dustbins for a living.

Theo grew up in Kelvin, a Sandton suburb, went to good “schools” and came from a loving and stable home. The type of boy one would never could never become a heroin addict. Unfortunately, addiction does not pick and choose. Like all too many of his friends, some of whom have passed on, he found himself deep in throes of something that nearly destroyed his life.

In the midst of COVID 19 Theo started eating at one of soup kitchens and it was there he was able to ask for help. He exercised such patience and determination even volunteering with Vuka Skhokho again whilst on the waiting list to get into rehab. That process took even longer than usual because rehabs were not full staffed because of the lockdown.

Theo is now four months sober and clean and working towards starting his own organisation doing work in drug and substance abuse himself.