Create interest as content teaching to the next generation of fundamental touches. Using the channels available to inspire people to get out. And more determined to do something here for the next generation. Is for the environment series of global 3000. 00 on. This news africa coming up in the next 15 minutes carol with use is shooting up in south africa a new study has found its wreaking havoc in communities across the country all the police making the problem worse. At a beauty contest in ivory coast thats about a natural hit that is how black women where they are dividing them. Hello christine want to welcome to news africa its good to have you along. Sherrilyn is having a devastating effect on communities across south africa thats the conclusion off a study by an e. U. Funded projects known as in that they base their findings on interviews with gang member drug divas uses and what they also found the government and role in force meant all saving cycle problem a drug court made off low grade heroin is presenting a particular challenge and just a warning that some of us may find some images in our report distressing. A backyard and so wet oh south africas largest township Twin Brothers marvin and eagle come here every day to get to mars and. Its a form of low grade heroin with other substances and its far cheaper than pure reforms of the truck. Its sold widely across south africa and theres little fear of prosecution. From. These small soon to take the stuff from. The stuff is right. It is a source of according to a recent study poor policing is behind the growing heroin crisis in south africa of their 4 euros daily income as car guards marvins an eagle spend half on. The one who takes the 1st hit draws blood into the syringe he then injects this into his brothers vein this dangerous practice is called bluetooth ing it saves money but transmits deadly diseases the twins hope to be able to get clean one day. The dummy chosen. Out the insight. Now of things i want to move you know in a few days im ted and you know it because you know these danger thats north of pretoria the organization i guess a job encourages drug users to never give up hope the founder moses the slow slow was an addict and dealer himself it all changed when he was caught with 60 kilograms of marijuana at a london airport in 2006 after spending 4 years in jail he returned to south africa and decided to help other addicts turn their lives around. If you like im not over the ocean like you or you know it is there today in your life let so slow strategy for reaching out to fellow addicts a simple. Listening to them making them feel the someone wants to listen to me you know because of the way some goes they are victims of circumstances. Back with the 2 brothers eagle takes the 1st hit. Then he injects his intoxicated blood into Marvin Marvin stayed clean for 6 weeks at the beginning of the year but after watching eagle get high every day he started taking drugs again but soon the brothers want to stay off drugs together before its too late. My 1st guest today is sean sheedy he is the founder of the south africa drug policy make its in a way it is for a grab welcome to the africa show and so how widespread is the problem off heroin and yelp use in south africa. Well you dont actually know what it says sydney increasing we havent got accurate figures there is theres no doubt of that one can rely on but we know that it is certainly increasing and there is an abundance of supply and were picking up more and more issues around the use of heroin in south africa right sean said he as weve seen it from the protectionist an hour of port Law Enforcement isnt helping. Absolutely not weve got a little problems with the the whole way that drugs or managed and you know we deal with the use of drugs within communities and Law Enforcement eventually become part of the problem becoming just another defector gang in the situation were here with bribery and corruption is is the sort of standard in fact in parts of south africa Law Enforcement called to call drug users 80 ns automatic teller machines while and what effect is this having on South African communities the communities affected by by this heroin and healthy use well you know the issues that the communities as such disintegrating you know we finding more problems in communities and thats driving the heroin use of it which makes people more marginalized and feel more excluded and thats creating even more of a problem and get the real issue is what is making heroin so tract of 2 people and what is it what is it that they finding in it that theyre not getting in the community so i think the case is that they were really problems in the community and these are just exacerbated by the by the availability of a drug which makes things seem right and intolerable circumstances tolerable is sort of the lid its it to its actual and but mine its place and she was really going to be why now while were being told that right now heroin use is shooting up in south africa why is it so rampant now when. Well youve got a confluence of factors 1st of all weve obviously got no porous borders theres more trade taking place weve got more illicit products coming out of africa in general with products that kind of thing and often that is paid for with with drugs because its easier to use than a casual friend and weve got these poorest borders plus weve got a community that are feeling disenfranchised and involved and connected and that together creates a kind of perfect storm for the and you importance of drugs in peoples lives so i think that that really come together with increasing organization were seeing the rise of drug use because it provides meaning and purpose in peoples lives michael look like it from the outside but when theyre lacking meaning and purpose in day to day activities theyre going to look for deals with shawn quickly what can the South African government do. Well i think the 1st thing theyre going to do is look at alternative approach to drugs and we know that putting people in jail for drug use is not helping drives the situation it becomes the perfect recruiting ground for gangsters and means economic exclusion Going Forward in the formal economy so weve really got to find a different way of approaching it because i have no prevention programs which start at school level and that does not mean say no to drugs prevention programs dont even involve talking about drugs they involve building stronger and better communities all right sean thank you thank you. Now a beauty contest recently held in abidjan was all about natural. Snappy 29000 was crowned in the ivory coast its the 2nd edition of the competition and this is when it was cecilia. Organizers say the contest is aimed at scent of writing natural hair. In a moment ill be talking to a woman who has written and commented on the subject of african hair but 1st lets listen to the 1st run up off miss nappy 2019. Metro girls of beautiful to no need to do all this things to ohare straightening using chemicals we have beautiful naturally. My guest today is kessin lawrence shes a musician employers and has written a book for children in the black so i asked for a welcome to the efficacy and so so so weve seen that the you know scent of great satan the idea of natural hip but yes not without controversy where do you stand on that well for me natural hair is the symbol of brazilians and a symbol of power and as the black Panther Party for example in the seventys and eightys they all wore their afros out and as a symbol of power because when during the times of slavery that was taken away from us we were stripped of our basic humanity which is just our natural hair going out of our head and so for me like natural hair is just a sign of resilience and power but not about the black women who say i get that in that i want to win my history and i one way it waves and waves of why should these woke women from this and that didnt dictate to me what the new standards while i dont think that if the natural woman from the local movement thats dictating anything i think its the media and for me personally women can wear their hair or however they feel makes them feel or whatever they want to that makes the regular the most beautiful i wear wigs all the time i wear wigs weaves and braids orange red purple whatever i want to and its just how im feeling in the moment and i think that has to do a lot of women feel ok ok i mean you talked about the policy it with this this thing about some of the most powerful black women that you and i can identify with in this day and age of talking about you know Oprah Winfrey is and you know Michelle Obamas if you have a does it does it does it matter that weve not seen. These women where they had natural like you have you here now i dont think so because it doesnt matter and this is why because these women represent people of color regardless black women specifically regardless of how our hair looks they are women who are strong who are resilient who are intelligent and them have been straight hair out for hair doesnt really matter it is just showing us in a light that is so beautiful and i think thats a great shot but i want to ask you this i mean you have you. Right now have you ever at some point in your life i caught me in my hair like this this is going to work yes so when i started officially working and when i was a teenager because of the way society conditioned me as an individual as a black woman i was thought to be not beautiful have the natural hair i was in school teased about my hair being nappy i was in school i teased about my skin being too dark and for a long time i fought with these insecurities and i felt like i needed to have straight here in order to be beautiful especially to men and i think thats where the narrative about our black bodies has been pushed so long in society especially by white men the narrative is the white european standard of beauty and i was so conditioned to that until i started my journey of natural in this when i started to not wear too much makeup or i started to grow my natural hair shaved my head and it was just you so would you say that thats a political statement how you really mean it in the stand yes for me it is a political statement however as i said before i do like to wear weaves and i do like to wear wigs and so on because it protects my hair and thats just the truth so when it protects my hair im allowed to have it flourish like the way it should now where in wigs and weaves is not an issue for me. Its just like for me have been natural and im walking through side if you like powerful right now so it is really. Ok so. As in darrens thanks for that i thank you. And that is it for now from days of news africa you can catch all our stories on our website and Facebook Page will leave you now with another look at some of the different ways we can whale has got them until next time i. Am. Its one of germanys most popular travel destinations. The city on the danube is experiencing at tourism. What attracts a visitor to this unesco World Heritage site our host nicole flourish looks around tries local specialities and is impressed its going to be a journey for 2000 years of history. On. What secrets lie behind small. Discover new adventures in 360 degree. And explore fascinating World Heritage sites. Double your World Heritage 360 get enough now