2008 newsletter from the Fish Hoek Drug Crisis Centre.

Greetings from the
Fish Hoek Drug Crisis
and Information Center!!!

We do hope you are enjoying a warm holiday season and celebrating with those that you love. During this time we are reminded of those addicts out there still struggling in their addiction. We think of the families of those addicts who spend their days wondering when their children will come home or come right. We think of our brothers in prison, separated from their families, celebrating the holidays behind bars.
Although this is a time when people look ahead to a new year, making resolutions to change certain things in their lives, we’d like to take this opportunity to let you know what 2008 looked like for us, the ups and downs of our ministry and the ways we have seen lives changed for good.
During the month of January we started a course called “Safe People”. We’ve been blessed with a loyal group of about 10 women who love our courses and attend them all year round. We also ran two “Boundaries” courses, one starting in March and the second starting in October. We see so much growth in the women who attend, as their eyes are opened to the lack of boundaries they have in their lives. We see them take small steps forward. It’s not always easy for them, but it’s amazing to watch their strength grow and their determination increase. What a fun group of ladies they are, and the ways they have encouraged and blessed our lives is immeasurable.

Another group of very loyal women is our Saturday morning “Family Crisis” group, the group we run for the families of addicts. There is a core of women who have been coming for the last 2 years, and we hope to soon be handing this group over for them to run independently. There is no greater sign of accomplishment than when we can step back and see that such groups can carry on and sustain themselves without us! It is very exciting. However, we’ve had many newcomers join us, families from as far as Athlone and even Cape Town. We have so much fun together, but we share tears and hardships as well.

Our Thursday night “New Beginnings” groups consists of addicts coming out of active addiction. A core band of people has also started forming within this group! In this group we cover many important topics, including step work, pamphlets on anger and stinking thinking, and ways to avoid relapse.
Whether we have many or few, we carry on knowing that this group is of such importance in our community. We celebrate when we reach milestones in our lives, and we look for ways to support one another. Towards the end of the year we came together as a group and watched a newcomer go off to rehab, partially sponsored by us as a group. These are examples of how change can come and step 12 (which says that we take the message of recovery to others) is fulfilled in our lives!

Another exciting endeavor we have joined forces with is Camp Africa located near the beautiful community of Scarborough, just past Red Hill. This camps hosts children from all over South Africa for two or three day hiking, camping, and adventure groups. We’ve been a regular part of these groups throughout the year, invited each time a new band of kids shows up. We come to the camp and do an hour presentation on the damaging effects of drugs, a program called “Choices and Consequences”. In some groups it seems these small children know more than we do about drugs and the effects it has on their communities, while other groups of kids are shocked to hear the slightest truth about the damage of drugs or the effects it has on the body. In both extremes we find that we serve a purpose, whether it been informing kids and warning them, or comforting those who know the information and inspiring them to be the difference in their families and communities.

Another of our priorities this past year has been networking with other local organizations working in the communities. Early in the year we were invited to join the Local Drug Action Committee of Fish Hoek where we received information on the City of Cape Town’s drug action plan for the next few years. Sadly, this group seemed to dissolve by the end of the year, something we see happen all too often. We also joined forces with OIL, attending meetings in Masiphumelele with other NGO’s, learning how we can support and network with one another. We can only hope these initiatives will carry into the new year.

Our work in the schools continued. We connected with Muizenberg High School early in the year when some of their students were caught get involved with drug using and dealing. The principal of this school is an amazing and compassionate man who loves his job and his students. It’s been a pleasure working with him. We also spend regular time in Christian-David primary school, simply serving as a presence for the children. We know their situations at home are quite difficult, with many of their parents and siblings involved in drugs. In this environment we simply encourage the children and try to equip them as best we can with information and connectedness.

In April we hosted an event we called “Valley of Decision”. We recruited local hip hop groups to come and perform on a Friday night, hoping to show kids in the area that fun can be had without using drugs or alcohol. The idea was a great one, and for our first event it was somewhat well-attended. However, we also saw how the kids in the valley are so convinced that mind-altering substances are necessary for a good time, and the chains we have to break are strong ones in this community.

Unlike the breakthrough we saw in Fish Hoek, we were greatly by an invitation we received to conduct a 3-week training at the Baptist church in the community of Ocean View!!! For years we have longed to help this community, and looked for ways to be involved. The training was awesome, and the church that hosted us seemed really eager to be the catalyst for change in their community. We hope that the new year will bring new opportunity for this to happen.

The end of the year wrapped up with some new experiences for us. We have regularly been invited to Pollsmoor prison to give short talks to inmates or to be a part of certain events in the prison. We also regularly visit one of our brothers in a prison in Malmesbury. However, we connected with a woman who helps run the Restorative Justice course we got connected to last year. We brainstormed with her about new ways to reach the guys in the cells, and came up with the idea of starting a basic support group, a place where the guys can talk and be listened to rather than being talked to and not heard. So, in November we started a 4-week support group with some of the youth in the B-5 section of Pollsmoor Prison. At first the group was slow-going, some of the boys seemed shy to talk, and we were a bit unsure of how to sustain a group where we really had no other plan than to listen. But by the end of the month, we had really developed a basic connection with certain guys and felt that our listening ears were of great encouragement to them. Some boys got carried away with telling glory stories of their rebellious days as if to impress us or show off, but we tried to bring them always back to the heart of the matter…that their lives have become unmanageable because of the grip drugs and alcohol have on them.

All in all, 2008 was an exciting year, filled with both old and new things. While 2009 will bring with it much change and newness, we hope that our vision for the city of Cape Town will be maintained…to be a voice of opposition to the loudness of drug addiction, and to be a support for those most affected by drugs. Please continue supporting us and praying for us in 2009. We really appreciate your friendships.

Until next time,
John Roberts and Ashley Dalton
Fish Hoek Drug Crisis and Information Centre

just one more thing.

ok, i know i said i was done with this, but two things have happened as of late.

1) my husband started a blog on this site entitled "362 Days of Activism" and i am going to be a writer for it. so i wanted to use my blog to draw attention to his blog. the website is www.365daysofactivism.blogspot.com

2) a long time ago i wrote about the millenium development goals lined out by economist jeffrey sachs (see his book "the end of poverty"). dear friends, obama has taken note of them and included them in his foreign assistance plans. see http://www.onevote08.org/ontherecord/obamaupdated.html for a video interview on this.

keep up with these things, they are super important :)

goodbye.

i seriously do not think anyone even reads this anymore, so this likely won't even make a difference.

but i'm ending this blog. for one, i haven't done this is forever, blogged that is.
second, "hello are you there?"

maybe later >?!?\\so...bye.

an exercise in self-delusion.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — President Robert Mugabe was sworn in for a sixth term Sunday just hours after officials said he overwhelmingly won a discredited runoff. His main rival dismissed the inauguration and said the next step would be power-sharing talks.

As dignitaries watched under a red-carpeted tent at the State House complex, Mugabe held a Bible and stood before a red-robed, white-wigged judge to swear to uphold his nation's laws "so help me God." He then sat amid cheering to sign documents.

"The inauguration is meaningless," Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, told Associated Press Television News. "The world has said so, Zimbabwe has said so. So it's an exercise in self-delusion."

The 84-year-old Mugabe, Zimbabwe's leader since independence from Britain in 1980, was expected to depart almost immediately for an African Union summit that opens Monday in Egypt.

African and other world leaders have condemned the election, in which Mugabe was the only candidate. Human rights groups said opposition supporters were the targets of brutal state-sponsored violence during the campaign, leaving more than 80 dead and forcing some 200,000 to flee their homes.

Residents said they were forced to vote Friday by threats of violence or arson from Mugabe supporters who searched for anyone without an ink-stained finger — the telltale sign that they had cast a ballot.

Tsvangirai had withdrawn from the race because of the violence, though his name remained on the ballot and his supporters may have spoiled their ballots rather than vote for Mugabe.

The electoral commission said total results showed more than 2 million votes for Mugabe, and 233,000 for opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. Turnout was put at about 42 percent, and 131,000 ballots had been defaced or otherwise spoiled, apparently as an act of protest.

In the opposition stronghold of Bulawayo, official results showed Mugabe got 21,127 votes and opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai had 13,291, while 9,166 ballots were spoiled.

Mugabe, 84, was once hailed as a post-independence leader committed to development and reconciliation. But in recent years, he has been accused of ruining Zimbabwe's economy and holding onto power through fraud and intimidation.

The official inflation rate was put at 165,000 percent by the government in February, but independent estimates put the real figure closer to 4 million percent.

Since the first round of elections, shortages of basic goods have worsened, public services have come to virtual standstill, and power and water outages have continued daily.

being in america is fun. and this is why...

1. arley and elliott


2. wireless everywhere i go!

3. summer nights in tennessee.

4. black coffee that doesn't taste like tar.

5. smores over the campfire--that was last nite!!! i had 3 :)

6. tj maxx, my favorite shop.

7. people who know me and remind me of who i am.

i usually struggle being back in america because i feel so uninterested in anything here except my friends and sometimes my family. but this trip has had a strange twist to it that i cannot really explain. i've felt all sorts of emotions at all sorts of times. i've realized the importance of finding home, and satisfaction, in God alone. nothing else is ever going to satisfy. not other countries, not other people, not other activities. only God.

so i'm just trying to enjoy life here. remembering things i love about america has done me some good :)

stupidity continues.

Conditions in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis are growing more desperate, according to sources inside the country. The official government news agency has raised the death toll sharply, saying 78,000 are dead and 56,000 missing. Other sources place those numbers even higher, however, with the Red Cross setting the death toll at 128,000 and British officials sayingit may already have surpassed 200,000.

An estimated 2.5 million people are struggling to survive in the delta, and heavy seasonal rains are hampering relief efforts. The military government still refuses to admit large-scale outside relief, and relief organizations believe the body count could still rise dramatically. Reports are filtering out of desperate survivors mobbing aid shipments.

Visas for relief workers are still hard to come by, says Jeff Palmer, BGR executive director, and humanitarian organizations are exploring informal networks for getting relief into the country.

"Our Oklahoma team in Bangkok is designing disaster response and water purification modules to train Burmese nationals who will be taking the information and skills back with them," Palmer said. "We have opened a number of ‘fronts' for funneling aid materials into the most needed areas."

Details about the informal channels into the country cannot be shared publically because of the danger they would be shut down as a result, Palmer added.

"We have some in-country, on-ground resources helping with initial relief efforts and feeding us information," he noted. "They are helping us make more contacts and establish other channels for more aid to go in."

xenophobia challenged!!!

"The people here are survivors and have taken the initiative to clean up on their own. A few food stores have begun to open but I hear shelves are beginning to empty. There are few materials to repair the damage and what is around has doubled and tripled in price. "




if there was one phrase to describe the situation in burma today, it might be "xenophobia challenged". as the oppressed asian country sits with estimates between 50-100,000 dead and over 1 1/2 million "severly affected" by the disaster, somehow the government is still taking it's time to decide if foreign aid is necessary from all willing countries. the cyclone hit and devastated parts of this country on saturday and still a week later the problem hasn't been seen by foreign eyes. yes, pictures and videos can be found on google, youtube, and bbc news--but article after article lists the same common problems. aid workers aren't being granted visas. and meanwhile, people continue to die in burma.

"100 year old trees came crashing down." "our journalists are hiding in rice paddies, trying to cover this story. the myanmar government won't allow us to be here."


the facts tell us the following information:
*121 mile per hour winds roared through the city and irrawady delta
*thousands of people are dead, but not from this wind power. the deaths accumulated through a tidal surge that drove inland from the sea.
*the junta government has done very little to assist in clean-up and allocating of resources. most of the work being done to clear the debris is by monks and burmese people.
*relief planes are being flown and i refused entry to the country, having to turn around and go back to their home.
*there is widespread flooding, allowing no access to remote areas where the damage and death is the highest. roads are too impassable.

the internet reports that the aid of certain asian countries has been warmly received. china and india have gotten aid in. banglades sent 35 metric tons of high energy biscuits (= to 1/2 million biscuits), 7 tons of clothes, 3 tons of noodles, 1 ton of dry potatoes, 1 ton of water purifying tablets. laos apparently sent $20,000 US dollars ( i found that funny! ). Thailand, SIngapore, the list goes on and on.
and as laura bush and condoleeza rice slam the burmese government for failing to open it's doors to US aid, the junta stands on the other side of those doors, closing them more and more. as an american citizen i find the international relation tactics of our leaders to resemble a 2nd grader fighting with a classmate rather than a strategic, mature plan of action. our country, with the most aid and assistance to give, is making the distribution of that aid impossible.

meanwhile, volunteers like my friend ME (name not disclosed to protect her identity) are going 90 miles a minute to repair homes, factories, and structures destroyed by the cyclone. ME happened to be the manufacturer of very handy water purification pots made from the reddened clay of burmese soil. her other endeavors include scabies and lice soap, also useful after a flood. although her factory was destroyed in the city of yangon, she has her mind set on rebuilding in within the next few months and distributing these pots to families and villages, hoping to save a few lives. she also hopes to establish other factories in remote areas of myanmar so that this message of love and help comes to those the furthest away from the source.
(TO SEND SUPPORT DIRECTLY TO ME, CONTACT (800)999-3113, OR EMAIL WORLDHUNGER@IMB.ORG AND ASK HOW YOU CAN DONATE TO HER WORK. ALL YOU GOTTA SAY IS SHE WORKS IN MYANMAR AND SHE'S WITH THE IMB. THEY'LL BE HAPPY TO FIGURE IT ALL OUT FOR YOU).

another cool idea is giving to world vision. as of thursday, they were granted permission by the myanmar government to enter the country w. extra humaintarian help.


so...what will you do now? will you go back to your life, home, kids, work, and allow this information to blow in one eye and out the other, or will you act. cause here's the p.s. on my letter: the India Meterological Department (IMD) is recognized by the World Meterological Organization (WMO) as the regional specialized meterological centre. they are required to send out specific advisiories to all south east asian countries about storms such as this. and one of these was sent to myanmar, describing the location, severity, and movement of the storm.
the government did nothing with the information. AKA--the myanmar people had NO IDEA that cyclone nargis even existed, much less that it was heading for their doorsteps.

how would you feel if this happened to you??? what would you do???
to be honest, i'd be angry, hurt, sad, afraid, cold, wet, hungry, confused. but those things wouldn't really matter cause no one has time to care about how i feel. all we'd have time for is action. soooo, that's what i'm calling you to:

ACTION!!!!!


so, go and take action! hold hands with myanmar. believe you can make a difference. as peter said, "finally, ALL OF YOU, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble."

thanks for reading. i send this out of love for you and for god and for myanmar. excuse my drama! it's how my mind works :)

ashley!!!

i got all my info from the following websites:
New York Times: "A Challenge Getting Relief to Myanmar's Remote Areas." 7 May 2008.
*BBC: "Will Burma's leaders let aid in?" 6 May 2008.
*India's Economic Times: Indian meteorological department advised junta 48 hours in advance , 6 May 2008.
*BBC: "Disaster tests Burma's junta." 5 May 2008
*Times Online: "Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000." 6 May 2008.

the land of oz.

the emblem of/the land i love/ is changing from a temple to a tragedy.

the country of myanmar, formerly burma, where i lived for nearly one year, is seeing devastation of all kinds. "the saffron revolution" which occured late last year showed us that what we thought we understood about this country was beginning to change...that the untouchable, venerable monks in robes who lined the city streets and provided the people with wisdom of the buddha were no more immune to the corruption of burma's brutal military regime. day after day monks were taken from their hostels and forced into the most excruciating of circumstances..being starved and beaten, and some even killed. that core commitment to buddhism that these men had began to wane, and their commitment to their country quickly died. injustice was rampant.
for years the people of this country have been denied their basic liberties, their basic "rights" as we call them in the west. democracy loomed on the horizon for half a century but still seems so far off. what damage this has done to the soul of this nation will only be seen in time.

but last week, tragedy of a new kind entered the area. natural disaster whirled, slammed, and pounded through the country. with a death toll rising by the day, no clean water to treat the injured or revive the thirsty, and no electricity to insure some means of communication or survival, the people face ever-increasing challenges. pictures haunt the internet of children needing hospital treatment, communities needing comfort and sustenance, chaos reigning again in the city streets. this chaos seems to be a more frequent presence in the lives of myanmar's people.

once a country sunk into the recesses of our world's mind, myanmar is now surfacing into our consciousness. and a government that never seemed to care for it's people is now saying it needs help to sort this problem out. this is a HUGE defeat of satan's army. as the doors to this nation begin to creep open, pray god floods in with power. i know this is our chance to make him known in one of the world's darkest corners.

do anything you can to help this situation. pray. give. send people. don't let yourself remain untouched by this reality. although it is not yours, it is someone's. and as god's people we are called to action.


for pics and other stuf go to --http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354088,00.html

missing.

this is poem's older sister, tricia. she's 17 and she is missing. since last saturday at around 7 pm when she stepped out to buy a cigarette until today no one has seen, heard or found her.
the mother is full of stress, and is trying to cope with tricia's 2 toddlers as well as her own 3 young kids...one of whom is poem and who has run away from home again.
this isn't the normal thing tricia does, according to her mom. she usually disappears for a few days and always says where she is going. she is on drugs, but this seems to be different than a drug binge.
she tried to make a missing persons case today at the police station, but in true south african police form, they told her to come back on sunday...maybe she'll turn up by then. frustrated and hopeless, i drove her home trying to speak about lighter things. but how do you get your mind off of your missing child?

please pray for tricia. i'm really worried, as are her friends and family. the options are slim as to where she could now be. also pray for her mother, jeanette, and her two children, josie (3) and mckayla (5).

shame.

the song of my heart these days. thank you to zana and the avett brothers.

capricorn in the sun.

poem and josie outside their home.



poem and i after many many moons.



baby ashley e. marco and her mom tessa.



me and my namesake, ashley elizabeth marco!!!



lynn and i.



lynn and mckayla.



mckayla, poem's neice.



baby ash times 2.



carlen and ashley.



macy, poem's sister.



me and tricia(poem's older sister) with her two kids mckayla and josie. to my right are lynn and annie. macy is in the red.



going to hollywood!



capricorn hair salon.



baby ash.



josie.



lynn, annie, macy, mckayla.



macy, ryan, mckayla.

our leshie.

this is leshwin, our little man. you can see such a strong resemblance between he and his mom. we took him a few afternoons to get him out of capricorn. you can see his broken leg sticking out of the tub, and his scars from the fire on his stomach. not to mention the huge gashes on his face when he fell (these things happen when your mom is a 17-year-old drug addict with another baby crying).

some of these are from me giving him a bath, and then ryan came home and they played with the balls i got him at target! tell us what to do, god! we are in love with this kid!

just laugh!

i'm sorry, i really hope this doesn't offend anyone. i just thought it was so hilarious and i feel like this all the time lately. please enjoy :)

tree.

The Lord God is strong and solid, amidst the slipping sand of life. As He teaches me his will and his love, the truth of life propels itself from every moment. The gentle man at the parking garage—how has life taught him to be so still and separated? The searching little girl, who sees the errors of the world with clarity, but chooses them as the excuses for her thoughts, words, and attitude.
The Lord God is so much more than we know. How do you express such a being? It cannot be done I am sure. Words do not exist that meet the needs of an adequate description of one sliver of his being or one second of his presence. How do you explain that which you feel so intensely that it paralyzes you? How can you use your body to do this, when your body chooses instead to express the gratitude and awe that stuns it into suspended motion?

my king is...

by dr. shadrach meshach lockridge.

"the bible says my king is a 7-way king. he's the king of the jews' that's a racial king. he's the king of israel; that's a national king. he's the king of righteousness. he's the king of the ages. he's the king of heaven. he's the king of glory. he's the king of kings. besides being a 7-way king, he's the lord of lords. that's my king. well, i wonder, do you know him?"

"david said, 'the heavens declare the glory of god, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.' my king is a sovereign king. no means of measure can define his limitless love. no far-seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of his shoreless supply. no barrier can hinder him from pouring out his blessings. he's enduringly strong. he's entirely sincere. he's eternally steadfast. he's immortally graceful. he's infinitely powerful. he's impartially merciful. do you know him?"

"he's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. he's god's son. he's the sinner's savior. he's the centerpiece of civilization. he stands in the solitude of himself. he's honest and he's unique. he's unparalleled. he's unprecedented. he is the loftiest idea in literature. he's the highest personality in philosophy. he is the supreme problem in higher criticism. he's the fundamental doctrine of true theology. he's the core, the necessity for spiritual religions. he's the miracle of the ages. yes, he is. he's the superlative of everything good that you choose to call him. he's the only one qualified to be our all-sufficiency. i wonder if you know him today."

"he supplies strength for the weak. he's available for the tempted and tried. he sympathizes and he saves. he strengthens and sustains. he guards and he guides. he heals the sick. he cleanses the leper. he forgives the sinner. he discharges the debtor. he delivers the captive. he defends the feeble. he blesses the young. he serves the unfortunate. he regards the aged. he rewards the diligent. and he beautifies the meek. i wonder if you know him."

"well, this is my king. he's the key to knowledge. he's the wellspring of wisdom. he's the doorway of deliverance. he's the pathway of peace. he's the roadway of righteousness. he's the highway of holiness. he's the gateway of glory. do you know him?"

"well, his office is manifold. his promise is sure. his life is matchless. his goodness is limitless. his mercy is everlasting. his love never changes. his word is enough. his grace is sufficient. his reign is righteous. his yoke is easy and his burden is light. i wish i could describe him to you. he's indescribable. he's incomprehensible. he's invincible. he's irresistible. well, you can't him out of your mind. you can't get him off your hand. you can't outlive him and you can't live without him. the pharisees couldn't stand him, but they found they couldn't stop him. pilate couldn't find any fault in him. herod couldn't kill him. death couldn't handle him, and the grave couldn't hold him. that's my king!"

"and thing is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever and ever and ever! how long is that? and ever and ever! and when you get through with all the forevers, then amen! good god almighty! amen!"

numbers 9:18-19, 23

" in this way they journeyed at the command of the LORD and stopped where he told them to, then remained there as long as the cloud stayed. if it stayed a long time, then they stayed a long time. but if it stayed only a few days, then they remained only a few days; for so the LORD had instructed them. "

--but when they stopped, God didn't stop directing them. he would always tell them what to do, give them instructions to build something, or just "wait". through moses, god would give them purpose and work. (imagine how foolish they looked, in the desert following a cloud for 40 years!!!)

--before jesus, we have a god who speaks audibly to a few chosen people, directed towards the israelites. after jesus, we have a god who speaks inaudibly to any person willing to believe in and listen to him, words tailor-made for each of us but with the good of all in mind.

i want to be one of those people who can wait as long as god stays in one place...i want to be that connected to his promises that i know as long as i'm with him, then i am in the right place. even if i don't move for 400 years.