Volunteer Reaches 9,000 in Cape Town with Facts About Drugs
Soon after conflict between police and residents of Hangberg, Cape Town had reached its boiling point on September 21, one South African native David Undiedt—contacted the Foundation for a Drug-Free World.
Undiedt ordered thousands of copies of The Truth About Drugs booklets to be passed out throughout two Cape Town communities—Hangberg and Imizamo Yethu—both notorious as being plagued by drug lords.
The booklets arrived in short order and David and 20 other volunteers went to work distributing the materials. Volunteers gave booklets to every resident they met and even provided copies for local police to hand out—all in the name of taking action to eradicate drug abuse.
“I had to do something,” says David. “My friends living in Cape Town used to complain to me about the conditions and I’d ask them what they were doing about it. But now I decided to take my own advice and actually get something done.”
In Hangberg, David noticed that 90% of the people in this ethnically-mixed community responded positively, while others denied the drug problem altogether. A small number of people were suspicious and wondered why someone would offer these free materials to them, but David and company carried on, distributing hundreds and then thousands of booklets.
When they reached Imizamo Yethu township, residents offered to help David’s team deliver more booklets. “They were extremely keen to get involved and requested a number of booklets each and immediately ran off into the side streets calling out and passing around booklets,” says David. “It was amazing to see the effect behind us as we moved on—people stopping to sit down and read the booklets.”
By the end of a 3½ hour time period, David and his volunteers distributed 9,000 The Truth About Drugs booklets in the two neighborhoods. With media coverage, an estimated 250,000 people were reached.
As for the future, David Undiedt has already arranged to distribute another 100,000 booklets across all of Cape Town to further spread the message of drug awareness and prevention.
