From struggling addict to successful author

Author and Troyville resident Thando Bam has had a long and hard journey with drug addiction, however, the former Wedge Garden Treatment Centre patient is now a published author and anti-abuse activist.

Spokesperson for the centre, Cathy Grosvenor said, “Thando had a happy childhood. His mom, Francis, although raising him as a single parent, created a stable, nurturing environment for her son. A creative person who juggled study, work and motherhood, she sent Thando to a good Model C school and planted a love of reading and writing deep within him.”

When he was just 10 years old, Bam’s mother died after being involved in a car accident. He was in the car at the time and the image of her fighting for her life on the roadside is one he will never forget.

Bam stayed for a while in Margate with family members but was a troublesome and unruly youth and when he was 15, he was sent to Johannesburg to live with his older brother.

He was then introduced to dagga and developed a full-blown alcohol and marijuana addiction and dropped out of high school.

“Despite his addiction, Thando managed to maintain the facade of normalcy, studying photography and then working as a photojournalist. Drugs are demanding companions, however, and expensive to keep. As a working professional, he had more money to feed his bad habits and soon, the course of his life was being dictated by his addiction. By then, he was hooked on methcathinone.”

Bam said, “I quit working and went on various self-finding paths and tried to get clean on my own. After committing a crime, I realised that I needed professional help to I turn my life around.

“I was tired of not being able to trust myself, tired of apologising and not being in control. I could not live without drugs but they no longer gave me a high. I had no happiness, only ruined relationships and mounting debt.”

In February, he arrived at the centre to receive treatment. In July, he and another recovering addict registered the Bam-Francis Foundation, a non-profit organisation which seeks to provide creative solutions to address alcoholism and drug dependence.

The organisation’s catchphrase is ‘pioneering change’ and that is what Bam seeks to do every time he gives a motivational talk. He hopes that his newly-published book will give tangible proof that there is life after addiction.

“I started the book, which is a collection of poetry, before I went to Wedge Gardens but because I was in active addiction, I could never get it finished. My mom was a poet and poetry was my way of reaching out to her so finishing the book was a priority when I left Wedge Gardens.”

Uno Flatu: In one Breath was published by the foundation, which Bam said aims to publish the work of other recovering addicts and to produce additional resource material. The book was launched at the centre on 7 December.