Its in environments with no so great conditions where alcohol tends to be encourage a destructive lifestyle. for the 5/6year I have been drinking I havent been able to touch alcohol when I'm in the hood because of what I see it do to the people there, both young and old. What makes it worst is the almost every street has a house that sells alcohol, you know how bad that is. The government knows too that why in white suburbs there are restricted areas where alcohol is available. none of that in the hood.
I spent the whole weekend at home in Gugs this past weekend. Theres another concerning phenomenon that was not hard to notice. Teenage pregnancy. The number of kids with kids just in the area where i stay, never mind the area, just my street that has "12" houses. i saw maybe two other kids walking pa**ed my street pregnant, 17year old looking kids. damn! you'd think they've found a cure for aids.
Another thing. We slaughtered for my late grandmother at home over the weekend. I could not help but notice how much the support from almost all men attending required the availability of alcohol. Our very own African Customs are to blame. Don't you think? I'm telling you as soon as they had their one shot from that brandy and that bucket of mqombothi did its rounds, the whole front yard was empty. I was constantly "nagged" (and made to feel guilty) to make something available by some uncles and neighbors. i selfishly made bought some alcohol for friends though and pretended it came out of their own pockets.
off topic. Throughout the weekend I was reminded, though politely(fortunately), that i should go for circumcision. I tell you one thing that stood out the most about the ceremony was how much alcohol and the "west" are prevalent in the custom. the brandy, the jacket that was put on my shoulders when it was time for me to speak even though i was dressed in a tradition african attire, the reference to the christian god to opening the ceremony with christian prayer, etc.
African customs have so much potential to resolve a whole lot of our youth's problems but how do we expect the youth to respect these customs that are over shadowed by western attributes, how do we expect african values to have any positive effect in the lives of the youth.