January 30, 2003
By Mandisi Majavu
A DRUG rehabilitation organisation set up by jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela to help musicians and other performers is experiencing financial problems. The Musicians and Artists Programme of South Africa (Maapsa) has scaled down its programme severely until sufficient funding to restore it fully can be found, says head counsellor, Janine Lewin.
Masekela founded the organisation in 2001 and Maapsa has provided its service, says Lewin, to celebrities like Jabu Pule, a Kaizer Chiefs midfielder and Kwaito star Kabelo Mabalane.
In response to the financial crisis facing the organisation, Busi Mhlongo, also a singer who has received help from the organisation, was quoted in the media recently saying, "it would be a disaster if they close down".
Maapsa has not closed down yet, says Lewin. But all it can do at the moment is advise people where to go or recommend rehabilitation centres to whoever approaches the organisation. Maapsa has links with three rehab centres around the country: the Elim drug and alcohol rehab centre in Joburg, the Tabankulu addiction centre in Cape Town and the Minds Alive drug and alcohol rehab centre in Durban.
Maapsa can no longer operate as it did at the beginning when, Lewin says, it put musicians into rehab centres for free. Expenses - about R12 000 for six weeks - were all paid for by Maapsa, and all the artists had to worry about was their addiction, and not the bill. The funding came from local businesses, she says.
In dealing with addiction, addicts are taught how to spot addiction, learn what it is, how to deal with it on a daily basis and how to avoid a relapse, says Lewin. But most importantly the "addicts" are taught to confront whatever drove them to drugs or alcohol in the first place - and these could be anything from low self-esteem or peer-pressure to overcoming whatever trauma they might have undergone in their lives. Being a counsellor and an ex-addict, Lewin probably knows what she is talking about.
After the six-week programme, the ex-addicts have access to an after-care programme and this deals with coping with the craving for drugs or alcohol. Basically, the rehabilitation programme continues long after the seclusion period came into cessation.
On completion of the rehab programme, the artists are not obligated in any way to the organisation - although if they volunteered their services, for example, by performing at a fund-raising affair, the organisation observes this with gratitude, says Lewin.
She says Maapsa is ready to resume its services to the music industry as soon as the organisation finds funding. And one of its goals this year is to open its own rehab centre. Interested donors or any queries can be directed to Janine Lewin at 082 820 8592 or (011) 444 8601.
