A former drug addict, Kalesi Volatabu says she can relate to how kids feel when they are exposed to drugs because she lived in the streets of Sydney for three years where she used drugs like methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and marijuana.
Volatabu who also used to work for a drug rehabilitation clinic in Melbourne, is a member of Fiji’s Ministry of Mums (MOM) which is a newly formed group with an aim to help eradicate the use of methamphetamine by children in the country.
She says the reason why she lived this life in Australia and never came back to Fiji at the time, was because she grew up in a home where her dad was violent and had an alcohol addiction.
Volatabu says she lived on the streets because that was where she found comfort.
She says on the streets she was also raped and did not know who to tell or where to go.
Volatabu says when she was 19 years old, she was convicted for six months because she overstayed in Australia.
She says when she came out she was given her Permanent Residency where she then went to school and pursued her studies.
Volatabu says she is so glad that the MOMs Group is formed to assist young people facing drug problems.
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