Rubahinda would steal to fund his alcohol addiction

“For a long time, addiction dominated my life and influenced me to make choices that devastated me and the people I love the most. I am grateful they never gave up on me,” says Denton Rubahinda.

Rubahinda is the director of Faith and Depth Ministries, a company that helps Ugandan writers put their books on the market. The 30-year-old is also an author and public speaker. Spreading the triumphant news of addiction recovery something he is committed to.

“Everyone has something that holds them back it could be addiction, depression, grief, doubt, worry, anxiety, fear, shame, guilt or, emptiness,” says Rubahinda. He draws on his experience of more than 15 years as an addict to inspire, educate and motivate others to break free of the addiction.

The first time
Rubahinda recalls having his first drink when he was 10 years old, at a family function. The drinking, however, became problematic when he joined Senior One.

“One Saturday afternoon, I went to Garden City in Kampala to meet friends. We met at a bowling alley where I had one bottle of alcohol. This was the first time I was drinking in public; so I did not feel that drinking beer would be a smart move because a beer bottle is visible. What I was taking resembled a soda; the perfect drink for a teenager who wanted to drink incognito. I got back home at about seven in the evening, bathed and went to my room,” Rubahinda recounts.

During his second term of Senior One, Rubahinda would drink every day. “I wanted to find out what a Friday night out felt like. I knew that a number of students would hang out at a certain sports bar on Buganda Road. One Friday, Rubahinda recalls meeting up with a friend who started him on a dark journey that lasted close to two decades.

“After having a few drinks, my friend suggested that we sell something so that we could get more money to party. The first thing I thought of was my music system (boombox) which my sister, had given to me. We sold it to a cab driver in Wandegeya, Kampala, for an amount that must have been much less than the actual cost. We proceeded to another bar, sat and drank. I even met a girl that night and made out with her.

I had heard of a bar in Kansanga called Al’s Bar so, I suggested to Peter that we go there and he agreed. I had an experience like no other. I fell in love with Al’s Bar and this would become one of my favourite hangouts,” he relates
Distractive behaviour
His weekends started to follow a pattern of stealing something from home to get money to fund his partying. When school opened, the now teenager found he could not do without alcohol so he started drinking tot packs during the day to survive. In addition to alcohol, he was hooked to smoking cigarettes so much that he had to do so before going to school in the morning. Soon, he was introduced to Marijuana.

“One night as we partied away, a few friends suggested that we smoke some drugs. As the joint was being passed around, I asked for a few hits of it. I immediately smoked a cigarette after. As soon as I finished my cigarette, I saw a group of security guards coming towards us. There was not much we could do other than throw away the evidence. They surrounded us, and finding no evidence, they sniffed our fingers and those whose fingers smelt of drugs were apprehended. The guard sniffed my fingers; but could not make the scent out because I had just smoked cigarette.

Although I survived being arrested, soon the weed started to take effect. On the way back to the bowling alley area, I started throwing up in public. The security guards on that floor took me down to the security office that the other two friends of mine were detained in. The head of security refused to let me go until my parents came to get me. I gave them my mother’s number and they called her and explained to her the situation,” Rubahinda says somberly.
Failing
Everything went downhill after this; he failed his classes, missed crucial exams while drinking and eventually dropped out. As his drinking capacity increased, he started drinking anything he could afford. He would steal money or items for sale and drink until he blacked out. Twice, he was hit by a vehicle and was detained several times by police for being idle and disorderly.

This is when his family decided to send him to a rehabilitation centre for treatment. He was admitted to the centre twice and would stop drinking for only a few weeks or months at the most before relapsing. All this time, Rubahinda says, he had the desire to quit drinking and put his life in order but was helpless to do so.

Descent into the abyss
In 2014, Rubahinda lost his mother who had been ill for quite some time. “The night she passed away I was actually out getting ‘hammered’. I was woken up in the morning by my sister. Somehow, I knew she had come to tell me that mummy had died. Despite knowing this, when she uttered the words out, it triggered all sorts of emotions. I was hurt, angry, confused and scared. I threw things at her. From that day I was on a serious alcohol binge,” he recounts.

The situation got so bad that the family held an intervention. “You do not expect an intervention; it just happens. We all sat down in the living room and everyone just talked about my behaviour and everything that was going on and how I was going to end up dead. They “suggested” that I go to rehab. I had no choice; I had to go to rehab—for the third time,” he narrates. He was admitted to the Alcohol and Drug Unit (ADU) unit at Butabika Hospital.

“I kept myself busy with books I had carried to read. After a while, I started to interact with the other patients. By the beginning of December 2014, I had regained my appetite and joined a Christian fellowship consisting of some patients of ADU. Three months later, he was released but had to go back to the facility once a month for the next few months for pills and assessments. The treatment did not last and soon he was back to his old ways.

Hope
On the first weekend of February 2017, Rubahinda went out as usual on Friday and on Saturday night. The following day Sunday he did not go out. “This was the first day since October 2016 that I did not have a drink. The same thing happened on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday night was my first night to go out and not drink since I had started partying properly at 14,” he relates. He continued going out and not drinking at all which he says confused him. He was also afraid to believe that he could finally have gotten over his addiction forever.

As a show of gratitude to God, he started to attend All Saints Cathedral services regularly. Life had changed drastically in a space of four months. Relationships with family members started getting better and he started reading books on finance, biographies, cook books, history books and the Bible.

In July 2018, while watching a Joyce Meyer programme on TV, Rubahinda felt something different happen in his soul. “I had my first revelation of my Heavenly Father’s love and it was incredibly overwhelming. It felt like being crushed by a big wave of love,” he says his face lighting up at the memory. The craving for alcohol and need to be out partying stopped.

Whenever he went out to be with his friends he felt exhausted and bored by stupidity that went on when they were drunk and he was sober.

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