A psychiatry nurse from Surrey has set out to abolish stigmas about people struggling with drug addiction by sharing the stories of recovering addicts on a new online show.
Koffee With Kuda is the brainchild of Kuda Mabiza. The format of the show is simple: Mabiza and a recovering drug addict sit across from each other over two cups of coffee and chat candidly about addiction. So far, Mabiza has conducted 20 interviews and as the show has continued more people have shown interest in being interviewed. Mabiza hopes to complete 50 interviews so a new episode can be released every Sunday for a year.
This week, Mabiza spoke with Vancouver Is Awesome about the origin of Koffee With Kuda. At first, Kuda explained, the interviews were only intended to be watched in person by a youth group he works with. That all changed though when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit and Mabiza switched to an online format.
Mabiza says the kids in his youth group come from lower-income families, explaining the interviews tell a cautionary and educational example for the children.
In the interviews, Mabiza doesn’t introduce himself as a nurse. Having worked closely with people addicted to drugs and people experiencing homelessness for the past six years, he chooses instead to simply express an understanding.
"I've seen people who have died from overdoses, I've been saving people with Naloxone kits, I've been helping people just connecting them to resources,” said Mabiza, going on to explain how his struggle with how many lives he has failed to save also lead to the creation of the show.
Over the course of his interviews, Mabiza has found commonalities among the recovering addicts, namely the need for a sense of community and a judgement-free environment.
"They recovered alone but then after a year they still fell back into addiction because of lack of connection with other people," Mabiza said. "You need to do more than just stopping the drugs because you did drugs for a reason. If you don't take care of that reason you'll go back to the substances."
Finding people to interview hasn’t been much of a challenge for Mabiza as many of his interviewees have told him they wished they heard from someone cautioning them about the path they were taking. By participating in the interviews the recovering addicts feel they are helping younger generations avoid similar paths.
"Above just telling the other youth though, they also say that hearing another addict talking about their recovery is a powerful tool for other people in addiction," Mabiza said.
In the end, Mabiza hopes Koffee With Kuda can destigmatize views on people addicted to drugs as well as those in recovery.
"If you've never been through it you just won't quite understand what these guys go through. They are not choosing to be addicts," he said. "It's not about just doing drugs it’s about helping the person and helping them heal."
