By Danie Jacobs
Lentswe, Jouberton - Children as young as nine years old are using a common sweet fizzy sherbet powder as a recreational drug and often get high during classes by inhaling it.
This is the reality faced by teachers in local township schools. According to a teacher at Iterele Primary School, Daphney Ankhoma, it is a national disaster. This sherbet, that is sold everywhere, is readily available and is usually ingested by sucking on a straw by users. The product retails R1 for a packet.
“The children inhale the sherbet and it makes them dizzy, as if they smoked hubbly or dagga. Some of them even smoke dagga in class! I suppose it gives them a brief moment of escaping their realities.”
The teachers decided to act as the children were using sherbet in class while teaching and learning take place - as well as during breaks. Ankhoma asked some of the children about this habit and they said their parents use hubblies and drink alcohol in front of them, and they were curious.
“They also said sherbet is cheap and they enjoy the rush. The big difference with normal sherbet use is that it is inhaled directly into the lungs,” she said.
Ankhoma turned to the media for help in highlighting this issue among primary school children. She and other teachers also approached local spaza shops to demand owners not to sell sherbet to the children. They also protested against these spaza shops selling cigarettes and vapes to children.
She added: “They were surprised, but agreed. They signed a memorandum of understanding”.
Lentswe contacted Annaleen van Staden, director at Sanpark, who is aware of this practise.
“They refer to sherbet as snake powder. We initially thought snake powder consists of ground snake skin bought at muti shops, but it is sherbet that is sold in every shop. We intend to contact the schools to engage with the children on this usage as it can lead to the use of hard drugs,” she said. She added people shouldn’t try this at home.
