Newspaper journalist Oliver Mathenge on Saturday went public about his struggle with alcoholism.
Mathenge narrated how he fought addiction to the extent that he tried to take his life.
Speaking to Citizen TV’s Victoria Rubadiri, the maverick journalist said he joined a bad company after he became a scribe.
“We would spend a whole weekend in bars drinking and drinking. Those who know my story can tell you that I was that kind of a person who would get to a bar on Friday and leave on Sunday, it was that bad,” Mathenge told Rubadiri.
He said his journey to recovery came after he tried to commit suicide for a second time.
The journalist said quitting alcohol was not easy as he would often be ‘bullied’ by his former drinking buddies for leaving the bottle.
“You always get bullied by those you were drinking with, but you have to make them understand that this is a decision you have made. For my case, I did not leave their company instantly, I would carry my water and juice to the table they were drinking it, but I would want them to respect my decision,” he said.
Mathenge once wrote about what alcohol had done to his life in a social media post that left many people shocked.
“I was breaking down. I messed up family and social relationships. I was messing up my job (until God decided I needed greater responsibilities to keep me in check). I suffered uncountable meltdowns. I sunk into debt (deep - as in deep to hundreds of thousands) as I sought to finance a champagne life on beer money. I tried to take my life twice (again, God had to show me there was still a lot to do on this earth. I lost friends because I could not be there for them unless there was alcohol involved. I also had friends who were cheering me on as I wasted my life, which was seemingly coming to a halt,” he once wrote as quoted by SDE.