Mxit ruined my marriage and other interesting headlines

Blaming a communications technology rather than how it is used for the social impact of the communication does nothing except fill our newspapers with insane headlines like the one above. So the story of Marlon Parker and how he is using social media tools such as Mxit, Facebook, Twitter and blogging to counsel drug users in the Cape Flats, nicely flips this argument on its head.

Marlon, an IT lecturer and PhD student at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, has banded together a group of reformed drug users, gang members and dealers to provide peer support for drug users in the community. Based at the Impact Centre in Bridgetown the group has been getting a fantastic response from the affected members of the community.

Marlon hit on the idea when he realised how important mobile phones were in the youth market. Using digital and mobile channels that people are familiar with, provide a non-threatening way to make initial contact, which often results in the person visiting the counselling centre and starting on the road to rehabilitation and reconstruction.

“The main objective was to meet the youth on a platform that they are comfortable with as a first point of contact, where they can express themselves and receive counselling or advice on the issue of drug and substance abuse,” Marlon told Business Day Africa.

The next step for Marlon is his initiative to teach the mothers of the community how to use computers and get online. And it’s the reformed drug users showing their moms the ropes.

Marlon has been doing the rounds publicising the work they are doing, and I have been lucky enough to see him talk at the Nomadic Marketing dinner earlier in the month, as well as last night’s cracking 27 Dinner where counsellor King Ross shared his experiences.

His is a fantastically inspirational story amid current tales of doom and gloom and global recession. I particularly like the theme of reconstruction that runs through the project - take a look at the blog title “Reconstructed“. It’s also a great example of somebody using the strengths of particular communication channel as a means to an end, and not for its own sake.

And for any corporates out there looking for corporate responsibility projects to contribute to - this is a fantastic one.