Pastor Dorcas Rigathi has rescued former senior KTN political reporter Johanna Chacha after a 7-year struggle with alcoholism.
In a statement sent to Kenyans.co.ke on Tuesday, the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President revealed that Chacha was one of the beneficiaries of the rehabilitation programme spearheaded by the Second Lady.
The journalist, according to the statement, is undergoing his rehabilitation at Riruta Stadium, Kawangware in Nairobi County.
On his part, the journalist, who also worked as a reporter at K24, disclosed that his battle with alcoholism began while he was still in the newsroom.
He revealed that he was fired in 2016 after he failed to show up to work for 3 consecutive days.
"On the last day when I was fired, I had failed to show up at work for three days. When I got into the office, I was unable to explain myself because I had been caught red-handed. They had even tried to look for me at home during the period I was unavailable.
"Once I was fired, I even started drinking more because I saw that I had no direction in life. My childhood dream was cut short," he stated.
Chacha added that he got some reprieve after the 2016 firing when he was tasked with setting up a media station for a Christian organisation in Nakuru County. However, because of his addiction to the bottle, he was also let go.
"I have been jobless since then, and when I heard that Pastor Dorcas had a programme named Dignified Future, I decided to join.
"We have been trained on how to avoid alcohol through different ways such as cutting off communication with friends who are likely to influence us during our recovery," he stated.
Chacha is set to graduate from the programme on Wednesday, November 22, in Nyandarua.
Meanwhile, he volunteers at Awake Christian Initiative as he awaits to rejoin the media industry.
According to Chacha, the officials at Pastor Dorcas' office promised to assist him and his colleagues in looking for jobs after their graduation.
“I could have been very far by now. I remember people we started with in the media industry, the likes of John Allan Namu, Stephen Ndumbi, and Nyali MP Mohamed Ali, some have even started their own companies," he stated.
