FORMER CAPS United captain Moses Muchenje says he is ready to bounce back into the football trenches after successfully undergoing rehabilitation from drug addiction.
The 31-year-old has chosen to be brave, pouring his heart out as he prepares to, hopefully, ink a deal with any of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League teams ahead of the 2023 season which kicks off next week.
Muchenje, one of the game's brightest prospects during his days at Gunners, CAPS United and Harare City, has been conspicuously off the local football radar since last year.
The Herald last saw him supposedly undergoing trials with Yadah at the Yadah Complex in Victoria Falls early last year but he never penned a deal with the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries team.
It has now emerged he was already struggling from drug addiction after deciding to indulge following some social problems he was facing. However, Muchenje was last month, with the aid of Jadel Football Academy, placed under rehabilitation at Mubatirapamwe Trust.
And yesterday, the midfielder exclusively opened up to The Herald as he wraps up his days at the trust while preparing to make a return to the football circles.
"For close to two years, I was a victim of alcohol abuse as a result of too many problems. I was stressed and the stress culminated into depression. The alcohol abuse spree affected my relationship with so many people including my family.
"I wasn't myself. I last played competitive football in 2021 during that Chibuku Super Cup bubble when I was still at Harare City. So many things were happening and I got too stressed," said Muchenje.
"I failed to handle the pressure and eventually I slipped into acute depression. That's how I started abusing alcohol. I became addicted and for the rest of 2022 I was on the sidelines. But, somehow, something kept telling me that I was supposed to be a footballer and I even trained with Yadah with a view to signing a contract with them last year. But again all that came to a nought as I always abused substances.
"Then my brother (name withheld) came up with this idea of rehabilitation to save not only my career but my life as well.
"This is how I came to Mubatirapamwe Trust Rehabilitation Centre. "I have spent close to three months here and next week I will be leaving. I am very happy as I have become myself once again. "I would like to thank Jadel Football Academy as well for the role they played in all this process as well. The way they supported me and they continue to support me is amazing. My highest salute to them.
"I would like to thank the rehabilitation centre as well. I can safely say I am myself again. The future looks very bright and I am ready to make a rebound into the game that I like the most. I am very fit due to the training I have also been receiving during my time here. Physically and mentally, I am ready to play the game again.
"I am ready to rumble, again. I have learnt my lessons and I am glad, it's not too late."
Muchenje has a piece of advice to not only athletes but the general populace as well.
"Rule Number One is don't indulge in the first place. If you face challenges, there are better and safer ways of dealing with those challenges rather than abusing alcohol. Indulgence can destroy careers, it can haunt relationships... those things."
Mubatirapamwe Trust executive director, Christina Madamombe, said Muchenje has had a successful recovery period and can walk into any team and play the game again.
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"With support of well-wishers (including Jadel Football Academy), Moses Muchenje was taken in, struggling with alcohol, but he was a willing client who had reached a stage where he wanted to change his life," said Madamombe.
"He has a great will power, he has an insight of how alcohol had destroyed his path, and he is very positive, and willing to finish his programme. "He is now being integrated back into the community. "Rehabilitation is not a short run, or miracle. It's a process that requires a holistic approach, acceptance of help and willingness to change as change starts within the community at large should not stigmatise people who have lived experience with addiction."
Muchenje was part of the 2016 CAPS United championship-winning squad in 2016 under Lloyd Chitembwe.
