She grew up in a good English speaking home with great parents who gave her all the opportunities any young person would want. She attended a well known girls school, probably the top in the province. Up until the age of seventeen, she had everything any girl would want. Everyone liked her, the teachers, peers and the guys. Her grades were good. She had leadership positions and was later chosen as a school prefect. Then it happened, what no one ever thought, not even herself...

A new girl joined the school and we became best friends. Not long after this new friendship started, I met some other people through her, cool people! Some of these were a group of gays. They loved to party and just enjoyed life. We started going out with them, and that is where my life took a wrong turn. At this stage I gave up other friendships, especially those who had a good influence on my life. I first started with smoking, drinking and a joint with buddies and then...

It was a night out, clubbing, that I was introduced to drugs. I was already so caught up in the music and other influences, that when this came my way I welcomed it. Everyone (all the cool people in my eyes) were doing it. And contrary to what we had been warned, it seemed to have no negative side effects, because I only saw them at the clubs and not on their comedowns. Everyone involved at that stage was good looking and healthy. WOW, and I - by taking part - would be part of it. Ecstasy, Acid, getting to know the DJs, what more would any teenager want! It was all about fun. The trip, the music, the friends...

Although the hippy and rave eras promote free love, the very essence of love is binding. There is no such thing as free love, that's just lust. If only I knew that then. In my grade 12 year, I became pregnant, lost my prefect badge and everyone's respect. But that did not get me down; I had an abortion (killing my own child) and could then just carry on as normal, partying. But something happened then, there was a paradigm shift. Slowly, over a period of two years, with things getting a lot worse before they got better, I started seeing through the scene that I had fallen in love with. The trip, the music, the friends were so plastic. It was all one big charade. There was no depth, no tomorrow, just the here, the now, the more the better. I felt empty and alone.

After school I attended university, studying law, but dropped out because of the drugs. A lot of the money, intended to pay for my studies, I used on drugs. At that stage I was involved with a man who today is my husband. He was also heavily caught up in drugs and although I wanted to stop, he didn't even consider it, until one night out. It was a night of Coke, Ecstasy and Alcohol which ended up being too much for his body. In the Emergency Room we were both faced with the naked truth about drugs- death and destruction. The here and the now had taken its toll.

Today, a few years down the line I look back on that night and that life, and realise afresh what God has done for me and my husband by setting us free through His Son Jesus Christ. We now live fulfilled lives!

Roxane chatting to kids on an outreach in Bloemfontein: