Author and preacher Tiffany Gertze launched her book "Living with an Addict" at Swakopmund to inspire communities that there is restoration after a drug addiction.

In the book, Gertze opens up about her brother's struggle with drug addiction for 18 years and his restoration journey.

Author Tiffany Gertze said her book is a tell-all and not a rumour or scandal. 

She narrated her family's story about pain, betrayal, heartbreak, healing and hope as her brother struggled with drug addiction for nearly two decades.

"Our family didn't plan to face addiction; nobody does. But addiction doesn't knock politely; it storms in and rearranges everything, and for 18 years, I and my family were caught in the grip of crack cocaine addiction. It took 18 years because, first, it was like he was just a youngster; he was just experimenting, and secondly, we were enablers, hiding this thing from the public."

The preacher said her family, to some extent, enabled her brothers' addiction through silence, and it was through faith that the healing started.

"Families don't speak up because they are afraid of judgement, so we isolate; we hide behind smiles, and that silence is very dangerous because the silence delays the healing process, and I wrote this book to break that silence because silence is where shame grows, and silence has no place in God's redemption story. What held us together was not our strength; as I said, it was God's grace."

In the book, Gertze exposed how the environment in which children grow up motivates and normalises drug addiction. 

She further explored the role the community plays when an addict tries to recover. 

"It's very difficult for them because they also fight these voices in their heads and all of those things. My brother says when you come back from a restoration journey, you go to a shop, and then you accidentally meet a dealer inside the shop."

Gertze hopes her book can inspire the creation of safe houses which take in addicts before they are sent to restoration houses and when they come back.

"When they come back, they can't move with those people anymore. It's a trigger; we need to purify the environment when they come back so that they can succeed on their restoration journey."

Gertze and Pastor Henno Slinger from the Emmanuel church at Swakopmund urged the public to join an addiction support group for families which they will soon open.

According to Slinger, very little attention is paid to the families and caretakers who also suffer with the addicts.