He so desperately wanted fun that he even defied his mother, venturing into the night, straight to a local tavern.

His daring escapade nearly cost him his life, when he was bashed and stabbed with a broken bottle and he ended up at a hospital. This is the ordeal of Mpho Nemafhohoni of Muledane Block N.

Nemafhohoni (26) said it was a normal month end Friday and the exciting atmosphere at a nearby watering hole rang deeply in his head. "My mother is very protective and she would not approve of me venturing into the night, but the temptation was great and I had to devise a plan," he said. He said he pretended he was going to sleep and waited for her to go to bed, before escaping through the back door.

Nemafhohoni said he found his buddies drinking and enjoying themselves as usual. "I joined them in earnest and started gulping as much as I can, as I was thirsty," he said. He said he was buying and filling the table, impressing his friends as he had some money after doing a piece job the previous day. He said after taking some few rounds of beer and feeling better, he decided to play a game of snooker with his drinking buddies.

"That day was my lucky day as I was winning game after game, beating them from left to right," he said. Nemafhohoni said he was hit by a snooker stick by one of the patrons and he wanted to know why the man was doing that to him. "Out of the blue, the man grabbed an empty beer bottle, smashed it and started stabbing me all over the body, without any provocation," he said.

He said this surprised him very much as he was used to the man and did not have any grudge against him. "He continued stabbing me to the head until I lost consciousness. I woke up in hospital the following day," he said. He said he was discharged the following day, with his body heavily bandaged. "When I arrived home, my mother collapsed with shock as thought I was still sleeping in my room. She did not expect somebody with bandages," he said.

"After regaining her consciousness, she cried while holding my hand, wanting to know what had actually happened," he said. Nemafhohoni said he could not look her in the eyes as he knew he was in the wrong. He said he narrated everything to her mother and promised not to repeat what he had done and all was forgiven.

"I have learned a hard lesson which I will never forget. The scars will serve as a reminder to me; I will never put another drop of liquor in my mouth," he said. Nemafhohoni said the nasty experience has taught him some lessons that he would like to share with other youths. "Please listen to your parents as they have life experiences that can help build your future. Do not undermine them; they brought you into this world," he said.

He said he realized that his mother loved him so much and would never disappoint her again. He said it taught him that the time was not yet ripe for him to start drinking and he should rather concentrate on his studies and pave his future. "Many of our friends are being injured every weekend and others are even killed at beer halls while they should be busy with their school work," he said.

He made an appeal to the youth to respect their parents, concentrate on their studies and avoid bad friends. "I have learnt a hard lesson and I will never go back to my bad ways," he declared. His mother, Maria Sikhipha, was overwhelmed with grief; she was at pains to express her anger at him. "I always reprimanded him and rebuked him about his wicked ways, but he will always find a way of making me believe that he was not involved in unbecoming ways. I am very disappointed," said the angry mother.

Sikhipha said she always told him to back off from bad friends but he would just promise all the time. "I have forgiven him and my only wish is that he changes his wicked ways completely before something worse happens," she said.