Yaves

about

Childhood was different for Yaves Ellis. His parents couldn’t use the television’s parental controls to keep him from seeing violence and drugs - that was his life - that was his reality. Growing up in inner-city Columbus Ellis saw negativity on every corner. “It was common for me to see drugs and dysfunctional families; it wasn’t until I turned on the T.V. that I found that not all families worked in this way.” At first things seemed normal, but as he got older Ellis and his younger sisters knew things had changed. His mother was physically there, but mentally and emotionally she was not. Ellis recalls, “I knew there was something wrong with my Mom, I knew something was different, I just didn’t know what it was.” Ellis now knows that his mother was suffering from drug addiction. An addiction that caused her to, at times, “mentally not be there” remembered Ellis. “I once came home from school and our furniture was gone…my mom sold it for drugs.” At a young age Ellis began to seek attention outside of the home, “Music was my outlet, I didn’t recognize it at first, I wasn’t an athlete like other kids my age, but I found my place in the world with music.” Ellis, now 25, knows that his childhood was different but not uncommon. The person addicted to drugs is rarely the only person affected by the disease. “Drug addiction directly affects everyone involved, family relationships change, friendships change and the disease slowly changes every aspect of your life.” Fortunately, even