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The solution to problems lies in the community

COVID Support
Only Through Community
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Information enables solidarity

COVID Support
Empower the communities
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All the participants observed that the training and the coming together helped them to reflect and plan for their recovery, as well as to identify barriers and bottlenecks in their recovery process. 

One of the participants observed that, while he was in active use of multiple drugs which included alcohol, tobacco, kubel and mordicate, no one used to trust him with anything, both at home and at the place of work. Clients at the workplace refused to be served by a “mlevi”, while others would openly declare that if it is “mlevi” who is on duty, they better seek services elsewhere. After attending a similar workshop in late 2018, he realized he can manage without alcohol and substance use and therefore he resolved to change his life after numerous incidences of humiliation, disrespect and being termed as lost and useless. 

He sought addiction counselling services in the programme and together with his addiction counsellor he developed a recovery plan that he tried to follow without much success. Cravings and peer pressure took him back to using drugs and the guilt that came after made him avoiding his counselling sessions with lame excuses. The counsellor followed him up and after several incidences of avoiding him, they met and he realized that the counsellor did not condemn him but instead encouraged him to try in-patient rehabilitation, an option he had completely refused before. With time he realized it was the only way out and as a result, he accepted to undergo an in-patient rehabilitation. In his words, he said: “This is my seventh month in recovery, and I am realizing the beauty of life I had forfeited for so long. At home and workplace, I am entrusted with almost everything, I am treated with honour and respect and my health has improved tremendously. This training has strengthened me to continue recovering and becoming better in life”.