On the 16thday of 90 days of Sobriety Journey launched on 14th September, Addiction Prevention Strategist of Purpose Rwanda (PR) while issuing statement about the progress of this journey, he said “so far so good”. This happened today (30th September, 2021) during AA (Addiction Anonymous) meeting and Counseling Session at Purpose Rwanda Head Office.
Addiction Prevention Strategist briefed participants on the long journey with Addiction Patients and the paramount impact so far caused to their lives. This was affirmed by testimonies shared by Recovered Addiction Patients.
One of the Recovered Addiction Patients who struggled with alcohol and sex work shared her testimony: “now we are women with values and we have re-gained trust from community again, people used to call me bad names because of prostitution but now it has changed. With Purpose Rwanda, God changed our history”. They chose sex work as a way of survival but they eventually found out that taking such decisions were inappropriate but being satisfied with little they have is possible. “We no longer live by having sex for money but we do use our own hands to survive, imagine I have spent now five months out of sex work but I survive” she added.
Another Recovered Addiction Patient shared his testimony that he was a thief and sexual abuse under the influence of drugs which caused him to get jailed in several Detention and Transit Centers especially at Iwawa, eventually; he realized that there is nothing good out of it apart from risking being bitten and contracting STDs and therefore, he decided to quit addiction.
“There are many of my friends who are still out there, we can reach out and rescue them” he added.
Every Addiction Patients shared their experiences after meeting with Purpose Rwanda and these were yet some of the testimonies:
A Recovered Sex Addiction Patient used the opportunity to appreciate Purpose Rwanda for reaching out to her and that if it were not the case; she could have died long ego. She narrated how she met with Purpose Rwanda for the first time and how they are helping them to recover and here is what she said:
“To get over any type of addition is not easy. We are requesting every Rwandan to join hand with us by reaching out to others who are battling with various addictions, to show them love and help them to recover too, with our testimonies we can help more”.
“Because of peer pressure, I ended up into drug abuse and drug dealing at school” another Recovering Addiction Patients (Marijuana dealer) said. “I regret missing Senior Six (S. 6) National Examination because, while examinations were going on, I was asleep due to Marijuana over doze. I tried to commit suicide but lucky enough I didn’t had enough courage to do it. Definitely, I didn’t finish High School. I continued in that life of drug abuse until one day I met with a neighbor who happened to be a Watchman at Purpose Rwanda. He introduced me to Purpose Rwanda. I attended AA meetings and counseling sessions conducted by Purpose Rwanda who never judge others but welcome them. This inspired me to stop abusing drugs and reach out to others so that they too can recover” He concluded.
Purpose Rwanda encouraged its beneficiaries to continue sharing their past and current stories at every session as they usually do with no shame on their face but most importantly with the aim of transforming more others to recover. The truth is, when these stories are shared, others learn from it, they can get inspiration, courage, strength and motivation to follow the path of recovery.
At the end, all the beneficiaries both recovered and recovering from addictions vowed to make the 90 Days of Sobriety eventful and they commit to encourage one another towards achieving the set targets of the journey of recovery without relapsing thereafter.
The core message is: Building a Purposeful and Addiction Free Generation.
