Spectacular Eid with drug addicts undergoing treatment in one of Tehran’s camps This spring comes alive…

Online citizenship-_ Fatima Asgari Nia: In short, Eid has its own smell for everyone, but for recovered drug addicts in the camps, Eid means the beginning of a new life where, as they say, they shed their skin and become a different person. Although staying in the camp and not being with the family during the New Year ceremony or Nowruz days is so difficult that you can easily see this difficulty in the faces of each of these people.

Under the pretext of Eid and the spectacular Eid, we went to one of the camps around Tehran in Chahardangeh. The long way and the road leading to the camp was dirt and bumpy. The driver, who widened his eyes in the middle of the night to see the road more clearly, says under his breath that this is the end of the world… T.

The end of the world that the driver blows from is the starting point of life for people who are counting the moments behind the fenced wall in the hope of health, purity and freedom from this four walls.

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We enter the camp, the walls are decorated with thanksgivings for the health of the body and freedom from drugs. The management of the collection is with Uncle Dawood. A 43-year-old middle-aged man. who introduces himself as “Dawoodm, Addicted!” He himself was once one of these addicts and now he is trying to deliver each one of them safely and safely to his family: “I have been clean for 17 years and 9 months and I made a promise to myself to help my fellow human beings.” He is also worried about the restlessness of the children to be with their families during Nowruz and believes: “All the children who are here are restless on Eid and they like to be with their families, but often the families do not believe them and They want us to take care of them during Eid.”

He shakes his head and says that treating addiction is a difficult task, and if there is no support from the family, we will see these people return to the camp again in a short period of time. According to him, of course, along with the addicts who went to the camp under the force of their families to get rid of their addiction, there is another group of addicts who deliberately choose the days of Eid and holidays to get rid of their addiction. They are only closed during Nowruz and use this opportunity to clean themselves.”

After 17 years, I was cleared

As we are chatting with Uncle Dawood, Reza kindly welcomes us, a young man who is turning 40 this year, and has been in this camp for 7 months and ten days now, and his body and body have been cleansed of any drugs. . He says that after 17 years, this is the first year without addiction and he can start the new year clean, as he says: “I miss being with my family during Eid, but I know that the more I am here the more If I stay, my future life will be healthier” and then he says to comfort his sad heart, this is my family, the family that helped me experience a new life.

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I was counting the moments for the coming of the new year

Together with Reza and Uncle Dawood, we go to their other friends. It is 20:00 and everyone is present at the meeting. A large hall, surrounded by two-story beds, and men with rusty faces from addiction are sitting around the room. They are of any age you can think of, from a 17-year-old boy to a 65-year-old man. Mohsen is the first volunteer to participate in our session: “Mohsen is an addict”, they all say: “Hello Mohsen”, as if he has gained strength with this greeting, he begins to narrate the sad story of his addiction from the beginning when he was 18 years old to hate From parents because of drug use. He says, and his sympathizers shed tears: “The day I came to the camp, my face was completely burnt. If Uncle Dawood hadn’t arrived, they wouldn’t have accepted me, but I was accepted and I stayed in the camp for 11 months.”

It has been two months now that he is both in the camp and going to work. There is no more black hatred that he had towards his parents. But he is one of those recovered addicts who this year for the first time can spend Eid with his family and understand the concept of family: “In previous years, I did not understand what family is and what New Year means, but this year is the moment for New Year to come.” I was counting. »

When Mohsen’s words are finished, a slim boy with long, almond-shaped eyes and a neatly trimmed head sits in front of us. A 17-year-old boy named Sherwin. The smallest member of this group. He begins his words with this sentence, I thank God that I am not a user of any drugs! He says that he has experienced the use of drugs since he was 9 years old, with his father and uncle: “My mother has brought me now to quit.” The name of the mother that he takes is accompanied by hatred, a hatred that he tries to release with a beautiful wish: “My biggest wish in the New Year is to be pure myself, then my parents will be back together, so that I can all start a good life together.” It has been 3 months and 15 days that he has not used any drugs, but he is still afraid and says: “I am afraid that I will start again as soon as I go out” because of this restriction of being with his family during Eid and he hopes Eid next year will be a real Eid for him.

It is not safe for me outside

Of course, then he is Muhammad, who has come to fight the giant of addiction and start a new life at the age of 19. His height doesn’t match his age, he looks smaller and younger. He says he started using drugs when he was 16 years old. He used methadone and glass together: “I have been clean for 2 months now, and despite the fact that I could go home, I preferred to stay in the camp. I work in the camp’s production workshop in the mornings, and I sleep here at night. I am because I am afraid of the outside environment and the dangers that still threaten me.

Although he likes to spend Eid with his family and his peers, the desire to get rid of addiction is more important than all his wishes these days.

Even though he has a big age difference with Muhammad, Babak thinks like him. Babak is another servant in the camp, and unlike all his friends, he can travel in the camp, so he appreciates health and cleanliness more. This year, for the first time, he can have a happy Nowruz with his family without the problems of drugs, and he says that he is happy because of the use of drugs, no more tears fall from the eyes of my family members. reach and no one will be familiar with drugs for the rest of his life.

Parviz, like Babak, wants to continue his life without addiction and enjoy this life. He also started using drugs when he was 17 years old: “I started with traditional drugs and finished with crack.” Of course, I had the experience of quitting several times, but now I have been clean for 6 months and I don’t want to lose this physical health at any cost. He also plans to participate in NE meetings for his mental health: “I started these meetings with strength and I will not allow them to interrupt my work anymore.”

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After they finish talking, they circle around me as usual, raise their hands to the sky and whisper their usual prayer, their whispers echo in the camp atmosphere, their whispers are so beautiful that you want to repeat: Peace to me. Give me the courage to accept the things I cannot change…God give me the courage to change the things I can change, God give me the insight to know the difference between the two…and Make me understand so that I don’t expect the world and the people of the world to behave according to my wishes… d.