Farm also grows hope for drug addicts

MILAGROS, Masbate—In a Masbate town named after miracles, Randy, 40, and Louie, 31, are dead-set on becoming miracle workers themselves.

In May, Randy returned to Fazenda da Esperança (Farm of Hope) in Milagros, 48 kilometers from Masbate City, to volunteer his services in a place where he overcame his drug addiction three years ago. “The Fazenda cured me. I want to pay back by helping it fulfil its mission,” he said.

Fazenda is a farm doubling as a Catholic drug rehabilitation center along a road that cuts through green pastureland wrapping rolling hills.

Its ways of handling cases of drug dependents and alcoholics are different from those of regular rehabilitation centers. It allows patients referred to as “boys” and “girls” to find strength and joy from each other by introducing them to the teachings of the Bible, especially the Gospel.

Most importantly, they are taught to value hard work while earning from it.

Randy, who comes from a middle-class family, underwent treatment in the farm from 2007 to 2008. He had been addicted to shabu (methamphetamine) for half his life. “I lost many things. I lost my family’s trust. I did not finish college. I was not able to raise my own family,” he said.

Friends introduced him to shabu in 1989. “I just wanted to try it. I did not know that I was being addicted until I was craving for it all the time.”

Once, he did not pay his tuition for a semester just so he could buy shabu. Then he would steal from his parents and from their household so he could sustain his addiction.

Mental hospital

In 1993, in one lucid but low moment, he realized that his life was spiraling to nowhere. “I asked my family for help and I was brought to a ward for drug dependents in a mental hospital in Metro Manila.”

The 17-month rehabilitation apparently did not work. Just four months into the program, Randy “relapsed.” He was using shabu again, and again, he was an outcast to his own family. He returned to a life of stealing, including pawning a family heirloom and selling all his cellular phones.

One time, he punched his father who had been telling him to mend his ways and stop stealing.

In 2007, Randy asked for help for the last time. He was referred to Fazenda by his mother’s friends, who have read about the rehabilitation center from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Having spent his life in the city and not used to doing even household chores, Randy learned to work the rice fields and to milk cows in Fazenda. The heavier tasks included helping in the rice mill, preparing rice paddies for planting, and lifting sacks of palay.

“If you really want to change your life, you would not think about the hardship,” he said.

Close to a miracle

After one year, he was “healed”—almost miraculously.

Learning how to deal with other patients coming from different backgrounds, Randy said, cured him because it made him appreciate and value his family more. “Part of the reason I was hooked on drugs was because I felt I was being misinterpreted and unloved by my own family. Learning how to love complete strangers made me realize that I should love my own family, especially my father, even more.”

He has not been into drugs or any other vice for the past three years. “Every time there is a temptation to try drugs again, I pray. I use the perseverance and the strength of spirit that I learned from the Fazenda through hard work to fight off the craving,” he said.

Randy now has a clean bill of health. “As proof that I have my life back, I was allowed by my mother, who is now in the United States, to look after my two younger siblings.” Happiness has found its way to their home again, he said.

But he wanted to stay in Fazenda to help drug dependents and alcoholics. “I was never a good eldest brother to my siblings. Maybe I could try being so here.”

His advice to those who are thinking of taking drugs: “If you want to try doing it, just don’t. It would turn your life into hell on earth.” To drug dependents, he said: “It’s never too late to change ways.”

Football dream

For Louie, 31, who has been into football since his teenage years, the road to the World Cup had been bumpy. And the greatest bump was his 15-year addiction to shabu.

Unlike Randy, Louie was able to finish college. He had a degree in marketing and was able to get a well-paying job as a football coach. He was able to conceal his addiction for 10 years, while studying and working.

But signs became apparent when he started getting late for work until he was fired. “I spent a big part of my earnings for drugs,” he said.

In 2008, Louie sought help from his family. He was referred to Fazenda by the parish in their village in Metro Manila.

When he arrived, some of the boys were laughing at him because he brought a lot of things. “I even bought two guitars. I only learned later that I had to work there and wash my own clothes. For the first time in my life, I learned how to remove stains from clothes.” he said.

Like Randy, he learned how to “love” the strangers in Fazenda. “Different persons with different personalities would come. I learned to love them for who they are.”

His girlfriend visited him twice in 2009. The third time, she was not allowed to see him anymore.

Breaking ties

Louie had to choose between his girlfriend and undergoing treatment. He took the latter.

“I remembered one Bible passage that says if you want to follow Christ, you should leave your family and follow him. For me, undergoing treatment for my addiction to drugs is following Christ’s footsteps,” he said.

With Fazenda’s unusual way of treatment, Louie was “cured.” When he returned home, he would always think of going back to serve as a volunteer until his girlfriend was fed up. They broke up and he returned to the rehabilitation center.

“This is my life and as the Bible says, there is no greater love than offering your life to your friends. The boys and girls in the Fazenda are my friends. I have to help them.”

And like a prize from heaven for being good, he might be in Rio de Janeiro for the 2014 World Cup.

The Brazilian founders of the rehabilitation center has been asking him if he wants to serve as a volunteer worker in a Fazenda da  Esperança in Brazil, which is only about 200 meters from the stadium where one of the football games of the 2014 World Cup will be held.

“I am considering it,” he said.

But for now, Louie and Randy are determined to help the “boys” and “girls” plant rice, raise livestock, produce milk and cheese, and have their lives back.