Through our work with the community, we
formed a support group called Sahachari. It is made up of fifteen women who are
married to men suffering from addictions to substances such as alcohol or
drugs.
When a home is burdened by someone's
addiction, it becomes especially embarrassing for the woman in the house. She
tends to hide her feelings, but all these emotions build up, like steam in a
pressure cooker waiting to be released. So when these women come together, they
talk openly and their shyness disappears.
They realize that they are all in the 'same
boat'. They don't feel lonely anymore. Nobody talks about addictions. Instead,
they talk about maintaining their own well-being! Given the current situation
of the slum, women cannot cure or control addictions, but addictions affect family
life, they cause stress, and women cannot concentrate on their work. The
Sahachari group has been created to motivate women to think rationally and
positively.
The Sahachari group (also for the mothers
of addicts) believes that once they accept their predicament, they can prepare
themselves to help the addict in his recovery. They also believe that while
helping the addict, they should also look at their own irrational behaviour and
make efforts to change themselves.
The group meets twice a month and the meetings
include sharing, discussions, guidance from a guest speaker and individual counselling.
Very importantly, we all maintain the principle of confidentiality, so the
group feels that this is the platform where “we can freely share our problems,
our lives”.
