The project “ Refugio de la Esperanza” – LiberarSé” in the Municipality of Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico, is a concrete response to unemployment and addictions to alcohol, drugs and other toxic substances. Problems that especially affect young people, who are more vulnerable and more exposed. The guests of the “Refugio” house follow a path of post-recovery and social reintegration after an initial phase of detoxification. And it is here that they begin to be able to look forward again. In the house, which welcomes 16 people, sharing , spirituality and work are the values on which the recovery paths are based to get out of the nightmare of addictions.
How the project “Refugio de la Esperanza” – LiberarSé” continues
Some work activities have been started, important investments that are bearing fruit both for the self-sufficiency of the house and in terms of social reintegration: the rabbit breeding , for example, supplies meat to the local market, with good growth prospects. The carpentry workshop is a small boast that fills those who work there with pride: it is a therapeutic and creative space at the same time. Then there is the sheep and chicken breeding and the production of hydroponic fodder (a cultivation technique outside the soil that allows for better nutritional quality). Behind each of these activities, behind each of the gestures that the men of the ” Refugio “
they do to raise, cultivate, cut, plan, there is the small community of this house where talents, skills, professions are valued and skills are shared . There are bricklayers and blacksmiths, cooks and gardeners; we have already followed some of them, we have already told their stories: like Oscar , Hugo and Osmar . They are young men who have applied what they already knew and have transformed their skills into work, putting them at the service of everyone. But there is more: the house in recent years has progressively become a social reference point for the diffusion of a culture of prevention of addictions . And also a tool through which the local community has become aware of the existence of this problem. The network that has developed around this project has contributed to determining its positive results: local communities, for example, have supported and continue to support it; the families of the protagonists of the recovery paths are equally important; as are the
volunteers and the operators who accompany them; the local church that participated with moments of spiritual formation and with some concrete services. In short, an entire community was moved: and this is one of the essential factors for the success of a project.
The words of R., one of the protagonists, demonstrate this: “What helped me a lot in the healing process was the brotherhood between us who live here, the fact that they believed in me and the spirituality with which I learned to manage my feelings. My dream is to return with my son and be a present father” .
