ADDICTS NEED HOPE, LOTS OF HELP

DURHAM -- Substance abuse is one of the biggest problems in Durham. The bad
news is there's not much attention given to helping those who want to kick
the habit.

There are only a few places a drug-addicted person can go: the county jail,
TROSA, the HOPE Recovery Program for men and the BELIEVE Program for women.
The Hope and BELIEVE programs are both located at the Community Shelter.

I spent some time with three people from the HOPE Recovery and BELIEVE
programs. All three have been in recovery less than one year. Their stories
are not unlike those of other homeless addicts in Durham. They want help.
They need support.

Iris Bryant

Iris Bryant, a 27-year-old Wilmington native, went to TROSA for help but
was released after eight days because of her other problem --
self-mutilation. Bryant found the help she needed at Urban Ministries. She
started coming to Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings on Saturdays. NA
meetings were discontinued at the Community Shelter. Bryant started using
again.

Bryant then came back to the BELIEVE program. She moved out of the Shelter
to live with her boyfriend. Bryant stopped going to meetings. She put her
recovery on the back burner.

Bryant has four children. One was given up for adoption.

"My blood mother lost me to addiction. My blood sister lost her kids to
addiction and she'll never get them back. It's gotta stop with me," Bryant
said.

Bryant says her problem with self-mutilation is due to being raped as a child.

"I don't go to people and tell them I'm gonna cut myself, I just do it,"
she said. "A lot of times I dream about when I was raped. When I dream
about it, I can sit here and tell you about when I got raped, and I was six
when it happened.

"When I cut myself, or burn myself I always figure can't nobody hurt me
more than I can hurt myself." Bryant said.

Alfred Tong

Alfred Tong is 49 years old. He's been using heroin since he was 11.

"I've been shooting dope for 37 years," Tong says. "This is the cleanest
I've been for 37 years."

Tong came to Durham from Rocky Mount to go to the VA Hospital for help. He
ended up at the Shelter.

"When they cut me off from living at the shelter for free, I had no place
to go and I decided to join this program because I had no place to stay,"
Tong said. "But after I got into it and learned about addiction and what
caused it, and more about NA and its 12- steps, I decided to stay with it."

Tong has spent 15 years on the street.

"Had my own businesses, lost them and went back on the streets," Tong said.
"I had a cleaning business, installation business, and construction."

Ira Montague

Ira Montague, Jr., 32, has been clean for five months. Montague grew up in
Durham.

"I came to this place with my mind made up," Montague said. "I came in here
March 13th on crutches. I was in a bad accident. I didn't have insurance.
Didn't have anywhere to go 'til that morning. The Duke police came to the
hospital. They ran my name. Took me downtown and released me. I had nowhere
to go. My aunt came to get me and it was suggested that I come down here.

It's not Montague's first time in recovery.

"I went to TROSA for two years," he said. "A year and a half later I was
doing good.

"TROSA doesn't affiliate with NA. I didn't know about recovery dynamics of
NA and AA as far as mental obsession is the disease of addiction. I could
never use again. I knew about work. Abstinence doesn't equal recovery. I
know that today. At TROSA I worked all the time. What happens when
everything stops, when everything slows down?

The discussion was an eye opening experience. TROSA wasn't able to provide
Bryant with what she needed -- a place to help her process the correlation
between rape, self-mutilation and addiction. Montaque went to TROSA but
needed something they lacked -- the structure of NA. Tong came to Durham
hoping to find help at the VA Hospital.

All of them ended up in the Shelter.

The HOPE Recovery and BELIEVE Programs are the best-kept secrets in Durham.
I'll have more to say about them next week.

Carl Kenney is a Durham pastor. His e-mail address is revcwkii@hotmail.com