ADDICTS FIND CURE IN FARM WORK AND PRAYER

Young drug addicts from all over the world are coming back to life on a
28-acre farm in the countryside near Knock, Co Mayo.

In these tranquil surroundings nine addicts are being "healed" in a project
run by a religious group, the Cenacolo Community.

The Knock Centre is one of 60 houses worldwide which the Cenacolo
Community, founded by an Italian nun, Sister Elvira Petrozzi in 1993,
operates for youngsters who are chemically dependent.

Addicts are routed away from the hell of drugs into a new life based on
prayer and work. Such rehabilitation techniques as methadone - a substitute
for heroin - are shunned in the Cenacolo method. Cigarettes are taboo,
there is no alcohol or material comforts such as radio or television.

Buying the farm was made possible by a donor's generosity and Sister Elvira
inspected it beforehand. The residents rear livestock, ducks and chickens
and they grow their own vegetables.

Prayer is an integral part of household life. The sitting-room has been
turned into a spartan chapel with an altar and tabernacle. Before breakfast
they pray there A painting of Matt Talbot, a temperance crusader after a
battle against alcoholism, looks down from one wall.

The uncomplicated, prayer-filled life is not a quick-fix solution to drug
addiction, one of the centre leaders, Aaron, explained. The normal stay is
three years before former addicts return to their former environment.

Aaron was 13 when he started drinking and experimenting with marijuana. His
parents, staunchly religious, hoped he'd grow out of it. Their wish has
come true. Now 21, soft-spoken and eloquent, Aaron is no longer obsessed
about were his next "fix" is coming from. He rises at 4 a.m. daily to pray
before milking the cows.

After breakfast its time to change into work clothes and go mucking about
in the farmyard. There are two cows and a calf, 15 hens, chickens, ducks
and a goose to be looked after, as well as chopping wood to keep the stove lit.

Woodwork and metalwork are part of the daily work routine and rosary beads
are made for sale at nearby Knock Shrine. Aaron insists: "Getting back to
basics as regards farming helps people to rehabilitate".

He adds: "Drugs take your life away. When you are taking drugs they are
your first priority. All you think about is taking drugs. All other
emotions - emotions of love, emotions of friendship disappear. When you
take drugs you are on another planet."

Local people have grown used to their unusual neighbours. Only now, three
years on, do many people realise the important function played by the
small, well-kept, farmhouse in getting addicts back onto the straight and
narrow.