From the Director's Desk

APON has finished 11 glorious years of service to drug addicts in Bangladesh. APON stated as a small Halfway House with one recovering addict and very few material processions but quickly developed to become the leading Drug Rehabilitation center in Bangladesh. For this we must thank God and the many people who have helped us over the years. During the past year APON has taken some very important steps to develop and improve our services to Drug addicts in Bangladesh.

We have  continued to serve male drug addicts and we have expanded our children’s program. We have done well in Dhaka, Mymenshing and Narsingdi establishing networks among the drug users as a part of  UNODC projects. This year we also opened a Female Rehabilitation and Day Care Center with the assistance of Family Health International, Bangladesh. We have been making contacts with those serving street children and we hope to continue developing our adapted Children’s Drug Rehabilitation Program, especially among the regular and part time street children. We look forward to doing more for Street Children in drug preventive and awareness programs plus offering drug treatment and rehabilitation to more of these youngsters. To do this well we will need the help of international organizations.

APON's development motto is: "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where is no path and leave a trail” so as a result APON is: A small (but growing) light in the vast darkness of drug addiction in Bangladesh. I believe that the staff, volunteers and others have been working very hard to not only continue our rehabilitation program but to develop all aspects of our service programs. One of the “trails" APON is leaving is that rehabilitation of drug addicts leads to behavior change and therefore helps to prevent both drug addiction and HIV/AIDS.

Our program and staff have both been developing. We had a special Therapeutic Community Training given by Fernando (Ferdie) Perfas from Daytop International of New York, USA jointly sponsored by Daytop, Dutch-Bangla Bank Foundation and APON. A number of our staff members have received various specialized training from partner NGOs. We appreciate this input for the improvement of the staff at APON. We are honoured that APON is the only NGO in Bangladesh accepted for Membership in the Asian Federation of Therapeutic communities (AFTC).

I salute all the drug addicts who have made the courageous effort to get off drugs even if they have not been able to stay off drugs. I congratulate those Recovering Addicts who have been able to stay free of drugs for many months and years with the help of fellow recovering addicts and God. But I offer very special congratulations to those who have been able to live not only a sober life free of drugs but to live a healthy life keeping all the Four Cardinal or Principle Rules of the Therapeutic community.

This year we have started the construction work in a small scale to build APONGAON (APON Treatment and Rehabilitation Village) at Singair, Manikgonj. But we need support from the donors, individuals and well wishers to build a comprehensive drug addiction treatment and  rehabilitation centre for female, male  and children.    

Last but not least all of us at APON appreciate the leadership and support we receive from the Members of the APON General Council. The members volunteer many hours of their and time and energy without any remuneration for their dedicated service to APON .

I again thank God and all who have assisted APON to provide various services to high-risk youngsters, drug users and their families in Bangladesh.

BROTHER RONALD DRAHOZAL, CSC                                                                                                                                                                                         NEXT                                                                                                                                                                                                                     NEXT