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A story of Local Response by Jessica from Chrysalide
“As a drug user, people will never consider you, even if they meet you for the first time, as anything other than an addict. They won’t ever simply consider you as a human being. I was a drug addict. When I walked through the doors of Chrysalide for the first time, that’s when I really understood what “non-judgement” meant, and how it could change someone’s life. Here, the staff and the other girls treat me as a fellow community member, as someone who is a part of this house which often feels like a family. Here, I am allowed to be angry, sad, joyful or irritated and will just be taken as my being angry, sad, joyful or irritated. It’s like the filter of “drug addict” is gone, and people see me for who I am. And so, I have started feeling free to actually be myself.
This changed a lot of things. I started to regain my self-confidence. I started to notice that I had capacities, remembering the ones I have always possessed, but also discovering new ones. Like cooking [laughs]! I used to think I hated cooking, but today I cooked for you, and you loved it, and I loved that you loved it, and it actually tasted good, too!”
“When people saw me without the filter of ‘drug addict’, then they could see me for who I am and I felt free to be myself.”
Contact details
Jessica (Chrysalide)
Facebook: Jessica Brutus Emma
Phone: (+230) 58245093
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