Phoenix comes to Mon Repos
IT was not by chance that Mon Repos on the East Coast of Demerara, home to the reputable Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA)and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), was also chosen as the soil on which to establish Guyana’s first-ever Home for the Recovery of both male and female substance abusers and misusers.
Rather, it was through divine inspiration that a humble couple, Clarence and Samantha Young, with a burden on their hearts for the plight of substance abusers in Guyana, made themselves available to be used as pioneering vessels in the fight against this scourge. And for more than 19 years, Mon Repos has been and continues to be the Home of the Phoenix Recovery Project, providing counselling and rehabilitation for substance abusers. Having started with men only, by 2008 the facility threw its doors open to women as well.

With knowledge gleaned from his homeland Trinidad and Tobago, Clarence Young, initially in the late 1990s, ventured into providing counselling and therapy for his first client – a patient of Prasad’s Hospital. There he worked side by side with Dr. McRae. It was during this time that he designed and implemented the Salvation Army’s Drug Rehabilitation Programme in Water Street, Kingston.

After leaving the Salvation Army’s programme, Clarence and his wife took the decision to set up their own drug rehabilitation programme that would bring relief to substance abusers and misusers. But having limited resources and virtually no accommodation, the couple did it ‘out-of-pocket’ and set up the facility at their Hadfield Street home in Georgetown. They started with four clients, but the response was heartening. Except for being conducted under cramped conditions, the programme was quite a success and it was there that the Youngs saw the need to have an independent building set up to conduct the programme on a much larger scale.

MON REPOS SATISFIES A CRYING NEED
Desiring to reach out to and impact the lives of as many persons in the grasp of substance abuse as possible, they conducted a survey to determine what communities were most afflicted by alcohol and drug addiction. Mrs. Young, co-founder of the project, now recalls: “One of the things we knew we have to do in terms of doing our outreach, is to reach out to a community where the need exists, and Mon Repos ideally fitted that slot, because it is a community that is having a high percentage of substance misuse – particularly alcohol,” she reasoned.

Reflecting on their initial journey, Mrs. Samantha Young, now chief executive officer, following her husband’s death in 2017, stated: “One of the things we know we have to do in terms of doing our outreach, is to reach out to the community of Mon Repos, because it is a community that is having a high percentage of substance misuse – particularly alcohol.’’

FROM RESISTANCE TO EMBRACE
In retrospect, she said that all was not lost: “When we first relocated and did our initial outreach, in Mon Repos, there was some degree of resistance towards us, but we drew strength from the district chairman who said that he understood why we had come and what we were about to do. He agreed that there was definitely a need for such an approach within that community. But that is not to say that the service being offered there was exclusively for the people of Mon Repos. It also targeted persons coming from wherever in Guyana there was a need.

“As time went on and the word went around, those whom ideally we were targeting began gravitating towards the programme. Both the clients and their family members co-operated and we are very grateful to them. Over the years, we have been able to survive and we have interacted with some persons imbibing (alcohol) drinking and playing loud music, with the net result that we have been able to bring about tremendous changes to the lifestyle while winning the battle against substance abuse in the lives of many persons.”

Moving from strength to strength, in time, the programme, registered under the name ‘Phoenix Recovery Project’, got into full swing and has since seen the recovery of hundreds of men and women who have successfully completed the programme and were able to return to the community, reunite with their families and lead productive lives. It was with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), that Phoenix was able to expand and offer services to women as well. At the present time, the project has accommodation for 30 men and 10 women, but there are plans ahead for expansion.

PHOENIX RECOVERY HOME RECEIVES GOV’T SUBVENTION
And announcing that the Phoenix Recovery Project was for the first time granted a subvention by the government in its 2019 Budget, the CEO expressed profound gratitude, stating: “We were able to increase our staff as a result of funding being made available, and are hoping to start our targeted street-based education intervention. We have to do a lot of street-based education and we have a caravan which we are actively preparing, so we can continue our street outreach programme. We go out into the highways and by-ways and reach those who may never have heard the word that help is available for substance abusers,” she stated.

PRIVATE SECTOR RESPONSE
Mrs. Young also acknowledged financial and other support from the private sector and other persons following an interview with the Pepperpot Magazine last year. “God is good. Coming out of that interview, we got some more support from the private sector in terms of donations and persons were even dropping by with small parcels of donations in the form of foodstuff and clothing.” She said they also received two sewing machines which the women are currently using as part of their skills training programme. They are learning to sew clothing and bed sheets, window curtains, handbags and cutting jeans as well. But the best thing that happened was government’s subvention to the Phoenix Recovery Programme, she said.

Young said the subvention will go a far way towards helping the centre execute key programmes such as the skills training programme, which ensures that they have a skill to take back home with them and enhance their lives after completing the programme. They are also learning up-cycling skills, mastering the art of coming up with beautiful designs and creations made from plastic bottles that would normally be thrown out.

FORGING ALLIANCES
Meanwhile, the men, usually with a passion for farming, will be given support from agriculture-related entities in the practice of Cultural Rhetoric Farming. They are also currently engaged in the fabrication of picture frames and stools for which there is a need at the centre. And utilising the rich fertile land space on the premises, the clients are engaged in cash-crop farming to satisfy the needs of the centre.

The Phoenix Recovery Programme has alliances with good-intentioned entities such as The National Tuberculosis Programme; The BV Church Global Youth Day Programme; National Health Workers; the National Narcotics Agency and Saying No to Drugs. Phoenix is also in partnership getting the message out there – ‘Say No to Drugs’! The CEO expressed being heartened with the response as it relates to the Alternative to Incarceration Programme. “ We are also on board with the government through the National Narcotics Agency (NNA) and so we look forward to the implementation of the Alternative to Incarceration Programme. I am really happy to know that our prisons would be less burdened by those who should not be there, she said.

And whilst thanking God for what they have achieved through the years, the CEO has grandiose plans, and is looking forward to the day when Phoenix would be housed in its own property and can have separate facilities for men and women.
The future plan for Phoenix
“My future plan for Phoenix is not to have it housed in buildings around the corner, but to see Phoenix standing very tall on a stretch of land that will be permanent. And so, one of my goals is to continue resolutely, getting some lands to do such a project. There will come a time when you have to have your own; I firmly believe that now is the time. And so, while I am comfortable in one sense, that is not my ambition to remain this way all the while. I like to go for bigger and greater challenges, she concluded.