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At the beginning of the interview, Mong says that his story started from his youth as a street vendor. Mong earned two to three hundred dollars a day. Compared to an ordinary job with a monthly salary of several hundred dollars, Mong felt that it was easy to make money. With learning disabilities, he was even less interested in studying. When he was only nine years old, he could rely on himself. He had the money to buy a pair of sports shoes for 400 dollars. Mong described himself as ‘arrogant and complacent’. At the age of fourteen, he began to work with contractors in large companies. ‘Under one person, above a hundred people.’ Mong was at the peak.
Later, he met a kindergarten classmate who took drugs and met with him on weekends to take drugs together. About two to three months later, Mong became addicted to drugs. He was arrested for selling illegal CDs in 1998, it turned out that Mong wanted to help him detox in prison. ‘At that time, I didn’t know how to find the gospel drug treatment or other drug treatment methods. I simply thought that as long as I was in prison without drugs, I would not take drugs again. But after three days, he was addicted to drugs again.’ Mong says that he was not arrested for drugs, and he didn't understand why he made up his mind and couldn't give up drugs even at the expense of imprisonment. Later, after exhausting all kinds of methods, he was unable to detoxify, and he felt the pain of losing freedom.
Mong admitted, as he had been taking drugs for decades, he took drugs again after a few months of quitting. Mong laughs and says that he quit drugs many times. ‘There is no way to fight against the lifeless. People are alive, and drugs are lifeless. We can't beat it.’ Mong was determined to give up drugs, but he was not strong enough. What is the secret of successful drug rehabilitation? Mong points out that he has not taken drugs since 2017. ‘I dare not say that I have successfully quit drugs. My success lies in continuous attempts.’
The last time I quit drugs was at the Gospel Drug Rehabilitation Center. ‘There is a well-known gospel drug rehabilitation center run by a foreigner. As a drug addict, I should try it. I lived there for half a year, received deeper religious teaching, which opened my eyes.’ Leaving the drug rehabilitation center, Mong did not find peace after returning home, he was afraid that he would relapse. Introduced by a friend, he contacted The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention(hereafter the Society), Hong Kong, and participated in the ‘Buddies & Buddies’ peer support program, and gradually became a volunteer. He had never tried to sell flags, and he was scared at first. He had never crossed the road with traffic lights before, but because he became a volunteer, he led the team members to cross the road with green lights for the first time. Mong says, ‘I am very happy to be a volunteer. The Society helped me. Help me build my self-confidence. When taking drugs, my self-confidence and perseverance have been eroded by drugs, and I dare not hold my head upright.’
Being able to persist to this day, Mong says, ‘It’s all because there are powerful organizations behind me to support me, and people who took drugs support each other.’ He also hopes to influence each other through peer relationships. Seeing that others successfully detoxified, he thought that he could make it too, and he wanted to help others, ‘Life is not about length but meaning. I took a breath here. I will use this breath to do something to contribute to the world.’
During the interview, Mong emphasizes, ‘I am not alone’. Once when he sold flags, a passer-by put a dozen or twenty large coins into the flag bag. Wang was bewildered, he didn’t know if the person had a behavioral or psychological problem. He felt cowardly in his heart and started to shake his feet. Fortunately, a peer support member, Kwok, comforted him, making Mong understand that he was not in it alone. Mong says that mutual support can make up one another's deficiencies. For example, he first makes contact with drug users, the social worker steps forward to record personal information at the right moment. A glance outside the Methadone Clinic, they understand each other. Mutual trust and understanding overcome panic. Mong becomes a bridge for social workers without worries.
In the story exchange session, Mong admits that the trauma caused by drug abuse was not only physical. He felt lonely at home. He also needed to find social workers of the Society to help him immediately because of his physical discomfort. He worried about his condition to the extent of an emotional breakdown. Sometimes he cried when talking to the social workers. Mong believes that drug users find many reasons for themselves to relapse, and the trigger point may be a trivial matter, but when they are emotionally overloaded, they will relapse to avoid adversities. Therefore, it is crucial that at the moment when they are about to fall, they can get help from social workers and peers.
When talking about finding others to talk to and support himself, Mong says that the most profound moment was when he went to a convenience store to buy two cans of beer and bought another two after finishing them. In the WhatsApp group, his peers said that ‘Mong was drinking again’, which implied that when he saw Mong’s inconsistent words and he knew that he was drinking again. Mong says, ‘A simple greeting from my peers, "Mong, if you have nothing to do, go home and rest", I feel warm.’ Among his peers, Ping is very concerned about Mong. She cut his hair. Mong says that Ping is more accurate than a urine test. She can notice from the appearance whether a person has been taking drugs, such as widen pupils, runny nose, or fidgeting. Mong spends more time with his peers than his family.
We ask Mong, what kind of person he thinks he looks like in Ping's eyes? ‘I shake things up and talk corny jokes.’ Mong says, for example, when they go to a teahouse to chat, Ping who is older does not talk much, and Kwok who is shy is quiet. The ‘cheeky’ Mong is in charge of starting the conversation and making the party lively. What qualities of Mong make other peers willing to continue to help him? Mong says, ‘I'm still standing today and persisting, I've already "doing something". At Genuine Cafe, Ping and Kwok open the microphone to speak, saying that they have been listening to the Genuine cafe and will continue to support and encourage Mong.
We would like to thank Mong for his sincere sharing. Mong describes the support of his peers as a kind of afterglow and he will reminisce about this visit when he goes home. We also want to tell Mong that we will also reminisce about the time of candid communication with him.
Written by: Lau Kim Ling
Original story in Chinese, English translation by: Daniel Leung & Sharon Huang
