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Change of direction Three of the villages in the area known as Kendua had a problem – alcohol.
Many of the adults, men and women, were alcoholics. So much alcohol was made from locally-available Mahula flowers that there was a special liquor section in the weekly market. Many parents spent all their money buying alcohol, and the education, health and general well-being of their children suffered. As they grew up, teenagers gradually succumbed to the addiction too. One day, one of the Kendua community development committee members took the matter in hand and approached World Vision for help to overcome the alcohol problem. The community development committee and World Vision started a campaign. Together they held community meetings to discuss the negative social impacts of alcohol addiction that were occurring in their village. Gradually more people joined them and the Alcoholic Agape Fellowship was formed, with a branch in each village. The fellowship took over campaigning against alcohol in a sensitive way and offered support and counselling for those addicted, continuing the pattern that had been set by World Vision and the community development committee. An acknowledgement of the importance of the campaign spread throughout the villages and soon everyone had joined in, with all villagers agreeing to the ground rules they made: 1. Alcohol cannot be drunk or stored in any of the villages 2. Alcohol cannot be brewed or sold in any of the villages 3. Counselling and support is available for those who have been affected by alcohol addiction 4. A person of high standing from each village will monitor liquor sales and use, and visit former addicts 5. The village development committees will act as an intermediary for all sales of Mahula flowers 6. Disciplinary action will be taken by the village development committee against anyone who breaks these rules 7. Any person, male or female, can safely report non-compliance to the village development committee One of the first to feel the implications of the rules was a businessman (not a local) who ran an alcohol brewing venture in one of the villages. After being made to stop brewing and selling alcohol, he was forced to leave the village. To ensure no one else decided to break the village rules, the villagers also destroyed the cottage he had ran his business from. The village development committees realised that prohibiting alcohol could result in poverty for those who previously earned their income from brewing and selling it. So they arranged with the village self-help groups (group members contribute money into a fund from where they can later borrow for personal or business use) to offer loans so anyone who used to brew or sell alcohol could set up a different kind of business. The village development committees and community development committee are pleased with the changes and the impact they are having on the lives of the people, especially children of these three villages. The programme has been such as success that it is spreading to other villages in Kendua and further afield. |
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