My name is Ketho and I am a recovering injecting drug addict. I was born and brought up in a well–to–do family. I was a bright student during my childhood and secured very good marks in my studies. I had my first taste of drugs when I was in standard two class. I gradually became quite badly–behaved and many character defects began to emerge in me. I became a disgrace to myself and other people around me. When I started going to college I began to use drugs of all kinds on a habitual basis. The friends whom I chose to be mine were all drug users. In the process I got so used to their company that I considered them to be my best friends. Unfortunately one of them died of a drug overdose. At that point, I was living my life entirely for the cause of drug usage. Due to this I started failing in my studies, avoiding the church and its members, avoiding my non–drug using friends, and most of all running away from the reality of life.

I resorted to doing all the things that I would never have dreamt of doing to get my drugs like selling my own belongings, cheating, stealing, absenting myself from college, skipping meals due to the searching of drugs, avoiding friends and family member, committing petty crimes, hating and isolating myself, and–above all – I started to make drugs my everything. I still remember the day when I took a shower after a gap of ninety days and also the days when I used a five ml needle for a whole month.

My fate began from good to bad to worse and still was worsening. I can’t believe the bad shape of my health and the bad times that drug landed on me. I was a complete human disaster. Injecting drugs gave me numerous abscesses and weakened my body so badly that I could hardly function like a normal human being. Active addiction for eight years made me to land up in clinics, jails, detox and rehab centers. I was also caught and punished by some pressure groups who threatened to have me shot dead if I continued to use drugs. My every attempt at recovery failed. I relapsed a number of times. Finally the day came when I hit my rock–bottom and opened up myself to seek help with rigorous honesty. I realized that I had to give up drugs at all cost or else nothing in me was worthwhile.

This time I succeeded. My journey to life had started again. During this journey, Kripa foundation, Nagaland was kind enough to give me a part–time job as a peer educator (PE) and during that time I also got myself exposed to the wonderful fellowship of addicts in the form of Narcotics Anonymous (NA). I played my part as a PE with an aim to help myself, my still suffering friends, to express my gratitude to the organization, and to re–structure my life–style and kept on attending my NA meetings. This job–opportunity got me trained as a reliable and responsible PE and I started to work with the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) again as an experienced PE for the project G–72. Through this exposure I got myself so capacitated due to the various training attendance that once the project came to an end, I was promoted as an ORW (outreach worker) under a targeted intervention project with Kripa foundation. Working in this field gave me immense pleasure and provided me with many skills which were not only necessary for an outreach worker but also for my personal life as a whole.

Today by the grace of God, I am clean and sober completely for the last three years, one month, and 29 days and as I enjoy the gifts of my recovery I would like to once again give thanks to my family members, friends, Kripa foundation, the fellowship of NA, and its members without whom this miracle couldn’t have happened. Today I am married to a lovely girl, started studying again, earning and learning day to day, and living life in reality. Presently I am still working with the Kripa Foundation under a certain projects called substitution therapy as the coordinator. Whatever positive changes took place in my life, I would like to credit it all to my higher power.