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I was invited by Debra Vizzi, the head of VIP Community Services, to attend their Friday Morning Breakfast Club, a weekly support/inspirational meeting for addicts in recovery. Tatiana, 24, from the Bronx and now in the women's residence, was one of many to stand up and share; she recited a poem she had written.
Tatiana started using drugs in '06, initially weed, mushrooms, and ecstasy, but she quickly moved to heroin. The drug abuse led to her selling herself, and constant thoughts of suicide. Twice before, she has been through detox and rehab, and has now been clean for 99 days. "This time I'm getting clean for me, not for my family. That's a big difference." When she leaves the program she is hoping to get the last four credits to complete college and go into nursing.
When I asked her how she wanted to be described she said, "I am an eccentric piece of work. Addicts are sensitive people who often don't know how to deal with their emotions."
Christian, 39, has been at VIP Community Services four 4 months. He started selling drugs at 15. Initially he didn't use much, "I am a hustler more than an addict. I could take dirt off this floor and make something." As he grew successful he started taking greater risks, "I though I was the king of New York. I was addicted to the fast lane. I was so used to having large quantity of drugs around, but the money was the bigger high. I'm manipulating like a puppet master."
Almost ten years ago he descending into heavy drug use; PCP, LSD, and pills. "I'm a unique drug user. I don't do what everyone else does." He lost all his money, did jail time, and was stabbed 12 times, "My own people set me up to rob me." Talking about PCP he said "I was doing crazy shit; car surfing, train surfing."
Now clean he wants to refocuses on his studies. He showed us his notebooks, filled with writings and songs, books that are his passion and that he always keeps close. In High School he was a very good student, on the debate team, and he attended College for Electrical Engineering. Christian hopes to go back to College, perhaps get certified as a plumber or welder.
When I asked him how he wanted to be described he said "I never judge nobody. You find out that some addicts come from prominent places. I have been at both places, high and low."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
Jhonas' father was a heroin addict that "was abusive to my mom, never really met him." Jhonas started using drugs at thirteen, and moved quickly to dealing and using heroin and crack. As his addiction become worse he started robbing and stealing, and eventually robbing from other dealers. He himself has been shot once, stabbed multiple times, and has shot and stabbed others. "I always thought I'd die on the streets. A mother's prayers work, they say." He has spent over twenty of his forty-one years in jail, but that did not stop his addiction. "You can get anything in jail, everything has a price."
Homeless and destitute, he was robbing reguarly. Recently it led to a broken jaw that he refused to get wired. "I got machismo. I told them you ain't wiring my shit. I put on my hoodie and hid my face. Another fight and it was all wrong. I had to walk myself to the hospital."
With the help of his family and new friends he is now in VIP Community Services and has been clean for over forty-five days. "It's a great feeling, not being sick. Addiction is a disease, but there's a point when you get tired. The years have humbled me. I want to get to know my girlfriend and myself clean."
Jhonas expressed regret for not being there for his daughter. His oldest son died a few days ago, shot in the back of the head. "It happened because of me. I showed him the streets."
When I asked Jhonas his plans he said, "I want to go to school for counseling. I can't go back to my old neighborhood. I will end up high before I get my friends clean."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
Hendrix, 29, is in the men's residence at VIP Community Services and has been clean for the last seven months. His father was an abusive alcoholic, so he, his mother and sister escaped to New York from Puerto Rico when he was young. He started using drugs at eighteen, and used heroin for the last five years before quitting.
I drove him back to his old neighborhood, at his request. As he pointed to the three massive buildings of the housing projects, he said "I used to buy drugs all over. That first building? There I buy crack. The second one I buy dope. The third one I buy weed." He got the money he needed by stealing and odd jobs.
He took us to a bodega where he was stabbed four years ago. Caught steeling two cases of beer, he was chased down the street by someone from the bodega, who stabbed him in the arms and stomach. Hendrix dizzily made it home, before he went to the hospital.
During the day he studies and attends class to get his GED. He wants to live far away from the Bronx, become a driver, and get an apartment. "You lose your life when you do drugs. My real life has come again. I feel like a new man. Get help: Life is so beautiful now."
When I asked him how he wanted to be described he said, "I'm a really quiet person. I just want to live clean and sober."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
Marie, 48, a resident at VIP Community Services has been clean for three months. From Rochester, she spent much of her youth on a reservation, her father a full member of the Cayuga tribe. "I've always had a problem with alcohol. I'm Native American, so I am allergic to alcohol. How crazy is that?" Ten years ago she started using crack. It took over her life. "Crack is a horrible, horrible drug. I lived for it. It become the only important thing. Crack was the only thing I had, the only thing that I'd go to."
Homeless and addicted, she resorted to working the streets. Arrested nineteen times in two years, she had no pimp or boyfriend. "I was pretty much alone. What I learned in prison saved me out there." Her sister, also an addict, was murdered by a drug dealer four years ago. Marie became more and more suicidal. "I thought about it every day, I walked the railroad tracks alone a lot. I walked every day and night. Alone. I was in a living hell. I would be up for four and five days, tired, but part of me would say, just one more hit."
About a year ago she decided to get clean. "I realized I was going to die out here. I was just getting so sick of it all." She hitched her way to New York City. "It's so powerful a drug -- I had to move 400 miles away to get clean. I couldn't do it there, too many triggers."
"I feel wonderful now. I had no hope last year. I don't have to turn a trick to get a bagel and a coffee." Marie wants to go back to school and finally complete her Bachelors degree. After that she would like to be part of her children's lives again. "I don't want to reach out until I have something valid to show them about my recovery. A year and a half or two, I'm thinking. I have to be strong enough to do that, and I'm not strong enough right now."
"People see crack addicts and they think they are the lowest form of humanity. We come from somewhere. I remember standing in line at the Burger King, and people behind me said, "What is she doing here?" They didn't even think I should be allowed to get something to eat."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
Amy, twenty-six, a resident at VIP Community Services has been clean for four months and on methadone for two years. Born and raised in a tiny town in Maine, she started using heroin at ten, influenced by older friends. As a teenager she "got beat up, shot up, and left in a ditch." She ended up spending four years in Juvie.
She was hit by a Mack truck while returning from a trip to Florida. From her settlement she gave 25K to her boyfriend, who used the entire lot of it on drugs. Soon after he was murdered for drugs. "My boyfriend was killed by a shotgun. He was overkilled, shot in the head and the stomach. I thought I was going to spend my life with him."
Amy moved to New York and fell into crack. "I loved crack more than I loved myself." Amy turned to prostitution, originally pulling in $150 per half hour, but as her crack addiction worsened, she was turning tricks for whatever. She has been kidnapped, raped, and beaten on the streets. She has no children, since she has an IUD, "It's better to not bring a child into this world of chaos, and don't get me wrong, I want children."
"God brought me to New York. After VIP I want to stay in New York, to help other people, maybe work in a hospital. I need to learn how to be single and to love myself."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
This week I attended another VIP Community Services Friday Morning Breakfast Club, a weekly support/inspirational meeting for addicts in recovery. Tatiana was in attendance, and had brought her mother, Rosemarie, for Mother's Day. She again read her poem, which you can read here: poem.
I wanted to hear Rosemarie's perspective on Tatiana's addiction. "When she was in college, I thought she was depressed, not high. She would just stay in her room." As the addiction worsened things in the house started going missing, candy money the other children would collect. "I did lose trust in her. I finally ended up locking the door to the house. Locking her out." Asked if she trusted her now, they exchanged looks, and Rosemarie, through tears, said, "Yes, I am beginning to. It's going to take time though."
"As a parent, no matter how many years you say it's not your fault, you still kind of feel it is. It takes a while, but I am happy she's here. It got bad."
Neylan, 45, has been clean for eight months, following time in prison for dealing. Presently she is a resident at VIP Community Services, while her four children live at her apartment in the projects, where she has lived for the past fifteen years. "I love this place (the projects), but sometime I hate it as well. It's a trigger, but I am not going to let it get to me."
She was addicted to heroin for five years, introduced to it by two close friends, one who recently died of an overdose. Her addiction took over her life and forced to hustle to get money: Dealing, credit card scams, anything. It made her neglectful of the children. "I used to not take care of those kids. I was living in a shell, isolating myself. You get married with the heroin. That becomes your man. I was hurting my kids everyday."
Her children have been her support, "When you're in recovery, everybody has to be on the same page. My kids are helping me. My big son's in charge." She goes home every weekend to visit the children. They tell her, "You look so beautiful, mommy, can't you see."
On her recovery Neylan says, "Everything looks so different clean. I am starting to act like a child again, being silly, acting crazy when we go bowling. This is the most beautiful thing in my life. There's something in my mind and my heart to make me love again. When I get out of VIP, I want to get out of the projects. All doors are open for me right now."
Asked to describe herself, Neylan said, "I'm a good mother, and I'm a good person. I want to be healthy and happy."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
Annette, 50, was waiting in line at VIP Community Services early in the morning to receive her daily dose of methadone. She is now down to 20mg daily, and has not used heroin or crack for over two years.
Abused as a child, she started using drugs for the pain: "When I was beat, I went under the bed for my dad's alcohol." By thirteen she was addicted. "From acid to pills, I have done everything." HIV positive, she picked it up from her girlfriend's syringe. She tried killing herself a few times, overdosing and shooting anything she could find.
"I've lost so much, my house, even my family. Today I have everything. I care so much. I used to sleep on park benches and people would look at me and treat me like a piece of shit. Look at me now --- That girl who slept on benches. I am happy and blessed now."
When I asked her how she wanted to be described she said "I'm the most beautiful women in the world."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
Maria, 42, is a resident at VIP Community Services. Clean for over two years, she spent the better part of her life addicted to heroin and crack, starting when she was 19. She resorted to anything to make money. "I prostituted, I ran the streets, I did everything. I feel dirty now that I think about it, to be with a man I didn't desire." She was dealing and running drugs up and down the I-95 corridor. Her last jail time was in South Carolina, busted for trafficking.
She is the mother of four children. Their father passed away from AIDS 15 years ago, leaving her to raise them alone. She herself was raised by her grandmother, now 87, as both her parents were absent from her life. "I was one of twelve children, but I'm an only child." In rehab, she speaks daily with her husband and grandmother. Her husband himself has been clean for ten years. "I have a good support system. He tells me daily I have to be strong."
"After you get clean, its beautiful, beautiful to be clean. Its great, people look at you different. There's a better life, but you have to want it."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
Tony, 35, started using and dealing coke in his early twenties. He ended up with a $300 a day habit, "doing whatever I needed to do for drugs, pawning electronics, living off of friends, anything. I thought coke was my superpower, gave me confidence to talk to people." As he fell further into drug addiction, Tony lost contact with his family, first his parents, then his wife, and finally his 11-year-old daughter. He is especially pained because he doesn't speak with his daughter, someone he was very close to, who used to say to him, "Daddy, you're my best friend." The tattoo on his forearm used to say, "man, father, husband." He had "husband" removed after his divorce. His wife had a matching one.
After having to borrow money from a stranger, he entered detox and is now in residence at VIP Community Services. He has been clean for nine months. When asked to describe himself he said, "I'm a caring person. I enjoy helping people, and now I realize I'm more intelligent than I thought I was."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
I met Antonio, 45, a the Friday Morning Breakfast Club held by VIP Community Services, a weekly support/inspirational meeting for addicts in recovery.
Antonio is the owner of a successful contracting business. Ten years ago his wife and twins died during childbirth. Two weeks later he tried to kill himself. "I did twelve times the dose (heroin) but it didn't work. I am a loner, not the type of guy to talk to friends about feelings. I just held it all in and used drugs to deal. My using heroin, that was a really bad choice."
Now living in the men's residence, he has been clean for four months. "People here in VIP care. It's not just doing what they have to. They really care."
When I asked him how he wanted to be described he said, "I am a family man."
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
Stunning cocktail waitress at XS Las Vegas Nightclub in Encore.
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Three gorgeous bar tenders at XS Las Vegas in Encore.
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Two attractive ladies enjoying a night out at XS Las Vegas in Encore.
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Manny, 53 and now living in VIP Community Services mens residence, has been clean for the last 7 months. A lifetime Bronx resident he has struggled with drugs for over 25 years. Convicted three times for selling, he has done around ten years of jail time. "I didn't know how to stay clean and really didn't want to."
"Cocaine and drugs are in the family. I grew up surrounded by it, but I didn't pay to much mind to it growing up." In his late twenties he started using coke "The first time I stuck my car keys in a line and liked it. I been chasing the feeling since. I didn't care who I hurt, I had no remorse. Do it just to get a fix and don't think about the negative outcomes. I ended up just using to not go through withdraw. I had a constant craving." He started doing all types of drugs. To get money he did small jobs, then turned to selling and shoplifting. His sister died of AIDS contracted by shooting up.
"I feel good and motivated now. I got a little freedom, and I am learning how to live life."
More on Recovery here: Faces of Recovery
More from the Bronx here: The Bronx
Two hotties partying it up at XS Las Vegas Nightclub in Encore.
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ريادة الاداء مكة المكرمة
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للحجز والاستعلام الاتصال على الارقام التالية
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ريادة الاداء مكة المكرمة
رحلات منضمة الي جميع دول العالم باسعار خيالية ومع مرشدين سياحيين الافضل معنا ان شاء الله
للحجز والاستعلام الاتصال على الارقام التالية
خدمتكم شرف لنا
Phone: +966 01 25 32 47 75
Phone: +966 53 843 4980
Phone +966 54 119 8394
phone :+966 5 67 26 44 15
phone:+966 5 56 22 6182
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ريادة الاداء مكة المكرمة
رحلات منضمة الي جميع دول العالم باسعار خيالية ومع مرشدين سياحيين الافضل معنا ان شاء الله
للحجز والاستعلام الاتصال على الارقام التالية
خدمتكم شرف لنا
Phone: +966 01 25 32 47 75
Phone: +966 53 843 4980
Phone +966 54 119 8394
phone :+966 5 67 26 44 15
phone:+966 5 56 22 6182
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7 minsريادة الاداء مكة المكرمة
رحلات منضمة الي جميع دول العالم باسعار خيالية ومع مرشدين سياحيين الافضل معنا ان شاء الله
للحجز والاستعلام الاتصال على الارقام التالية
خدمتكم شرف لنا
Phone: +966 01 25 32 47 75
Phone: +966 53 843 4980
Phone +966 54 119 8394
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phone:+966 5 56 22 6182
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7 minsريادة الاداء مكة المكرمة
رحلات منضمة الي جميع دول العالم باسعار خيالية ومع مرشدين سياحيين الافضل معنا ان شاء الله
للحجز والاستعلام الاتصال على الارقام التالية
خدمتكم شرف لنا
Phone: +966 01 25 32 47 75
Phone: +966 53 843 4980
Phone +966 54 119 8394
phone :+966 5 67 26 44 15
phone:+966 5 56 22 6182
fb.com/groups/1922684301083518/ … … …
Travelinksa
whatsapp : 00966570076573
contact@reyadatalada.com
#رحلات_سياحية #عطلة_نهاية_الاسبوع
#bodrum #sapanca #marmaris #rent #car #driver #guide #holidays #tourism #hotel #apartment #istanbul #antalya #reservation #adventure #trips #gulf_traveler #Tourist_global
#airportreception #vipservices #helicopter #yacht #tripadvisor #thebluemosque
#weekend
#agencetouristique #locationvoiture #tour #promener #amuser #balader #hôteldeluxe
#مكة
#المدينة المنورة
#travelinksa
#visite makkah
#price
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#اجمل حاجة في الرياض
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