For the past seven years, Audrey Lacle, Maggy’s Perfumeries, has been supporting Cas Speransa in Moko 28, a halfway house maintained by Adopt an Addict foundation, AanA, an NGO she started ten years ago, to help the merchants on the main street.
She was the President of Mambo, the downtown merchant association and she decided to help take drug addicted homeless off the main street in order alleviate the pressure on downtown, suffering from break-ins and vandalism.
She also recruited friends and supporters to help fund a partnership with Hogar Crea in Santo Domingo, a rehab facility, where those lucky to be collected off the street, were sent for treatment, all expenses paid.
Upon their return, clean, they had nowhere to go, but back to the street, so that’s how the house in Moko, was set it up as a boarding facility for men in early recovery.
Audrey doesn’t know how she did it, but the ‘proof is in the pudding,’ we have a privately supported initiative sheltering one dozen men in recovery, clean, well-spoken and in possession of new self-awareness and most importantly, hope.
This month Cas Speransa ran a fundraising raffle, and an awareness campaign.
Adurey came to see us at the radio, on Magic 96.5FM, as a guest on Pica 96.5% and told us the following:
AanA sent 241 clients for therapy to the Dominican Republic and was in contact with a total of 415 addicts. Cas Speransa sheltered 86 men in recovery. Average stay 236 days
AanA is a private initiative, not subsidized by GOA, and Audrey wishes it to stay this way
88% clients are male
86% were born in Aruba; 4% more were born within the kingdom of the Netherlands
70% of clients were exposed to contact with drugs between the ages 11 to 20
50% of the clients have a MAVO/EPB education
Most used Marijuana, Cocaine, Base
90% of the clients started with Marijuana and Alcohol
50% of the clients use multiple substances
30% of the clients suffer from addiction AND psychiatric disorders, which in many cases the home cannot handle, but there is nowhere to go, with the hospital’s Psychiatric Ward limited to 20 patients.
Pls make a donation to Cas Speransa, this holiday season.
Stichting Adopt an Addict, Moko 28, Aruba; email: [email protected]. KVK res#987. Tel.: 582 9256, office 582 9246 hotline: 594 2494; CMB acc# 253.937.03
I wrote about the half way house in moko a while ago, here’s the link
https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/8am-buzz/miracles-in-moko/
