The Hiding Place for drug addicts

The verse in the Bible, "He can make you the man you should be" has cheered up Qiu, and he decided to seek a normal life once again. Photo courtesy: Guang Ming Daily

PENANG: Before setting up "The Hiding Place" Rehabilitation Centre, the founder Qiu Qin-yuan had been sent to prison five times and had been a drug addict for eleven years and a beggar for six years.

As a matter of fact, he came from a prominent and well-to-do family and his father was one of the few taxi operators in town.

From an innocent angel, he was nevertheless turned into a despicable monster soon afterward.

Refusing to take over family business

He said during an interview with Guang Ming Daily that if he had not been given a second chance, he could have ended up an incurable drug addict.

After regaining his new life, he refused to take over his family business. Instead he set up the only non-profit rehabilitation centre in Penang in hope of helping other drug addicts turn over a new leaf and

experience the miracles of renewed lives.

Owing to his strong determination, he went ahead to start the rehabilation centre which he has now operated for 30 tough years. He believes that by saving a drug addict from further depravation, he

could also save his family as well as the entire community.

Making you the man you should be

He said he had been inspired by a sentence found on a leaflet while he was still serving his jail sentence back in 1978 for the fifth and last time: "He can make you the man that you should be," and he

decided to quit drugs.

He met the pastor who knew evangelistic rehabilitation, and he successfully quit drugs after two and a half years.

With the assistance of Rev Dr.Vincent Leoh, he set up "The Hiding Place" in 1981.

Overcoming passive thoughts

Run on evangelistic rehabilitation, The Hiding Place is a refuge for voluntary drug addicts. The centre adopts a natural withdrawal method (cold turkey therapy) by disrupting drug supply to

the addicts by force. They only supply meals and daily care in a bid to rid their bodies of toxins in a natural way.

He said drug addicts had to overcome the passive thoughts they had in their minds first in order to go on with the treatment.

He said he had saved countless of drug addicts during the past three decades, and 34% to 40% of them have since established their own families; 6% to 9% of have even stopped smoking and drinking,

eight of them have become pastors and some others have become successful businessmen.

He said four of his children had been raised up by his wife and him as well as the drug addicts in the rehab centre. They have all accomplished some great achievements today, one of them a doctor and

another engineer, and they never feel ashamed to have a father who used to be a drug addict.

Qiu admitted that he did not treasure his family very much even though he was born in a well-to-do family. His father was a taxi operator with 16 vehicles under his care at a time when car ownership was

not so widespread.

His parents were divorced when he was only two or three years old. He has four siblings and another six after his father married again. His father passed away when he was 17 and his stepmother treated

him well.

He had been spoiled and became a drug addict after he came to know an American soldier while he was with a musical band.

He was asked by the American soldier to try a packet of powder which was heroin, and he felt extremely excited after trying it and had got addicted to it since then.

He suffered from running nose and wet eyes as a result of heroin addiction after the soldier left.

He was told by a friend that he had been addicted to heroin, but it was too late for him.

He started stealing and robbing in order to buy drugs and was sent to a jail. He felt guilty and ashamed when his mother came to visit him. He told himself he would never step into his own house again as

he saw himself as a useless man.

He continued his dispirited life after his release from prison. He had not returned home for 11 years and could only hide at a monsoon drain and made it his shelter. He ate discarded food and offerings to

the deities during the daytime and would rob innocent people for money at night.

Transformation

He was jailed again and again for a total of five times, the last being in 1978. That was when he was moved by the sentence in a leaflet that he decided to put an end to the nightmarish life which had

been with him for 11 years.

Qiu said drug addicts would be put up at two different locations, and each of them had to go through an 18-month rehabilitation treatment programme. The inmates would be put up at The Hiding Place

for the first ten months and then the "Halfway Place" for the next eight months.

Drug addicts are required to shave their heads and wear only sarongs and shorts. They would initially chained up the drug addicts after explaining to them that such a move is necessary. Drug addicts are

not allowed to smoke, drink, fight and speak in vulgar language, or they would be punished. If they violate the rules, their meals would be reduced into half and are only allowed to eat their meals standing.

He admitted that many drug addicts had escaped as they could not tolerate the harsh regime inside the rehab centre. (Translated by LIM LIY EE/Guang Ming Daily)

MySinchew 2011.02.23