Mithuru Mithuro - A Compassionate Friend to Drug Addicts in Sri Lanka
By Shuyin Buddhistdoor Global | 2016-04-08
Nimal takes a deep breath to calm the swirling emotions welling inside of him as he walks up the dirt road that leads to the Mithuru Mithuro Centre in Pelmadulla, Sri Lanka. His mind flashes back to four years ago, when he first trod this path. Those were the darkest days of his life. At 17, Nimal was introduced to different kinds of pills at clubs after high school, and then to heroin. A model student from a top school in Colombo, his unsuspecting parents gave him money whenever he asked for it. Initially he bought the heroin from his friends, but soon became part of the network, connecting with suppliers. When his parents found out about his addiction, they sought treatment at various hospitals, but to no avail. Eventually, they sent him to Mithuru Mithuro. It was a turning point in his life. With fierce determination and the help of a compassionate friend, he found the strength to defeat the demons inside of him. That friend is Venerable Kuppiyawatte Bodananda Thero, or Rev. Bodi as he is fondly called, the founder of the Mithuru Mithuro Movement in Sri Lanka.
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Thanks Mike
I just surprised to read about the drug problem in Sri Lanka.
I am from a rural village and never seen an illegal drug except alcohol and marijuana.
It is great to know about this programme.
It is great to see that Buddhist monks are involved in helping the society with whatever the ambitions they have.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
Thank you for sharing this. It is inspiring and heartwarming to see these people living virtuous lives.
"A virtuous monk, Kotthita my friend, should attend in an appropriate way to the five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self."