Fighting drugs
KOCHI: Recently, a 12-year-old boy was referred to Fr Praise Thaiparambil for a counselling session. The boy was an addict to gutka, an illegal paan product.
“The child was exposed to these products at his home from a very young age. So, he never thought twice about having them. The day I met him, he was so desperate to get out of his addiction,” says Fr Praise, who has tied-up with the Janamaithri Police to spread awareness about drug abuse.
As part of the awareness classes, Fr Praise visits schools, colleges and public places to give counselling lessons. “The Janamaithri Police rely heavily on resource persons like us because they feel that we are a public face that people can trust.
With the increasing number of drug and tobacco abuse cases, the activities of the police and excise departments have increased two-fold,” he says.
For the Kochi Diocese priest of the Church of South India, the crusade against drug abuse began several years ago.
In 1990, a chance meeting with Heiner Studer, a member of the Swiss parliament, whom Fr Praise met while being a theology student, in Pune, led him to the International Federation of Blue Cross.
He was inspired by the story of the association which was fighting alcohol misuse. “I suddenly felt a calling to work against this menace,” says Fr. Praise.
The priest’s first official work began in 1992 when he was posted to Wayanad, where many families faced alcohol-related problems.
Convinced that this was God’s will, Fr. Praise spent most of his time creating awareness and did preventive work among the parishioners. Soon, he was being invited to several places to do counselling. He drew upon recent incidents and used posters, power point presentations and books to draw the interest of the public, especially the youth.
“My main focus was to nip the issue right in the bud, which is why I decided to work with youngsters. When I learned that students smoke a mixture, made out of Fevikwik and whitener in the school bathrooms, I just wanted to follow my mission more strongly,” says Fr Praise, who is celebrating his 25th year as a priest.