“I know that my life has no miracles in store, but all I want is a better future for my son than I had.”
“Some people wait around hoping for a miracle to happen in their life, I know that’s not happening for me. There’s no angel that will come save me from all the physical and mental pain from over the years.”
“I mean I never knew that I would end up here. I got married to a handsome man in my village. He was a diligent man who knew how to earn money and make sure his family had enough food. I loved him and I was happy, we never got married but we stayed together. After we got the news that I had given birth to a baby boy, everyone was so happy. In our tribe, a son is a gift who will be a successor of the father. Our families were so happy that my first child was a son, my husband was also very happy, our life was going very well. I then gave birth to two daughters and a son after that as well. We have four children who helped us and we worked together as a family like other families in our community. We made a living farming together and worked on saving for our children and their education.”
“But once my husband got addicted to opium, our lives changed. He became a different husband and a different father. After a while he couldn’t even work because he was ill so often. The family situation got worse. Everyone else had to work more to eat. Eventually both my daughters grew up, got married and left the home. My husband became worse and was not able to cope with his symptoms. He died at age 49. And my oldest son is addicted to opium now. After my husband died, my son was imprisoned for his opium use. He was in jail for three months. They put him through quarantine so they could get him out of his addiction. But after he got out of prison his behavior just got worse and he even threatened to use the little money I saved on opium. He has moved out now, found a girl and they live together. They will get married soon. I thought that maybe if he gets himself a wife then she will be able to help him out of addiction but I don’t know anymore. He is still the same. It makes me sad to see my son becoming like his father.”
“Opium has taken away our lives, it took my husband. And I have been working alone trying to earn and make a living for my youngest son. So many times I think I do not want to live on this earth anymore but I still have my son. So I fight for him. He is 11 years old and he is my only hope. I need to teach him to be a good person. So I put all my energy in growing upland rice and now coffee, and I am saving income to buy his school materials and a new uniform. I know that my life has no miracles in store, but all I want is a better future for my son than I had.”