About the Samaritans Back
Who are the Samaritans ?
Suffering can be overwhelming when faced alone, but it finds its own solace when shared with someone who will listen in confidence. Professional help and guidance can often straighten out mental and emotional tangles.
In the frenetic, uncaring pace of city life, where time is at a premium, who has the time to be available, to befriend, to listen? The Samaritans.
Samaritans are ordinary people from all walks of life who give their time to say that they care – to reaffirm their faith in people and in their dignity as individuals made in the image of God – and to offer human warmth, friendship, listening, counseling and the necessary hope in moments of crisis. Their services are entirely free and open to everyone.
The inception of the work goes back to 1971 when a young couple opened their home and hearts for people in distress. Today, The Calcutta Samaritans is a registered, secular, autonomous organization dedicated to community service.
In May 1995, The Calcutta Samaritans were invited by Tata Steel to take charge of the only De-Addiction Centre in the city. Located in Baridih, the DAC has a dedicated 24-hour-on duty staff catering to the needs of those who find this to be their last resort. Today, the Centre, run by the Samaritans in partnership with the CD&SW department of Tata Steel, has treated more than 1300 patients, both local and outstation (some from even as far away as Bangladesh!) at the Centre.
How did the Calcutta Samaritans get involved in Jamshedpur?
The Samaritans are not new to Jamshedpur and had been coming to the Steel City since 1990 – to participate in the various awareness programmes and conferences relating to Drug Abuse and AIDS. These programmes were organised by CD&SW department of Tata Steel and AIWC, Rashmi Path, etc.
A team of Samaritan volunteers along with the Director visited the only De-Addiction Centre in the city, then run by the CD&SW, Tisco in 1993.
In 1995, a delegation from the CD&SW department went to Calcutta and invited The Samaritans to take over their De-Addiction Centre. The NGO gladly accepted this challenge – simple, yet very trying for it meant resurrecting a dying Centre and embellishing it with the Samaritans’ touch so that the vision which Tisco had envisaged long ago would turn into a reality – to make the Centre in Jamshedpur unique, one of its kind in the nation.
Subsequently, the Director, The Calcutta Samaritans, Shri Vijayan Pavamani, designated Shri Bappa Mukherjee to take charge of the Centre and infuse it with a fresh system of treatment and work culture.
The task, needless to say, was immense. After the initial teething problems, things began to move in the desired direction. Each victory was hard-fought and won.
On April 1, 1997, The Calcutta Samaritans was given complete authority over the Centre and full freedom to shape it according to Samaritans’ plan and strategy. However, the official handing over agreement would only be signed more than a year later on October 23, 1998.
The Samaritans’ employed their own staff. All are locals. Except for the doctor, the two women cooks and the manager, all the rest are recovering addicts who had once taken treatment from the Centre. They had successfully undergone the Twelve Step-rehabilitation programme of the Centre and had displayed positive signs of commitment and dedication towards the needs of the Centre.
Workplace Prevention Program
BackWorkplace Prevention Programme (ILO, Tata Steel, The Calcutta Samaritans):
The International Labour Organization (ILO) became associated with Tata Steel in 1997 when it invited certain industrial units/ companies and their representatives to participate in the city-level workshop held at Calcutta in May 1997. For the first time, The Calcutta Samaritans participated along with the delegates of Tata Steel in this workshop.
The ILO organised the second city-level Workshop on Drugs and Alcohol Prevention at the Workplace at Jamshedpur for the employees and Union members of Tata Steel on 26-27 March 1998 in which The Calcutta Samaritans also participated. This Workshop led to formulation of the Company-wide Policy on Drugs and Alcohol Prevention at the Workplace in association with the NGO, The Calcutta Samaritans, which was running the De-Addiction Centre.
Since I.L.O. was already involved with Tata Steel, automatically, The Samaritans, too, became part of the I.L.O.’s Workplace Prevention Programme.
By joining this programme, The Calcutta Samaritans with their 30 years of professional expertise and experience will have wider aspects and opportunities to reach to all the employees of Tata Steel, numbering nearly 50,000. The Samaritans’ endeavour is to give back reformed workers to Tisco, enhancing overall productivity and ensuring an addict-free zone within the Tisco Works and offices as well as in the city of Jamshedpur.
Rapid Assessment Survey of Drug Abuse in India
The Rapid Assessment Survey of Drug Abuse “National Survey on Extent, Pattern and Trends of Drug Abuse in India” was conducted in 14 cities in India. Jamshedpur was one of the cities. The Calcutta Samaritans was entrusted by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India and United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) to conduct the RSA in Jamshedpur. The report has been published recently.
Regional Resource Training Centre (RRTC)
The Calcutta Samaritans has been chosen by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, as Regional Resource Training Centre for Bihar, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Darjeeling (in West Bengal), where training is imparted to the staff of de-addiction and counseling centers in these four states, which are sponsored by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India.
Implementation of Program Back
Programme Implementation :
Adopted means of information dissemination :
Initially, it were the clients who were admitted at the De-Addiction Centre under The Calcutta Samaritans from May 1995 who spread the word around about the change of the pattern of admission and treatment facilities offered among their peers and created an interest in others to come and take the treatment. Gradually, there was a steady flow of chemically dependents coming at the Centre to get themselves admitted. This period lasted for two years and from 1 April, 1997, when The Calcutta Samaritans achieved the freedom to run the Centre on its own capacity, we adopted various means of spreading information awareness about drugs, alcohol and other addictive substances with special emphasis on HIV-AIDS awareness.
Education and Training :
¨ The Calcutta Samaritans participated in both the Workshops conducted by the I.L.O. in Jamshedpur in 1998 and 1999. Two of the De-Addiction Centre staff, who once were chemically dependent and were treated at the Centre and later absorbed as staff of The Calcutta Samaritans, participated at the Workshops. The Project Director of the Centre from The Calcutta Samaritans also was a resource person at both these Workshops as the NGO representative along with the Director of The Calcutta Samaritans.
¨ The Calcutta Samaritans started conducting training programmes at the De-Addiction Centre where students from Jamshedpur Public School, Beldih Church School, Rajendra Vidyalaya, XLRI, Mass Communication students of the Karim City College came down from time to time for guidance and help, both personally and for their Board’s curriculum to prepare projects on drug addiction and alcoholism. They were accompanied by their teachers.
¨ The Calcutta Samaritans also started a programme of distributing leaflets in public gatherings, at bus-stops and to the participants who attended the awareness programmes conducted by CD&SW and CFI of Tisco and at other meetings conducted by the NGO itself.
¨ Pamphlets were distributed among high school students in the leading schools of Jamshedpur and in schools run by Tata Steel.
¨ The Calcutta Samaritans organised various programmes on 26 June, International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking since 1997, mainly, organising interaction sessions among the high school students on the aspects of awareness about addiction on the whole and HIV-ADIS (1998). From time to time, Blood Donation Camps are organised at the Centre.
¨ Samaritans are carrying out counselling sessions at the DAC premises among the youth and the grown-ups of the Bagun Nagar and Baridih area who are also the Volunteers of the Samaritans. Some of them attend the Group Therapy sessions at the Centre.
¨ The Samaritans are organising a total number of 53 young men as Volunteers to go into the bustee areas and to talk with the people regarding better living. Through this programme the Samaritans are able to reach to a large section of residents living in and around Baridih.
¨ The Samaritans have an intensive programme of Follow-Ups where the staff and volunteers of De-Addiction Centre go to the homes of past and present clients to talk to their family members and educate them about the role they are expected to play as parents/ wife of a chemically dependent person.
¨ Every week there is a Family Meeting organised at the Dac premises where families of past and present clients attend and discuss on the issues relating to drug and alcohol addiction. It is also an opportunity to inspire and encourage each other.
¨ The Samaritans have plans to start an Adult Education programme at the DAC premises. Illiteracy is a curse, which leads to various problems. Samaritans are keen to impart basic literacy to the grass-root people.
¨ Some of our regular volunteers, who are also Tisco employees, spread awareness among their colleagues at the workplace.
Health Promotion :
Health is wealth. Better health leads to better living. The Samaritans promote this view whole-heartedly and have taken measures in this direction.
¨ Going to the general public in their locality and talking to them about better health and better living is what the Samaritans practice at the DAC.
¨ At the DAC, the medical doctor, conducts special classes on health and hygiene among the inmates of Dac and to those who attend the Day-Care programme at the Centre.
¨ The Samaritans Volunteers themselves take initiative to clean the drains, and to clear the garbage which lies strewn all around the localities near the DAc.
¨ A Free Medical Clinic has been started since 1 September, 1999 at the Dac premises to impart medical facilities mainly to the rickshaw-pullers and the downtrodden.
¨ The Samaritans have also organised Free Detoxification Camps for those who really cannot afford to pay for their treatment. One such detox camp was conducted on the request of the East Singhbhum deputy commissioner, Nidhi Khare, at the Lupungdih village, which is inhabited by the primitive Sabar tribe.
¨ There is a provision of free detoxification and subsidized treatment rates for the marginalized. Money is not the concern, it is the will to change that matters.
Integrating the Prevention Programme with other ongoing programmes :
¨ The Calcutta Samaritans conduct Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings six days in a week at the De-Addiction Centre where, along with the inmates of the DAC, many recovering chemically dependent attend these meetings.
¨ From time to time there is a reunion of ex-DAC clients at the DAC premises. Many of them are Tisco employees and the majority are the Tisco dependents.
¨ The Samaritans have organised the school-going teenagers, which the I.L.O. identifies as the Green Zone, as part of its “Catch Them Young” prevention programme, engaging them in games such as football, cricket, volleyball, physical exercises and productive counselling so that they will be responsible citizens in the days to come.
¨ From time to time, the Samaritans invite slum children in and around the Centre for a free lunch as a gesture of goodwill towards the community.
Mode of Operation & Activities of the Centre Back
At the DAC office in Bagun Nagar, down Brahmani Road, the Samaritans receive calls and also welcome people who may drop in. The clients may remain anonymous if they wish. In each case, they are befriended by people who care and who are committed to confidentiality. A flying squad handles emergencies, and attends to home visits as and when necessary.
Financially, The Samaritans are dependent on the generosity of individuals, organizations and charitable trusts.
Though primarily a de-addiction center, today the DAC has expanded its field of activities which include :
q Detoxification
q Rehabilitation
q Treating women addicts
q Day-Care unit, where the discharged clients are encouraged to come and attend all the daily activities of the Centre.
q Dependents Anonymous meetings
q Family and Marital Counseling
q Rescue Operations
q Family Meetings with the families of addicts
q Organising awareness programmes
q Follow-Ups – local (personally), outstation (by post)
q Workplace Prevention Programme in the Tata Workplace, in collaboration with International Labour Organisation (ILO)
q Vocational / Occupational Rehabilitation/Job Skill Training :
§ Agriculture
§ Dairy
§ Silk Screen Printing
§ Electrical and Electronics Repairing
§ Catering Services
§ Food Stall
§ Poultry
§ Fishery
q Community Development
q Free Medical Clinic for the poor of the community
To Reach Us Back
Till today, more that 1350 people have been treated at the Centre. An average of five to six people are befriended every day. These include the depressed, the suicidal, the lonely, the addicts, as well as those with emotional, domestic, marital and personality problems. Many students, their teachers have also approached the Centre.
To Reach us
Just ring 0657- 2211901 and 21-45224 and ask for a volunteer. Unless you wish to remain anonymous, introduce yourself and talk to a volunteer. We are on a 24-hour service.
One can also e-mail us at calsamjsr@sify.com. Confidentiality is strictly maintained.
One can also write to us at De-Addiction Centre, Brahmani Road, Bagun Nagar, Baridih, Jamshedpur – 831 017, giving your mailing address and be sure of an immediate reply. Your identity and problem will not be divulged to anyone.
To Be Involved
You can volunteer your service.
Volunteers need no professional experience and no age limit above 20 years. They are chosen carefully for their attitudes, listening skills, warmth and compassion. Volunteers are given training from time to time in basic counseling skills by senior Samaritans and the Director.
To Contribute Financially
You can support the work as an individual or on behalf of your organization. Or you can send a one-time donation of any amount. Please remember to utilize the tax benefits since all contributions to the Samaritans are exempted from income tax under Section 80 G.