VOA慢速英语:In 'Sober Houses,' Heroin Addicts Learn to Help Themselves

Tourists come to Zanzibar for its white sand beaches and historic buildings in Stone Town. But something else also makes its way to the Tanzanian island: heroin trafficked across the Indian Ocean from Asia.
旅游者到桑给巴尔岛，是为石头镇的水清沙白和历史建筑而来。但别的东西也使得它成为前往坦桑尼亚岛屿的一个途径：通过印度洋从亚洲贩卖海洛因。

Most of the heroin shipped through East Africa is headed for Europe and North America. But Reychad Abdool of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says a lot of it stays on the continent.
大多运海洛因的船只穿过东非，其目的地是欧洲和北美。但联合国毒品与犯罪办公室的Reychad Abdool说，还有大量毒品留在了非洲。

REYCHAD ABDOOL: "We know for a fact that heroin is being used in at least thirty countries in Africa. And we also know for a fact that the number of countries reporting injecting drug use, especially of heroin, is also increasing in Africa."
REYCHAD ABDOOL：“我们了解到，目前非洲至少有30人国家有人在吸食海洛因。我们还知道，在非洲，报告了静脉吸毒，尤其是海洛因静脉吸毒的国家数量也在增加。”

The problem in Zanzibar has led to some creative local solutions.
桑给巴尔岛的问题使当地采取一些创造性的解决办法。

Suleiman Mauly stopped using heroin six years ago. Now he operates a network of so-called sober houses. These are run by addicts themselves to help one another recover. There are nine sober houses -- eight for men and one for women.
Suleiman Mauly于6年前戒掉海洛因，如今他开了一家名为“sober houses”的网络，由瘾君子自己运行，帮助其他人戒毒。目前有9处sober houses，8处为男士专用，1处为女士专用。

Mr. Mauly himself went through a drug treatment program in Kenya. But it cost around two thousand dollars, he says, and "not many people can afford that in Zanzibar."
Mauly先生本人在肯尼亚接受过毒品治疗项目，但他说，这要耗费2000多美元，“在桑给巴尔岛，没有多少人可以负担得起。”

Staying in a sober house costs about one hundred dollars a month. Most of the people are supported by their families.
在“sober houses”住下来每月要花费约100美元，大多人都是家人提供赞助的。

Treatment is based on the idea that drug addiction is more of a public health problem than a crime. Mr. Mauly says this is still a new idea to many people.
治疗是基于这样的理念：毒瘾更多的是一个公共健康问题而非犯罪。Mauly先生表示，这对很多人来说仍然是一个新理念。

SULEIMAN MAULY: " Because addiction, it's a disease, and addicts need treatment. But people, they hear that addicts are bad people and they need punishment."
Suleiman Mauly：“毒瘾是一种疾病，吸毒者需要接受治疗。但人们听说吸毒者是坏人，必须接受惩罚。”

He says in the sober houses, the addicts are in charge of nearly everything.
他说在“sober house”，毒瘾者支付几乎每项服务。

SULEIMAN MAULY: "The sober house method, it's a new method to Zanzibar. It's a new phenomenon to East Africa, whereby drug addicts take responsibility to run the system. Recovering addicts are in charge, from the guard, kitchen, running sessions, everything."
Suleiman Mauly：“sober house在桑给巴尔岛是一种新办法，在东非是个新现象，因为吸毒者要承担起运转这个系统的责任。戒毒者负责警卫、厨房、运行环节等所有事情。”

This responsibility, he says, is important to building their belief in their own abilities. The men also learn woodworking as a way to earn money.
他说，在树立瘾君子对自己能力的信念方面，这种责任很重要。这些人还学习木工活来挣钱。

Much of the program is based on the twelve-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. But it also includes art therapy, yoga and even acupuncture. This is done by Kassim Nyuni, a sober house counselor and former addict himself. He was trained by a volunteer from a Chinese medical school in Hawaii.
该项目的大部分内容基于嗜酒者互诫协会的12个步骤项目，同时还包括艺术治疗、瑜伽甚至针灸。sober house的咨询师Kassim Nyuni曾经就是一名毒瘾者，他负责针灸，他曾受训于夏威夷一家中医学校。

KASSIM NYUNI: "It reduces tension, and it's relaxing. It's a kind of treatment that's very effective for the recovering addicts."
Kassim Nyuni：“针灸可以减少紧张，让人放松。这是一种对戒毒者非常有效的治疗手段。”

Still, Mr. Nyuni estimates that around sixty percent of the recovering addicts in the program return to heroin.
尽管如此，Nyuni先生估计该项目中有60%左右的戒毒者重新吸食海洛因。

Suleiman Mauly hopes to expand the network in Zanzibar. His next goal, he says, is to send former addicts to work with heroin users in prisons.
Suleiman Mauly希望在桑给巴尔岛扩大这个网络，他说他的下一个目标是将前吸毒者送往监狱和海洛因吸食者一起工作。

Edwin has been in the program for five months. He says that without the will to change, the sober house method cannot possibly help.
Edwin参加这个项目5个月了，他说如果缺乏想要改变的意愿，sober house的方法并不能提供帮助。