Family Ties....... the Bonds get Stronger.

This time it was their day to celebrate 27th Wedding Anniversary in SHAFA, amongst SHAFA FAMILY members. Parents of one of the re-entry residents, Saurabh, decided to make their bond of love and togetherness stronger with SHAFA Family.

It was really a happy but strange feeling. Resident’s celebration can be explained but what made them decide to come, celebrate and share their happiness with us. We really value this emotion, we felt overwhelmed, we were privileged to have them among us.

The best part of the celebration was when they enacted their marriage ceremony performed 27 years earlier, in the traditional Indian way of exchanging  garlands. This was an ecstatic moment for everyone.

In the end they thanked everyone, gave their blessings to all the residents and left with tear in their eyes. They were tears of happiness and hope. 

Shivratri has a different meaning at Shafa

On this Shivratri i.e. 20^th February 2012, SHAFA broke the myth within the addicts that using mood altering substances can help them to attain Lord Shiva or achieve serenity. The myth which says that some drugs are prashad of Lord Shiva.

Residents decorated their surroundings with bright colours, they gathered to make preparations for the evening. They presented activities based on mythological stories, sayings, prayers and myths associated to this beautiful festival. They started with Shiv Vivah, marriage of Lord Shiva with Goddess Parvati. Then they performed a skit on how innocent Lord Shiva was, by performing “Bhasmasur”. Later, they performed a small play which conveyed how people or fake yogi’s and sadhu’s are misusing the name of Lord Shiva and selling drugs to the younger generation. In the end they did Aarti and prayed for a better life, peace of mind and serenity.

Everyone was happy to see that today they are not into addiction. They wanted to convey the truth to others that they cannot achieve Shiva by doing drugs or substances which slowly and gradually poison all aspects of their life.