Anti-addiction drives
are a regular, all-year-round activity in BAPS centers around
the world. Sadhus and volunteers continually move from village
to village, city to city, meeting and counseling addicts into
giving up tobacco, smoking, drinking and drugs. Together with
mobile exhibitions displayed in schools, factories, village squares,
fairs, railway stations, public places and private functions,
these drives have attained long lasting success.
In 1997 alone, the
Sanstha organized de-addiction camps in 48 locations in Gujarat,
in which 10,000 people were de-addicted. In addition, the mobile
de-addiction exhibition was displayed in numerous locations to
convey the message of de-addiction to all. It attracted 52,500
visitors, of whom many resolved to refrain from addictions. A
total of 14,650 letters of encouragement were sent to people who
had resolved to shed their addictions.
During the summer
vacation of the year 2000 a special campaign was organized by
the Children's Forum through the inspiration of Pramukh Swami
Maharaj. From 1 May to 20 May, 10,000 children of the BAPS Children's
Forum embarked upon a 20-day de-addiction campaign in 4,000 cities
and villages of Gujarat and other states and contacted 800,000
people, out of which 400,000 people vowed to give up addictions.
The scorching summer heat and the challenges of personal contact
did not deter them from setting out to redeem smokers and addicts
from the vice-grip of addictions.
For detailed report
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