Social Guidance Agency

BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE SOCIAL GUIDANCE AGENCY:


Founder of the earliest known De-addiction Centre in the State of Mizoram discarded all thoughts of material gains and enhancement of personal advantages when public pressure pushed him to the challenging shoreline of the deep sea of intoxicants and hallucinations which swallowed thousands of redeemable souls of drug addicts, alcoholics and sex perverts days in and days out. No wonder that he had responded to the divine trumpet call by setting out with his wife and a child way back in the month of July, 1967 and joined the Oriental Missionary Society of Allahabad, U.P. to sacrifice his individual abilities and private assets for the spiritual and physical upliftment of the down and outs, street people and the orphans. His missionary assignments necessitated him to travel throughout the length and breath of U.P., Orissa, M.P. and Northern India.

He worked at the Oriental Missionary Society of Allahabad during 1967 to 1974 after which he continued to work as a full time evangelist during 1974 to 1980 in Mizoram organizing camps and crusades with his followers ranging from 10 to 40 devotees, travelling the whole of Mizoram on foot and preaching the redeeming words of salvation round the clock to the needy in general and to the denizens of the underworld in particular. His hard toils backed up with impressive sermons made applaudable impact on Brig.T.Sailo and Mr.Hiteswar Saikia, the then Chief Minister and His Excellency the Lt. Governor of Mizoram respectively, upon whose recommendation the State Social Welfare Department reserved a seat for his training at the Christian Counselling Centre, Vellore.Having completed the training course during 1980 to 1981, he daringly started a Counselling Centre at Aizâwl all by himself.

Here, he instantly encountered innumerable cases of marital problems, sexual predicaments, mental disorders, drugs and alcohols. Since many people had been miraculously cured of their illnesses or their problems solved, not only did the local newspapers publish the wonderful works of the pioneer counsellor of the state but also did the All India Radio frequently broadcast the good news of the healing ministry. The clients registered in the first year alone came to 1802 as per the record book maintained by the Counselling Centre till date. At the instance of Brig.T.Sailo, the then Chief Minister of Mizoram, a psychiatrist, a senior professor and a superintendent of NIMHANS, Bangalore visited the Centre and witnessed various miracles prevalent there at the time.

When visitors from NIMHANS had acknowledged cures of hopeless cases, even those that baffled the faculty members of Ranchi Mental Hospital, they motivated the State Government to lend a helping hand for the improvement of the Counselling Centre in the form of financial advances or grants-in-aid. Accordingly the founder was requested to register the Centre under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 and form a sort of Association with a name and a Constitution of its own. Originally, the name — Social Reforms Society was assigned to the newly formed Association and the constitution was drafted by the founder solely on his own. When public donations and Government assistances became available some members of the Association were found to be so eager to indulge themselves with material comforts and also thought so highly of their personal securities and status in the Association that the Social Reforms Society had to be disbanded before the end of two years.

After a long moment of indecision at the flop of his first venture, the prevailing social disorder in the State due to drugs, alcohols, sex and immoral traffickers compelled him to start all over again and somehow on January 30, 1986 the Social Guidance Agency was born. During 1982 to 1986 the founder was fully occupied with working out various bewildering problems posed by unruly throng of contemptible social outcasts, street people and mental patients who gate-crashed into his humble residence for food and lodging which nearly starved him and his family at times to the extent that the CBO (YMA) had to devise door to door collection of donations in kind and cash for the poor founder and his large household.

As the Social Guidance Agency had not yet have regular source of income, the founder had encountered countless hardships and sufferings to the tune of public humiliation and discouragement, and loss of self-esteem as well. Time and again, the organization and their charges comprising mostly of various addicts, sex workers, orphans, destitutes and street people were expelled from their rented building due to financial instability and also due often to the fact that these types of people were not acceptable to the landlord or landlady as regular tenants.

As time passed, he somehow secured a plot of cultivable land by the bank of River Tuivawl along Aizâwl — Champhai NH 54 for establishment of a De-addiction cum Rehabilitation Centre and an opportunity presented itself for his long cherished dream to take shape when the State Banks of India were advancing loans for Educated Unemployed Youths which was fortunately availed of in the name of his son. The loan, amounting to Rs.25,000/- was withdrawn from Saitual Branch of SBI in 1984 and he eagerly started building the De-addiction cum Rehabilitation Centre with the help of his followers — mostly of recovered and recovering addicts and alcoholics. The building having been finished, signboard displayed and the area cleared for cultivation, the Centre began to function in full swing. As the Organization’s primary objective was Self Reliance then, brick making project was undertaken and 2,00,000 nos. of bricks were made. A reservoir was also constructed with the help of the Chief Engineer of the Border Road Task Force stationed nearby.

T
he Centre was somewhat far from the City of Aizâwl and difficult to be managed by a part-time counsellor like him due to improper transport facility and lack of sufficient fund while the burden of maintaining his family had to be shouldered by his wife, a mere Staff Nurse in the City’s Civil Hospital. Repayment of loan instalments was due and he had to think of raising money somewhere. During his absence, building materials were stolen and passers-by freely helped themselves with the cash crops and fruits laboriously grown and planted there to attain self-sufficiency. People began to laugh at him, his relatives and friends called him a fool and turned their backs on him, loan repayment was long overdue, the reservoir was washed down by floods and his DRC building, the foundation of all his dreams, was burnt to ashes. He was completely broke, demeaned and humiliated.

But the founder of Social Guidance Agency, Mr.C.Dozuala is a man iron will, undaunted and not easily dismayed. He had learnt by heart that failure is the pillar of success. He had gone too far out on the road to the accomplishment of his dream to give up. He simply turned a deaf ear to public taunting remarks to discourage him by saying that he attempted to achieve what the Government and the Church dared not introduce for fear of failure. As a matter of fact, he had sacrificed everything he had and whatever he could do for the cause of humanity, totally unaware of the terrible situations to which his wife and children were subjected. His relatives felt sorry for him and pleaded him to stop then and there. But this stubborn trend-setter in de-addiction and counselling activities in the State had not yet reached his destination.

When the Social Guidance Agency was officially inaugurated in 1986 it was Mr.Haukhûma Hauzêl, IAS, the then Secretary of Social Welfare Department, who cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony since he had been a sympathizer of the Organization as he was well acquainted with the founder while he was staying with his family to execute his challenging assignments at Oriental Missionary Society at Allahabad where, contemporaneously, the Secretary was orienting himself at an IAS Coaching Centre. The two had remained good friends ever since and it was through the initiative of the Secretary that Grants-in-Aid were subsequently sanctioned to the Social Guidance Agency by the Ministry of Welfare, New Delhi.

Not long after the Social Guidance Agency started De-addiction cum Rehabilitation and Counselling Centres, other NGOs followed suit. And there were so many De-addiction Centres in the City that the general public were against running of such centres in the heart of the city since various untoward incidences and public nuisances were frequently witnessed. As a result, the Social Guidance Agency had to shift its Centres outside the City and while the Organization and their charges were wandering as fugitives lamenting their bitter fates, divine intervention came in the form of a local enthusiast, Mr.Lalhuma of Vaivakâwn at the western streets of Aizâwl City, who became an ardent supporter of the Social Guidance Agency after he eye-witnessed the fact that his only son, a hard-core drug addict fully recovered from the ministry of the Organization. So, it is no wonder that he readily set aside his vast tract of land along Aizâwl—Sairâng Road, only 15 km. off the City for the Organization to be used for establishment of a De-addiction cum Rehabilitation Centre. Presently, as the land is spacious enough, the Organization has set up not only a De-addiction cum Rehabilitation Centre, but also a Grace Children Home in a separate corner of the land for children abandoned, neglected and orphaned as a result of addiction whereby their parents are separated, imprisoned or dead, or in some cases, affected with HIV/AIDS.

In 2003, the Organization miraculously came in possession of another vast plot of land on the outskirts of Lêngpui Airport, much congenial for establishment of an After Care Centre for recovered and recovering addicts who have finished their courses at the De-addiction cum Rehabilitation Centre. Here, Poultry, Piggery and Dairy Farms are in full swing beside a large and productive fish-pond. These ventures meet various needs of the Organization’s inmates in its different Centres. Plantations of crops and fruits are also being successfully initiated here.

The Grace Children Home is attached with a Comprehensive Middle School which produces top ten students and merit scholars each year in various examinations. Volunteers have been recruited to teach in the School with a minimal honorarium. Topics on HIV/AIDS and STD are included in the Primary School Syllabus, and in addition, Sex Education is imparted in the Upper Primary Classes. Stress is given to Physical Education and Personal Hygiene too. A part-time doctor and a full-time nurse are employed to look after the children and patients in the different Centres.

It is estimated that at least 6,500 addicts of various types have fully recovered, over 10,000 persons have been re-integrated with their families and some 500 persons have been rehabilitated as a result of the Organization’s ministries all over the State. Though a little crippled with financial deficits at present, there is every likelihood of an over all development in every sphere of the Organization’s activities thanks to various financial aids received and being received from the State Government Departments and the Central Ministries respectively.

It can safely be assumed that the tireless striving efforts of the Founder Director cum General Secretary of the Social Guidance Agency, whose whole life has been devoured by innumerable exhaustive activities in the fields of humanity pay dividends in the long run and this trailblazer in establishment of voluntary organizations in the State shall be crowned before long with due honours and regards all over the country. The Organization has already been endlessly acclaimed, appreciated and highly talked of by most people in the whole State.

PRESENT ACTIVITIES :

1. Integrated Rehabilitation Centre for Addicts (IRCA) near PTC, Lungverh, Sakawrtuichhun, Mizoram.

2. Drop-in-Centre (DIC), Mel-8, Mizoram.

3. Emmau Family Counselling Centre (FCC), Hnahthial, Lunglei District, Mizoram.

4. Mobile Medical Unit/Mobile Dispensary, Aizawl District, Aizawl Mizoram.

5. After Care Cente, near Lengpui Airport, Lengpui, Mizoram.

1) Integrated Rehabilitation Centre for Addicts (IRCA) : Hei hi Sairang Road, PTC Kawng chhak lamah kum 1992 atang khan bul tan ani a. Kum 1989 atang bawkin Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment in tun thlengin Grant-in-Aid a la pe reng ani.

2) Drop-in-Centre (DIC) :Hei hi kum 2006 atangin Aziawl South area - Kulikawn, Tlangnuam, Ngaizel, Saikhamakawn, Hlimen, Melthum, Melriat, Kelsih etc. huam chhunga IDU ho zinga hma lakna ani a. State AIDS Control Society-in hemi atan hian Grant-in-Aid a pe a ni.

3) Mobile Medical Unit (MMU): Hei hi Doctor leh Nurse awm lohna thingtlang kilkhawr deuh deuhah neih thin a ni a. Kum 1999 atanga tun thlengin Ministry of Tribal Affairs-in Grant-in-Aid a pe chhunzawm reng bawk.

4) Emmau Family Counselling Centre (FCC): Hei hi kum 2006 atang bawka din a ni a. Central Social Welfare Board in Grant-in-Aid a rawn pe a ni. He hmun hi chhungkuaa harsatna chi hrang hrang neite tan englai pawha pan theih reng a ni.
5) After Care Centre: Hie hi kum 2003 atanga tan ani a. Ruihhlo ngai, zu ngawl vei leh harsatna hrang hrang nei centre-a an course an zo tawh, hna thawh mai tur leh in leh lo nei mumal lote an tluk chhiat leh mai loh nana ruahmanna hrang hrang siamsakna hmun a ni a. Organization sum leh paoa din a nih bakah a awmna hmun zau tak hi Found Director-in ama ram a pek a ni. Hetah hian Sangha Dil, Bawng, Vawk leh Ar vulh leh thlai chi hrang hrang chinga ngawrh taka hma lak a ni.

Khingahte khian thawktu chi hrang hrang, hlawh nei leh nei lem lo, skilled leh unskilled, technical leh non-technical, lehkha-thism tak tak leh thiam lem lo, part time leh full time, doctor, nurse, electrcian, driver, computer operator leh volunteer tam tak inlungrual takin chhun zan zawmin an thawk suau suau reng mai a ni.