Drug Addiction Help
"We help mothers fighting addiction claim their voice."Nicole Saunders When human-rights activists Imani Walker, 42, and Malika Saada Saar, 34, say the nation's drug treatment programs are in desperate need of improvement, they're speaking from experience. Walker, a mother of four, struggled with drug addiction for years before finding a rehab program that encouraged her to heal, not just kick her habit. Saar taught writing workshops for women in recovery, and her students often described feeling abandoned by the system and powerless to change it. But Saar and Walker also knew that stories from women on the front lines are just what policy makers need to hear. In 2001 the duo started The Rebecca Project for Human Rights, a policy and advocacy group for low-income families struggling with substance abuse. Based in Washington, D.C., it trains women in recovery to lobby lawmakers for better access to programs in prisons and poor communities, and for more family-centered programs that understand how a parents' demons can wound a child. "We see women go from being in a fragile, painful place to claiming their right to be in the halls of Congress and demand better policies for our families," Saar says.
The Rebecca Project scored one of its biggest victories last June when several of its members helped convince Congress to allocate an extra $10 million to family-treatment programs nationwide--the first such increase in nine years. Now Saar and Walker, who have trained more than 40 mothers, are trying to expand Rebecca's reach around the country. "We want to see more mothers who have experienced addiction claim their voices and say, 'This is what we need,'" Walker says.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Essence Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
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