A CAFE in Sibu is giving reformed drug users a second chance at life by providing them employment, in an effort to reintegrate them into society.

Victory Cafe was set up by the Sarawak Methodist Church under its Methodist Victory Home initiative, a programme that began in 2013 to rehabilitate drug addicts. To date, 500 former drug users have benefitted from the programme.

Pastor Ting Diu Kiong who is in charge of Methodist Victory Home said one of the two main reasons it drug addicts find it hard to reintegrate into the community is because they are not given the opportunity to work and thus fall back into the habit.

“Most employers will ask about past records,” Ting said.

“Some employers upon learning that these individuals used to be drug addicts, will not contact them further.

“Drug addicts also do not like to work in a stressful environment. They dislike large workloads and low salaries, so they inevitably give up and return to their old life.”

Having worked with drug addicts for nearly 10 years, Ting said substance addiction is a scourge of society that changes an individual completely.

“Mothers always say their children are the best behaved, but once they are exposed to drugs, no matter how well-behaved that child is, their future, health, career and dignity are erased.

“These individuals rely on drugs to escape life’s realities, it is a feeling that they will always chase.”

Those who are undergoing rehabilitation at Methodist Victory Home have only been in the programme for a year and a half, but Ting said that they understand how bad drugs are and he hopes to help them transition back into society.

“Victory Cafe is one of our methods. It will give them skills to start earning a living or start a business in the future to support themselves and their families.

“We not only want them to recover their health, but also their mental well-being.”

Victory Cafe officially opened for business on March 16 and sells a variety of food, such as rice and noodles.

It has received warm support from customers in the surrounding area, Ting said.

“The most special thing about this cafe is the people. The people here want to be reformed and return to society.”

Ting said since its opening, there has been a flow of customers to the cafe and they have all given positive feedback to the staff and food served.

“I’m grateful that customers are willing to accept the cafe. This model shows that people make mistakes and have the courage to change as long as they have the right attitude and mindset.”

There are currently 12 employees at the cafe who are responsible for cooking, cleaning and taking orders.

“We start preparing at 6am and don’t stop until 1pm when we start cleaning up.

“At the end of the day, we check the employees for contraband items such as cigarettes and they are willing to cooperate with us as we do it respectfully.”

After deducting the cost of running the cafe, 60% is used to pay the employees’ salaries while the rest is put into a fund for other initiatives, Ting said.

“When Methodist Victory Home was founded we knew we wanted to help drug addicts recover.

“Now in its 10th year, there will be more Victory Homes in the future.” – April 3, 2022.