UGLJANE, Jan 2 (Hina) - In the village of Ugljane near Sinj, south +Croatia, there is a therapeutic community "Cenacolo" where drug-+addicts are being rehabilitated.+ It is one of 26 communities, established by an Italian nun, Sister
+Elvira, all over the world, to help former drug-addicts.+ At the moment about 600 drug-abusers, out of whom 200 are Croats, +are being treated in those communities.+ The programme of the community, conducted under the slogan "Labour +and Prayer" is based on discipline and a strict daily schedule, +drawn up in accordance with the Holy Scriptures.+ "This is a school of life. We learn to live with others. We become +closer to God via our fellow creatures, and find the meaning and +beauty in the world," said one of those rehabilitated in the Ugljane +community.+ The community's members are not allowed to smoke cigarettes, do not +receive visitors or telephone calls
UGLJANE, Jan 2 (Hina) - In the village of Ugljane near Sinj, south
Croatia, there is a therapeutic community "Cenacolo" where drug-
addicts are being rehabilitated.
It is one of 26 communities, established by an Italian nun, Sister
Elvira, all over the world, to help former drug-addicts.
At the moment about 600 drug-abusers, out of whom 200 are Croats,
are being treated in those communities.
The programme of the community, conducted under the slogan "Labour
and Prayer" is based on discipline and a strict daily schedule,
drawn up in accordance with the Holy Scriptures.
"This is a school of life. We learn to live with others. We become
closer to God via our fellow creatures, and find the meaning and
beauty in the world," said one of those rehabilitated in the Ugljane
community.
The community's members are not allowed to smoke cigarettes, do not
receive visitors or telephone calls. There are no TV sets or
newspapers in the village.
"It is important to know how our neighbours feel and not what is
going on in America," they explain.
They regularly say prayers in small chapels they have built by
themselves.
Since 1993 when the community was established in this Dalmatian
village, its members have created an estate out of the abandoned
parish house. They have built three houses where they live, the art
workshop, the chapel, the bakery, the garden with hothouses, the
stable and the playground.
Thanks to such diligent labour, former drug-addicts display their
own neglected talents and find satisfaction in the common work.
They call others to join them.
"It is tragic that only 26 of us are here while 10,000 young people
takes drugs in Split," said the Ugljane community's members.
It is simple to join any of these Catholic communities. Young people
who decide to be cured from drug-addiction can come with parents to
the introductory course in Zagreb or in Tugare, outside Split.
About 50 drug-abusers are being currently prepared to enter either
the Ugljane village or the other two communities in Croatia, which
are in Varazdin and Biograd na Moru.
Besides this kind of the religious therapeutic community, there are
also communities established by Sister Bernardica, the society
"Pope Giovanni" in Vrgorac, southern Croatia, or groups led by
Protestant churches.
(hina) ms