RETO in Russia

The first RETO house was opened in Spain 20 years ago. Since that time, other houses were opened in 52 provinces of Spain and seventeen countries of the world, including Russia.

In 1992, a group of Spaniards, ex-drug addicts who had passed a rehabilitation process in RETO, arrived in Russia to open a free-of-charge centre for the chemically dependent. At that time, the problem of narcotics in Russia was kept from the public eye, until it was no longer possible to hide it. The first opportunity to open a centre appeared in 1997. It was planted in a rural area of Istra, Moscow, Russia. The administration of the Istra region helped us in many ways. The forming of this kind of centre was difficult at that time. There were language and cultural difficulties. Laws were in a state of fluctuation and had to be made adaptable to charitable organizations. Buildings, not in use for the past sixteen years, had to be refinished.

We needed to put everything in order, before we could begin to take in the first people. The rehabilitation program included training for various areas of life, so that the ex-addict could feel confident in facing the future. At this time, the bare essentials needed for existence were not available at the location of the centre, so the first group of drug addicts commuted back and forth from the city of Moscow. They learned construction abilities and built their new home. When the first room was finished, they moved in, so centre "RETO Nadezhda" in Russia began to function.

At the beginning of 1998, fifteen people were in the process of rehabilitation. Joiner and auto workshops were opening. Almost every day, new people arrived at the centre. It grew and the first inductees into the program began to help others to understand the causes that had led to addiction and to learn a new way of life with new purposes. Newcomers saw, in those who were helping them, a different relationship than they had ever experienced living on the streets. It was the result of a change in lifestyle, which was not only taught in words, but also shown in example.

Within one year there are forty people. All that needed to be done on the property, seemed an impossible task to us. However, because of the difficulties, the boys learned to put their entire faith in God for help. By 1998, a house was opened for girls.

The more the RETO family grew, the more difficult it was to solve the food problem. The number increased daily. Then the guys began to share in the shops, firms, and organizations in Moscow, how their lives had been changed and how RETO was growing and giving free help to drug addicts. As a result, many people began to help with food, building materials, etc. After the food question was solved, we needed to begin to build another house, because the queue of those waiting for reception into the centre was growing rather rapidly. People were having to wait for six months.

By the summer of 1999, the second house for boys had been finished. Approximately at the same time, the administration of the province of Samara, recognizing the drug problem in their city, asked us to open a centre in Novokuybishevsk. Some of the guys moved there. They worked hard and slept without heat in freezing temperatures. Thanks to God's help and the constant support of the province of Samara, all difficulties were overcome. At present, there are 30 men in the centre in Novokuybishevsk. Some of them have been rehabilitated already for a long time, but they have stayed on in RETO to help others.

By the time the house in Novokuybishevsk was opened, the Istra RETO centre had more than 100 people from all parts of Russia. Although we had never advertised, people from the remotest areas of CIS discovered our telephone numbers.

The government of Moscow regularly supported the activity of "RETO Nadezhda" in Russia by giving a prize and a financial award in the competitions of socially-valuable programs. More...

At the end of 2002 – the beginning 2003 in Mariupol (Ukraine), RETO together with Spanish organization "La Sal de la Tierra" led the exit information action against drugs and rendering of the humanitarian help requiring by medicines and things.

In July 2003 a new centre around St.Petersburg (in the foto) and a house for girls in Novokuybishevsk were opened.

At present there are more than 350 people in the RETO centre in Russia. Although many problems appeared in the last three and a half years, the centre overcame all of them and continued to progress. Now we have the power and possibility to open branches in other cities of Russia. We stand firmly in the faith that the problem of narcotics can be solved in time.

May 2005