Detox Sessions

I am in Wadi El Natroun, a country town outside of Cairo. There are fields and desert and orchards of olive trees. The stars shine at night, birds call, the palms sway and addicts talk.

Wadi El Natroun Rehabilitation Center is owned by Kasr El Dobara Church and serves addicts looking to detox and recover. It is one of the better facilities in Egypt because they don't tie up their clients for three days, force them to defecate where they lay on the ground and refuse to feed them. Addicts are treated as human beings suffering from a disease that plagues the body, mind and spirit.

It took nearly a week, but I finally connected with Dr. Wallee. She is kind, gracious, humble and dedicated. She works everyday, perhaps too much, and she acknowledges this openly. But she loves her clients and they love her. We talk easily about addiction, the Freedom programs, clients she sees and their experiences. We talk about women addicts, the stigma attached, and that for the rest of their lives they will be viewed equal to prostitutes, and unlike men in Egypt, they are never to recover from this curse. My heart hurts for the sweet, sweet Maadi girls.

Dr. Wallee is practically a movie star, just arrived on set, when we arrive in Wadi El Natroun. She is here to heal and to serve, guide and direct, listen and encourage. With the acceptance of every young man in detox, our first stop, I am privileged with the opportunity to watch her work and to listen to the struggle of each addict during their session. This is a hoot, of course, since all dialogue is in Arabic and I understand little.

But I watch faces and gestures and body language and the doctor translates the stories and concerns after each man has left the room. It is a stunning experience to be a part of, this desperate fight for life during the first few days of sobriety, out among the olive trees. The room buzzes with flies, techno music pumps from somewhere in the facility, the floor linoleum peels and the phone rings, but the doctor goes right on doing her work, the work she loves best, helping addicts.