Testimonies > > Chia Kim Hai
Leaders' and Staff Testimonies
I started
consuming heroin in 1977 when he was 16 and would use all means to get the
money needed to support my addiction. I worked as a deliveryman in a
departmental store and had opportunities to pilfer excess goods, which had
resulted from inventory mistakes, and sold them for drugs.
I kicked my
drug habit while in the army and it was one of life’s ironies that my job was
to drive the teams of anti-narcotics officers and their dogs on their
operations. But those experiences did not have any effect on me and I resumed my
drug consumption after national service.
I later
checked into a rehabilitation center and left when I was 28. I severed all ties
with my former drug mates, found a steady job, got married and raised a family.
My life remained drug-free for 18 years.
However, this
state of bliss did not last. I fell sick one day and consumed in one gulp half
a bottle of the cough syrup the doctor had prescribed. The ecstasy that I felt
got me addicted again and I paid a heavy price. I soon lost interest in meaningful
living as well as my family, who left me eventually, and I had to seek help at
the Institute of Mental Health. There I met some of my former drug mates who supplied
me with drugs; I was once again hooked. From then on it was a series of visits
and confinement in IMH and halfway houses.
In 2014,
when I was 52, I was locked up in a drug rehabilitation center. During my
parole I stayed at Breakthrough for 16 months but my heart rejected God’s word
and I left Breakthrough because I could not resist the temptations of drugs.
Once I attempt to inject drugs into my veins resulted in a blockage of my blood
vessels. The back of my left hand appeared scorched and I was rushed to hospital.
Four of the fingers had to be amputated and the stumps were a painful and
horrifying sight.
The loss
of my fingers was my wake up call. I told myself I had to quit drugs for good I
would lose my life. Breakthrough brothers called me several times daily to
persuade me lovingly to return. I was finally moved for I knew if I did not
turn back I would end up either in hell or in jail.
God
brought me back! I have learnt the precious lesson of obedience to God and that
true freedom can only be found in Jesus (John 8:36) and not in self-indulgence
in the flesh.
I live in
Breakthrough and serve in the landscape department. I have been assigned to
teach the brothers at the Malaysian Pekan Nanas Breakthrough. I treasure all
this and is very grateful for God’s mercy and compassion in bearing the sins of
someone like me, who should have perished in my own transgressions. I can only strive
to repay God for the grace and blessing received.
