No one was sure whether the plan would work. But the 37 women from Southwest China's Yunnan Province, whose husbands had all succumbed to the lure of drugs, were determined. They had nothing to lose, and they wanted to turn the tables.

Erkun Village sits on a hillside about 70 kilometres from the China-Myanmar border in western Yunnan's Yingjiang County. All 298 of its residents occupying 63 households are of the Jinpo ethnic minority, known as Kachin in Myanmar. They enjoyed relatively peaceful, happy lives up until the 1980s, when the drug trade active in the adjacent notorious Golden Triangle made its way across the border as China opened up.

At its peak, from 1991 to 1992, the rampant drug abuse in Erkun Village claimed addicts in almost every family, while five to six households were regularly engaged in drug dealing, recalls Li Genxian, former chief of the village. The youngest drug user in Erkun at that time was 12 years old, he says.

Members of the Erkun anti-drug task force in Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province. Kyin Mu Pu (second from left) leads the team and has helped many, as well as her husband Yin La Sau (beside her), to abandon the drug habit. [China Daily]

In a matter of years, drug abuse infiltrated 838 of the 1,142 villages in Yingjiang County, which shares a 214.6-kilometre border with Myanmar, and 4,254 people were habitual drug users by 2002.

Drugs touched the family of Kyin Mu Pu, 49, of Erkun Village, somewhat by accident.

In late 1996, her husband was involved in a traffic accident while driving a tractor. His liver was damaged and he was often tormented by sharp pains.

"Someone recommended 'No 4' (the code name for heroin among the locals) to him, saying it might kill the pain and reduce inflammation. He tried it. And in no time he was addicted," says the wife.

Meanwhile, her two teenage sons also got hooked on the drug while looking after their father.

"They stole rice, fertilizer and seeds from home and traded them for No 4. Anything worth any amount of money eventually disappeared from the house."

She is especially upset that heroin was so readily available. "For 10 yuan (US$1.20), you can get two pinches of No 4, enough to fill the cap of a penicillin bottle twice."

Kyin Mu Pu and a few other women decided they were no longer willing to sit back and watch while drugs gripped their community. They approached the village committee with an application to set up an organization of their own to fight heroin.

In August 2000, a 37-member-strong, all-female, anti-drug task force was formally assembled, on the heels of a campaign launched by the local women's federation in 1999 to empower women and help them "keep drugs out of my home".

"All women in the village are eligible to join this organization, so long as they agree to leave their fingerprints as proof of their commitment," says Kyin Mu Pu, an eloquent speaker with a remarkable ability to rally people.

At the women's urging, a village meeting was held to adopt an anti-drug accord, outlining detailed terms of the fines to be imposed on drug users, dealers and traffickers. The document also gives the task-force members the right to turn traffickers over to local police if they are found with drugs in their possession. In addition, drug users from outside the village will be fined and driven out if they are caught taking drugs in the community.

Erkun villagers using or dealing in drugs outside the village are also subject to fines and can be taken in to police. Villagers who harbour relatives or outsiders using or dealing in drugs shall not be exempted from penalty either, even if they do not use or deal in drugs themselves.

The 37 women, who divide into groups to accomplish their tasks, have also shadowed drug users and dealers in their village. "We followed one drug user for some 20 kilometres to a neighbouring township once," says Kyin Mu Pu.

Apart from enduring the expected barrage of foul language addicts often hurled at them, some of the team members were threatened with violence and even death. Their own families had no sympathy for them either at first.

"My youngest son told me flatly that he hated me and would not help me, even if I was beaten to death. We were very frightened during our night patrols. At least the local police gave us their full support and were available whenever we were in need," says Kyin Mu Pu, adding that the personal risks were worth taking for the common good of the village.

Still, certain incidents remain on her conscience, such as the time she handed a couple over to police after seizing more than 17 grams of drugs from them.

"The wife was sentenced to seven years in prison, while the husband was sent to a labour camp for three years, for drug abuse and trafficking. They have two innocent children, an eight-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl."

Team members visit the couple regularly and decided to give the children 500 yuan (US$60) each year. They also negotiated a fee exemption with the local school and help the family with their sugar cane fields.

"Punishment is not the only way to save sick souls," she says. In much the same way that they assist the imprisoned couple, team members help out addicted villagers sent to the rehabilitation centre with their farm work. To prevent them from selling their crops for drug money, a small proportion of their land is taken over for use in village rehabilitation sessions or leased to other villagers for farming, to be returned to them when they have fully recovered.

"A healthy environment is vital to successful abstention. Drug users who have kicked the habit in classes or rehab centres can easily take it up again once circumstances allow. Lack of self-control, care or help from their family or society coupled with poor health and laziness in the early stages of their recovery can combine to push them back into their old ways," says Tang Quanyu, vice-chairwoman of the Yingjiang women's federation.

In time, the persistence and patience of the task force together with their heartfelt concern for the addicts melted the ice.

"My husband, the oldest drug abuser in the village, who was so ill that the police wouldn't even bother with him, softened his attitude out of respect for us women and quit four months later," says a proud Kyin Mu Pu, who believes that any woman in the same situation should try her best to help her husband and children rather than give up on them.

During the toughest days of his struggle, when Kyin Mu Pu's husband turned to wine as a substitute for No 4, she took pains to look after him, buying and preparing healthy food to supplement his nutritional needs.

Now, her 52-year-old husband, who used to have to pause four or five times while walking just 20 metres, sometimes has enough energy to play basketball. He also assisted his wife in getting their sons off drugs.

The story of Kyin La Rung is even

more incredible. The 37-year-

old man had been on drugs for 11 years, since 1988, and was sent to a labour camp and prison twice for drug abuse and theft. After he was released from the labour camp, he soon picked up his habit again.

Desperate for drugs, the "resourceful" man rented out all 1.6 hectares of the land he owned for 576 yuan (US$72) a year, then spent the money on a tractor, which he used for trafficking drugs and stealing livestock. His land-lease contract doesn't expire until 2006.

"Sometimes he would force me to buy drugs for him. If I refused, he would beat me. In despair, I contemplated divorce, but I refrained because of our two young daughters," says his wife, Pyrai My Dyro, who is eight years his junior and had to do odd jobs to support their children.

In 2001, the anti-drug team delivered an ultimatum to Kyin La Rung and other addicts to get off drugs within 15 days.

"I didn't believe those women could make it happen at first. But seeing them, including my wife, patrolling the village every day, I felt I would be damned if I didn't quit," says the talented young man who composed a song while serving time in prison to persuade others not to make the same mistake he did and to stay away from drugs forever.

He shut himself up alone at a relative's home on the hill in a last ditch effort to get off heroin.

"When I was tormented by the desire to take drugs, I replaced No 4 with opium and gradually reduced the amount over time."

He is now a member of the task force and talks about his own experience with narcotics to persuade others from abusing drugs.

"I've been on the team for almost eight months. Every night I depart with my wife for the patrol," says a clean and contented Kyin La Rung.

The monumental efforts of the anti-drug team, now expanded to 57 members including six men, have paid off - there are no more drug addicts in the village. But the patrol work goes on. "We have to ensure that drugs never come into the village again," says Kyin Mu Pu.

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