Service Yezu Mwiza (SYM) is a Christian, socio-medical organization dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, while promoting holistic healthcare and social justice. Founded in 2008, it operates as a prominent reference centre under the care of the Jesuits in Burundi. In 2025, it opened Centre Traitement Agoniste aux Opioïdes (TAO – Opioid Agonist Therapy) - the first centre of its kind in Burundi dedicated to accompanying people struggling with drug addiction. As part of the Jesuit social mission in the Rwanda-Burundi Province, the Centre offers a holistic approach – combining medical care, psychosocial support, and reintegration into society. Through programs such as TAO, using medications like methadone and buprenorphine, the Centre helps individuals regain stability and begin again. More than a place of treatment, it is a place of second chances, where dignity is rediscovered, and life can start anew. Within this mission of care and reintegration, individual journeys begin to change like Gael’s life.

“My name is Bizimana Gael. I was born in Nyakabiga, and I had a good life. When I look back, I never imagined that my life would take the path it did. It all began in a very simple way, it was something that felt harmless at the time. I started smoking cigarettes with friends, just as a game. It didn’t seem serious. It didn’t feel dangerous. But slowly, that ‘game’ became something else. I didn’t realize that I was opening a door that would be very hard to close. As time went on, I began using stronger drugs, including cocaine. That is when everything started to change. I lost control little by little, until I found myself in a place I could not escape from. I always say that I fell into a deep hole, because that is exactly how it felt. I could see what was happening to me, but I could not pull myself out.

What started as occasional use became a daily need. My body and my mind depended on it. I was no longer choosing, I was trapped. Every day, the only thing that mattered was finding a way to take drugs, just to feel normal, just to feel at ease for a moment. To survive in that life, I began selling everything I owned. My belongings disappeared one by one. And when there was nothing left, I started looking elsewhere. I would steal anything I could find. Something that could cost 500,000 Burudian Francs, I would sell it for 20,000 Burundian Francs, just enough to buy drugs. At that point, value had no meaning. The only thing that mattered was the next dose. Eventually, I left everything behind.

I spent 18 years living in the forest. When I say this, many people are surprised. They ask how it was possible. The truth is, if you are living that life, you do not feel fear the same way. Normally, someone would be afraid to live in the forest, but I wasn’t. I was always under the influence of drugs, and that took away fear, but it also took away everything else: peace, direction, purpose. That was my life: isolation, survival, and addiction. My family suffered because of me. They were afraid whenever I came near them. They knew I could steal from them, and many times, I did. It reached a point where I was no longer trusted anywhere. I had lost the confidence of the people who loved me the most. Looking back, I realize that I was not really living; I was just existing, moving from one day to another, controlled by something stronger than me. And then, something changed.

It is by the grace of God that I met Service Yezu Mwiza at Centre TAO. That encounter marked the beginning of a new chapter in my life. At the Centre, I found people who did not judge me, people who welcomed me as I was. They introduced me to the treatment program, where I began taking medications like methadone or buprenorphine. These helps stabilize my body and reduce the constant need for drugs. For the first time in many years, I have begun to feel stable. I have begun to think differently and to see that another life is possible. The transformation has been visible, not only to me but also to my family. My parents now say that I have changed completely, and I look forward to continuing aiming higher now that I can even count on myself.”

Gael’s story is one among many at Centre TAO – Service Yezu Mwiza, where people on the margins are accompanied through treatment, psychosocial support, and reintegration programs. This mission reflects the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, especially the call to walk with the excluded. Through care, compassion, and accompaniment, the Centre restores dignity and offers new beginnings reminding us that no one heals alone, and no life is beyond hope.