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Two women from different parts of the world, united by a common passion, experience or expertise, share the stories of their lives.

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The Conversation: Addiction: Parina Subba Limbu and Melinda Ferguson

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Parina Subba Limbu (Left) and Melinda Ferguson (Right)

28/12/2015 GMT

Addiction: Parina Subba Limbu and Melinda Ferguson

BBC World Service - The Conversation, Addiction: Parina Subba Limbu and Melinda Ferguson

Two women from Nepal and South Africa whose drug addiction almost cost them everything

"I almost lost everything". Two former addicts from South Africa and Nepal discuss the worst things they ever did on drugs, and the challenges of staying clean.

Parina Subba Limbu first tried drugs as a teenager.  Expelled from nine schools, she eventually ran away from home.  After a decade of escalating addiction, and many disastrous love affairs with other addicts, Parina finally got help to get clean, and now runs Dristi Nepal, a charity she founded to care for drug-addicted women in Kathmandu, a group she says who are harshly judged by her society.

Melinda Ferguson, who grew up in Apartheid-era South Africa, started stealing her mother's brandy aged 10, and was soon experimenting with drugs.  In 1993 she tried heroin, which led to a downward spiral that saw her losing her kids, and selling her body for the next hit.  Melinda's journey to recovery began in 1999, and has since published two addiction memoirs, Smacked and Crashed.

[Picture: Parina Subba Limbu (Left) and Melinda Ferguson(Right)
Melinda Ferguson picture credit: Aubrey Johnson  ]

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