00:08Swapping out drugs for sports, Jan-Marty Kalyuve has been a resident of Loutuse Kula in Estonia for two months
00:17now.
00:18A community of people intent on changing their lives.
00:22Here he is free. Free from drugs, tobacco, alcohol. Free from his dark past.
00:30I have the chance to start my life again here. It's great.
00:36But this new life requires strength. Those who don't make it risk a relapse.
00:56Six o'clock in the morning. Getting up early is the first thing 18-year-old Jan-Marty has to
01:02get used to in his new life.
01:06His new home is called Loutuse Kula, which means Village of Hope in Estonian.
01:13Located in northern Estonia, an hour's drive from the capital Tallinn, it's surrounded by old pine trees and picturesque moors.
01:22Those who come here must leave their old lives behind and start completely afresh.
01:27The stay lasts between 10 months and a year. No cigarettes, no drugs, no alcohol.
01:33In a community of like-minded people who have one thing in common, their fight against addiction.
01:39It's a beautiful place with positive energy. I don't feel trapped here. I could leave at any time because I
01:45came here voluntarily.
01:57The Village of Hope was founded in 2000 by a minister from the Free Christian Pentecostal Movement.
02:04What began as a small construction trailer has now grown into a settlement with nine houses, a sawmill and a
02:11sauna.
02:13More than a thousand people have come here to date, most with criminal pasts.
02:18Dealers, thieves, murderers arrive straight from prison as part of a re-socialization program.
02:25Some were released early and now live here under supervision.
02:30Their day begins unusually, with a hug.
02:37People here are just like me, addicts who've had to deal with similar problems.
02:42I find they're easy to talk to because they've been through the same experiences.
02:48We can exchange stories and support each other.
02:51Everyone is friendly, almost loving towards each other.
02:54But that's because we're all sober.
02:56When people take drugs, they're not so friendly or helpful.
03:05Even before breakfast, there is Bible study in the community center.
03:10Everyone joins in, reading a line in their native language, Russian, English, Estonian, Latvian and Finnish.
03:17The Lootasekula community is international and includes both Estonian citizens and foreigners living in Estonia.
03:41The Bible study group is led by Raimond Kuk.
03:51The current pastor came here 14 years ago to overcome his own drug addiction at the time.
03:58Kuk is now the managing director of Lootasekula.
04:05We can help most by showing our residents respect and accepting them as they are.
04:12When a so-called tough guy comes to us, perhaps someone with a couple of murders on his conscience who
04:17spent 20 years in prison where he had the status of a hardened criminal.
04:21If I treat this person here as a tough criminal, nothing will change.
04:27I have to treat them differently, even if they arrive with a very hardened heart.
04:35I have to try to understand him.
04:38What's behind the facade?
04:41My job is to recognize another inner side and through my respect and brotherly love to help him grow inwardly.
04:53Respect and brotherly love instead of severity and punishment?
04:58In dealing with drug-related crimes, Estonia is relying on a sensitive approach.
05:04Prevention is prioritized with suspended sentences and electronic monitoring on the rise.
05:11And it's working.
05:12Half of Estonia's prisons are now empty.
05:16Crime rates are falling.
05:18Just 15 years ago, the Baltic country was considered one of Europe's largest drug laboratories,
05:24also supplying the Nordic countries with illegal substances.
05:28Fentanyl was the number one killer, claiming a life every three days.
05:32Today, fentanyl deaths are a quarter of what they were then.
05:36But the drug problem remains a pressing issue among young people,
05:40as Katri Abel-Olo from the Estonian Institute for Health explains.
05:45Every year, around 100 people die as a result of drug use.
05:49Most of them are young people under the age of 40.
05:52In this respect, we are one of the countries with the highest mortality rates in the European Union.
05:59Around 3,000 drug-related offenses are recorded in Estonia every year.
06:03Most of these, around 2,000 cases, are minor violations.
06:08Around 1,000 are criminal offenses.
06:13If you look at prison inmates, around 40% of them are behind bars because of drug addiction.
06:19That's a very high number.
06:22Back to Lootasekula, the village of Hope, where Jan Marti is telling his story.
06:28His first experience with drugs was at the age of 16 with marijuana.
06:33First as a user, then as a dealer.
06:39Before I came here, I started selling weed.
06:43I had a friend who was making a lot of money on it.
06:46So I thought to myself, why should I go to work, when I can earn 100 euros an hour just
06:51as easily?
06:53It was very simple.
06:55Someone texted me, I went downstairs, opened the door and he gave me 100 euros.
07:03I handed over the goods and went back upstairs.
07:06That was it.
07:07I thought, wow, money is so easy to come by.
07:12I felt really powerful, as if I had some kind of power in my hands.
07:20This went on for two years until one day something happened that changed Jan Marti's life.
07:26It was a party.
07:27I had a lot of cocaine and alcohol.
07:30Someone gave me some kind of powder.
07:32Another gave me coke.
07:34I didn't really know exactly what they were giving me.
07:37Well, I overdid it a bit.
07:39I remember going to the bathroom, standing next to the toilet.
07:42And at that moment, my legs went numb.
07:45They gave way and I thought I was about to collapse.
07:48My heart was pounding so hard.
07:49It felt as if it was about to jump out of my chest.
07:52I stood there and thought, could this really be an overdose?
07:55Could I be dying?
07:57Jan Marti didn't die.
07:59But that evening did change his life.
08:03Especially what happened after the party when he got home.
08:24My mother was waiting for me on the bed.
08:28She was sitting with her back to me, looking out of the window.
08:33I saw that she was crying.
08:36And at first I didn't understand why.
08:39But then it hit me, like a bolt of lightning.
08:44That's exactly what addiction does.
08:48Moments like this mean so much.
08:56And when you look at my heart, my heart, will be問題.
09:04That's exactly what I do.
09:09I don't want to cry.
09:10I really don't want you to cry.
09:11I really don't want to cry.
09:16I really don't want to cry.
09:21They mean so much when you realize you've hurt your own mother.
09:26She's protected me my whole life and now I've caused her so much worry
09:32because she thought I might die.
09:37I'm ruining my life and there's nothing she can do about it.
09:42We sat together and cried.
09:45And then I told her I didn't want to live like this anymore.
09:54Easy money was confined to the past.
09:57Jan Marti now works in the sawmill on the grounds of La Uta Sekula
10:01with nearly 30 other men who currently live in the village of Hope.
10:05Pallets, crates, wooden building components.
10:09Incidentally, all the houses in the settlement were built by the residents themselves.
10:14Lota Sekula is financed by private donations and government grants.
10:20This is where the wood's sorted.
10:22I work with my friend taking turns.
10:24Today I'm working till lunchtime, then it's him.
10:27There aren't any conflicts. We get along great.
10:30For many here, this is the first proper job they've ever done.
10:35Even if they're no longer as young as Jan Marti Kalyuwe.
10:45Saturday is the highlight of the week.
10:47The sauna.
10:48The sauna.
10:51Including ice bathing at minus 15 degrees.
11:15And two months after arriving in the village of Hope,
11:18Jan Marti receives his first visitor, his mother.
11:36Today is a special day, because I've been here for two months.
11:40That's the first phase done.
11:42I mean, of course I'm overjoyed.
11:44But the greatest joy is that I've finally seen my mother again.
11:47We've never been apart for so long.
11:49From now on, things will only get better.
12:00After his stay in the village of Hope,
12:03Jan Marti wants to do military service
12:06and learn a profession where he can work with other people.
12:09Ideally young people, he says.
12:13And never take drugs again.
12:23It's a struggle to accept.
12:24It's all that you need to do.
12:25My god.
12:25My god.
12:28Let's get to it.
12:28Oh no, I'm not sure.
12:30So I'm going to be.
12:30My god.
12:31My god.
12:31I'm going to After the trip.
12:34My god.
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