“I spent 40 years destroying myself, but in the end, I chose to live. And my freedom has a name - dignity.”

He started using drugs at just 13. “It seemed like something prestigious,” he says “something that made you feel stronger.” What he didn’t know then was that he was stepping onto a path of self-destruction that would take him four decades to escape.

For 37 years, Serghei lived with addiction. Sixteen of those were spent behind bars, trapped in the same vicious circle: “I stole to get high, got caught, went back to prison and even there, I didn’t stop. Drugs were the only meaning I had left.”

Addiction took a heavy toll on Serghei’s health. He developed a severe form of osteomyelitis in his jaw, an infection that, as he says, “killed everyone I knew who had it. The bone was literally dissolving. My whole body hurt. At that point, I wasn’t living anymore, I was just existing. The trolley wouldn’t take me, people spoke to me from a distance, shops refused to serve me. I felt like I was no longer human.”

Isolated, sick and stigmatized, Serghei tried several times to end his life. “I wanted to die, but I couldn’t even do that. Back then I didn’t understand that death wasn’t a solution. When you live like that, you stop believing there’s a way out.”

But one day, something changed. Serghei met a group of people from a rehabilitation center who encouraged him to give life another chance. That’s when he decided to live. He started treatment and quit drugs. After four months his body began to heal, and with it, his soul.

Yet a “clean” life didn’t automatically mean a new one. “I didn’t know how to live,” he says. “All my life I had stolen, used drugs, and been in prison. I didn’t know how to manage my emotions, money, or relationships. If someone disagreed with me, they were my enemy. If they accepted me, they were my friend. That was my logic.”

That’s when Serghei met Tatiana, his mentor. Through her, he joined the mentorship program for people living with or affected by HIV, organized by UNAIDS Moldova under the UN Joint Programme “Strengthening Human Rights on Both Banks of the Nistru,” implemented by the United Nations with financial support from Sweden.

“At first, I didn’t really understand what these mentoring sessions were about. I thought it was some kind of course or therapy. Then I realized it’s a journey back to yourself,” he says. “It helped me make sense of who I am, to understand why I react in certain ways, how to stop before hurting someone. I’m not a champion at it, but now I know when I’m wrong and I can choose to change.”

Through the mentoring sessions, Serghei learned to understand himself and others. “I discovered what emotional intelligence really means. Before, if someone said something I didn’t like, I would explode with anger. Now I breathe, think and explain. I no longer live in conflict with the world.”

The mentoring experience also inspired Serghei to train as a paralegal, a role that allows him to help others learn about their rights and rebuild their lives. “Now I visit rehabilitation centers and share my story with the people there. I tell them that change is possible, that there is another life waiting for them. Some listen and join the mentoring sessions too. There, we share our stories, our pain, but also our hope.”

Today, Serghei is 50 years old. He has a family that supports him, a driver’s license and a plan for his life. Most importantly, he has learned to see himself as a person of worth. “For 40 years I was falling apart, but now I’m learning to live. Mentorship gave me back my dignity. It taught me that I can be useful to society, that I can leave something good behind.”

If he could go back in time, Serghei knows exactly what he would tell the 13-year-old boy who first reached for drugs: “I’d tell him there’s another life, a beautiful one, full of meaning. But I know that boy wouldn’t have listened. He thought he knew everything. That’s how I lost so many years. Now I know that you begin really living when you help others and feel accepted.”

For UNAIDS Moldova, Serghei’s story is proof that trust and support can change lives. “The mentorship program we implement shows that every person has the potential to rebuild themselves and to once again become an active part of their community. Dignity begins with the chance to be heard and supported,” says Svetlana Plămădeală, UNAIDS Country Director in Moldova.

Serghei smiles when asked what the mentorship program means to him. “If it were a story, I’d call it The Golden Antelope. In that tale, the man dies from greed. I almost died from my own behavior. But wisdom came and saved me. And my freedom has a name - dignity.” 

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Russian translation of the story here.