Enabling MBSTRING extension

Hi,

I currently have a problem. I'm trying to enable the mbstring extension on PHP.

I require this extension because in PHPmyAdmin using UTF-8 character encoding I am unable to enter multibyte entries correctly into mySQL database.

I tried following the steps of http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/Installing_PHP5 as the install script of PHP5 has the mbstring extension enabled.

However I am unable to get it installed in my site (I have followed the steps to the letter). For some reason, my $home/php directory is empty and I have no $home/$domain/cgi-bin and $home/etc/ directory.

I have tried enabling PHP5 through the web panel option. While it does use PHP5, it doesn't have mbstring extension enabled.

DHSupport tells me to disable php-cgi and use .htaccess directives but I have no clue how to do this.

Can anyone provide some help? I really need this extension.

Thanks,
Firestorm ZERO