Feature Section
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From the
editor
Every day
of the week, all over the world, recovering addicts gather
to share the NA message. Whether our keytags hang from a
custom-made rack or our home group is handing out keytags
for the first time, the message is the same: Freedom from
active addiction is possible. Through a sign language
interpreter, through the welcome we receive at our first
meeting, through NA literature or a conversation with our
sponsor, we all hear the same message.
On 11
September 11 2005, nearly 10,000 NA members simultaneously
shared this NA message of recovery at World Unity Day. From
NA meeting rooms to correctional facilities and a
mountain-top in
India, recovering addicts gathered around speaker telephones
and (in some cases) cobbled-together public address systems.
In Honolulu, Hawaii, more than 8,000 recovering addicts
attending our 31st World Convention were joined
by some 1,500 telephonically connected members from around
the world. All were welcomed collectively by the NA World
Board chairperson. We listened as a member carried the
message of recovery through her story, and we closed the
meeting, together, with a worldwide moment of silence.
As
individuals and as a fellowship, we share wonderful moments
that bring us together in the joy of our recovery. We also
face and move through the moments that break our hearts and
challenge our faith. Friends and family members die. We
lose jobs and relationships. We face crises that affect us
collectively—and we’ve had our share in recent months, with
hurricanes, flooding and mudslides, and massive earthquakes.
We reach out to offer support, hope, prayers, replacement NA
literature, and places for addicts to gather where the
chairs are not afloat in floodwaters and the roof has not
fallen. No matter what happens to us, we know that we don’t
have to use, that we are being cared for, and that,
together, we can survive through our shared experience,
strength, and hope.
De J,
Editor |
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The following is an excerpt of the
message a member planned to share at the Saturday
night meeting of WCNA-31. Because he was not able to
attend the convention, he shared via telephone
during World Unity Day.
My name is Mahmoud, and I am an
addict from Iran. I would like to thank the members
for this opportunity to share about the NA miracle
in Iran.
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After twenty years of active
addiction, and having so many unsuccessful tries to
stop using, I finally got to know NA in Iran about
nine years ago. In those days, there were only
twenty members, and only one group with three
meetings in Iran. I kept going to the meetings, but
it took me two more years to get clean. I always
promised myself that, if I could get clean, I would
do my best to serve NA in any way I could.
The miracle happened. I got clean
and started service in NA, but in my own way. My way
was to be self-centered and make everyone listen to
me and do what I told them to do. I wanted to be the
boss. All this self-centeredness, arrogance, and
resentment affected our unity. It caused some
members to relapse, and some newcomers didn’t stay.
And it caused our community and our government to be
skeptical of NA.
After a long conflict that affected
our NA community very badly, thank God we came to
our senses and decided to try to learn how to be of
real service. We contacted NA World Services, and
then we started to learn how to work as a group. We
began translating NA literature, and we learned to
practice the spiritual principle of unity. The
farther we got away from our personalities and
character defects, the more we grew.
Now, after five or six years, as a
result of our unity, we have about 2,400 groups all
over Iran, with more than 29,000 members. Every day
we receive more newcomers, and our nation has
accepted us as a part of an international fellowship
that can be respected. We have grown so much that NA
World Services has now opened a production and
distribution center in Iran.
I personally think the NA program
works all over the world, and no borders can stop
it. For example, two of us were going to join you at
this gathering, but we were stopped due to
geographical and political boundaries. But these
limitations could not stop us from having a
spiritual connection, because we are members of one
family, and I really believe in “one fellowship,
many friends.”
I hope someday I can visit NA World
Services and other meetings. The Iranian NA
community is young and needs you all to help us keep
growing and making the NA message of recovery
available to more suffering addicts.
Mahmoud C, Tehran, Iran
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WCNA-31 and Unity Day 2005:
Experiences from around the world
Leejay G,
Minnesota, USA
Two and a half years ago, when I said I
wished I could go to Hawaii, my sponsor told me, “You’re
going to Hawaii.” My sponsor gave me constant encouragement,
and I continued to work my program. I made my first airplane
trip and saw the ocean for the first time at age
thirty-nine, with three years clean!
Dario N, Medellin, Colombia
On Unity Day, my heart raced, thinking the
phone system I had set up wasn’t going to work. Then, we
heard the phone: ring, ring, ring! I felt immense joy. We
listened, and a member translated for us. I didn’t
understand everything, but it didn’t matter. I was simply
feeling my heart beat with excitement when I heard you on
the line. My greatest happiness that day was when a newcomer
arrived who, days before, was desperately asking for help on
the phoneline because she wanted to stop using. Thanks to
our phoneline volunteers, our Higher Power, and members who
invited her, the greatest gift was that she was able to be
there at World Unity Day. |
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Ken P,
Pennsylvania, USA
As I reflect back on moments in Hawaii, I
think of old friends and new ones from as far away as
Sweden, Greece, and Ireland. We celebrated our recovery, the
spirit of fellowship, and the immense beauty of nature.
Mahalo.
Mickael H, Kehl, Germany
There were more people at the Twelve
Coconuts meeting at the beach than there were at the entire
European convention!
Jimmy
E, Eskilstuna, Sweden
I got to share my story of recovery at one
of the workshops. I was scared, but I have never felt more
at home than at that time. The loving power of god was
working through us, and the word of one of my co-speakers
was ringing in my head: “Namaste.” I bow to you.
Dawn
A, Indiana, USA
I just can’t explain how thankful I am that
so many people went out of their way to open doors, guide me
through lines, and assist with getting my wheelchair on and
off the shuttles. This was my first world convention, and I
am looking forward to attending the next.
Javad
M, Tehran, Iran
Suddenly, I felt the world is such a small
place. I felt there is no need for me to feel isolated. It
was worth staying up one night. Beyond geographical
distance, and regardless of the time difference, it felt
like I was hugged by recovery friends—friends who suffer
from the same disease that brought me to my knees. Their
souls were healed by the same process that made recovery
possible for me.
Shannon T, Tennessee, USA
In a virtual room full of thousands of
people today, I really did feel unity, especially when the
speaker from Iran came on the phoneline to say he’d tried
and tried to get clean, but he couldn’t do it until he found
NA. NA came to his country, and he works the same Twelve
Steps I work. He uses the same words I use: Keep coming
back. NA is in Iran and Sweden, Honduras and Memphis. It
makes me feel small and yet connected to the larger, the
higher, and—just for me—to God.
Jeff
G, Darjeeling, India
Monsoon rains still falling, but nearing
the end of the season. Five thousand feet elevation at a
resort on a mountaintop. Two hundred fifty NA members, all
trying to help transfer the call from the main phone to a
portable speakerphone, over which a floor microphone was
propped up on pillows, with wires running to the amplifier
and speakers in the tent outside where we were gathered. We
disconnected the call three times, and the operator
mercifully sought us out and reconnected us each time.
Finally, the voice of the World Board chairperson opening
the meeting, and then the otherworldly enjoyment of
receiving the Unity Day call at a far-flung, remote location
in the Darjeeling, India, region, knowing we were tied to
Narcotics Anonymous worldwide. Thank you, NA, and thank you
to the telephone operators.
Kenny
H, Oregon, USA
We would like to thank you for your help in
getting us hooked up with Hawaii on Sunday for World Unity
Day. It was a big success for us here at the penitentiary.
We were able to have the sound broadcast loud enough for all
to hear!
Carolyn W, New Jersey, USA
I am here [at the World Convention] by
myself, but I haven’t been alone yet. |
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