This is a column for you, about you, and by you. We invite you to share any challenges your group or NA community may have faced, how you reached a solution, or its “special knack” that keeps you coming back!

I have been interested in NA history, especially our local South African history, for a while now. Right now, that history is a bit confused, and there are many opinions. Some of us believe the best way to document it is to have some of our oldtimers record their recollections of the early days. Until then, the “history” is my opinion only.

We are something of an NA backwater here on the southern tip of Africa, but recently we have been creeping toward the mainstream and are excited about becoming part of the greater NA whole. We are still a relatively small and young NA community, but there’s a strong, growing core of trusted servants now. Last year’s visit from NA World Services has been a catalyst. We hope for an increasing commitment to the growth of the fellowship here, particularly in the previously disadvantaged areas where the need for NA is matched only by our lack of presence. The recent completion of the first phase of the Zulu-language literature project is a real step in the right direction. This will be followed by Tswana or Sotho, two of the nine official indigenous languages in South Africa.

NA started here about fifteen years ago in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Durban might argue that they also got off the ground then, and they might be right. It was illegal at the time for more than two addicts to gather. In Johannesburg, meetings were held in the offices of a government agency, and the door to the meeting room had to be left open to comply with the law. Things have changed, and though growth has been slow, it has been steady.

The fact that we have had twelve national NA conventions is evidence of the cooperation among the three different areas. We now have three area service committees based in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban. We hold over ninety regular recovery meetings each week, with ninety percent of the meetings being held in these three centers. Many cities in South Africa have no NA presence at all.

We are in the process of creating a formal region, and we are excited about outreach, both locally and in neighboring countries. Twelve meetings in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Namibia are listed on our website. In Johannesburg, we have one particular meeting in Soweto which is really starting to take off; it is regularly attended by as many as thirty addicts. In the surrounding area, there are five meetings each week. All three areas are active in prisons, where we are currently developing a more formal, stable relationship with the authorities, and H&I meetings are held in many treatment centers (a growth industry in SA at the moment).

I attended the Saturday morning meeting in Soweto yesterday. In writing to my sponsor this evening, it struck me that this is the really important news from South Africa at the moment. More people outside of our country have heard of Soweto than of our major cities, but NA is new to this and other deprived communities. NA is largely the preserve of the privileged here, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the need in these areas is enormous.

Through the grace of this program, I was six years and nine months clean yesterday, something that only occurred to me at the meeting when the chair proudly put up his hand for nine months. Nobody else attending this home group had anywhere near nine months clean, and I was humbled by the gratitude in that room. I have never been more conscious of the gift of my own clean time. Almost everyone shared on their week in recovery; everyone shared about their gratitude for the program. I was particularly moved by the youth of many addicts there; several newcomers could not have been more than ten years old.

There were thirty-one people at the meeting, and for the first time keytags were handed out for clean-time anniversaries. The Johannesburg ASC adopted a budget for outreach just last month and provided the group with keytags and basic literature. The Seventh Tradition at the meeting has raised $30 in the last year, and they have committed to providing half of all contributions to the venue for meeting space rent. That’s the spirit of self-support shining through.

The success of the Saturday meeting has largely been due to an addict who took it upon himself to quietly attend the meeting every week, handwrite the “Serenity Prayer” and “Just for Today” and put them up on the walls, and pass on the message to a few of the many still-suffering addicts in that community. The great news is that now two of the home group members who really want to work on their recovery have started a midweek step study meeting at the same venue. That’s just two meetings, so far, in a city with a population much larger than Johannesburg—but it’s a start.