WCNA-32

Her tenth world convention

My WCNA-32 experience started the day online registration opened on the first of December 2006. A sponsee called to ask, “Did you register yet?” Of course I had; I’d been waiting patiently for the day and time to arrive! Then, everyone was asking, “Are you going to world?” And then, in the two weeks before the convention, there were e-mails, text messages, and calls to and from NA friends around the country. I wanted to know: Who will I see at WCNA-32?

By that time I’d hugged about 150 people, some I knew and some who just smiled at me. (Isn’t that NA-speak for “hug me”?) As I stood in line, I was looking around the adjoining space in Bridge Hall (the NA World Services on-site office), with banners dropped from the high ceiling, people standing in line for coffee and sweets, displays of NA memorabilia, an NA Way Magazine area, home group registration, and literature sales. Standing in line for merchandise is a sort of ritual, and I don’t mind it because I‘ve met so many great people standing in WCNA merchandise lines over the years. Once inside, I made my mug collection more complete and spent my limit on goodies for sponsees and friends back in San Francisco.

My volunteer shift in merchandise didn’t start until 7:00  pm, so I had time to socialize, find a sponsee, meet more people, and collect more hugs. The energy of recovery carried me through a blur of workshops, volunteer commitments, step work with sponsees, comedy shows, and speaker meetings. My time as a cashier in merchandise allowed me to hug addicts from Bahrain, Kuwait, Brazil, Colombia, Canada, and Japan, as well as many fellow Americans. My time helping in the NA Way area gave me the opportunity to meet Jimmy K’s daughters and another member from Japan. In both of these areas of volunteering, I got to work with some incredible people, both NAWS staff and other volunteers.

I spent time with my sponsor, from Missouri, and with sponsees from Wisconsin and Nevada. I was able to reconnect with addicts from the Midwest, where I got clean and spent the first nine years of my recovery, and with friends from New York, Hawaii, and points in between. I shared meals and recovery with old and new friends. There were people there I only see at world conventions, some of whom I’d missed for a number of years—and how glad I was they were there! On the shuttle to the Alamodome, the different languages that swirled around me gave me a good sense of how worldly we are.

This is some of what happened. How it felt is harder to express. My heart was overflowing; gratitude filled me with joy, and the awe I felt gave me goose bumps. Watching members being kind to each other, being polite in the community, and supporting newcomers was love in action, a testament to the presence of a Higher Power. The idea that any addict (even me) “can stop using, lose the desire to use, and find a new way of life” came alive for me in San Antonio.

Jennie C, California, USA

Paducah and Edinburgh

As I was talking with Brian S of Edinburgh, Scotland, we discussed some of the differences between meetings and the atmosphere of recovery in our home areas. NA meetings began in Scotland around 1983, thirty years after our fellowship was born in Southern California. We talked about the differences in cleantime in meetings. He said that words like “grand-sponsor” are virtually non-existent in his local NA community. He was excited about being part of the growing NA community in Scotland.

Brian was attending his third world convention. He said he enjoys the love of the fellowship and the spirit of recovery present at conventions. He has traveled around the world to attend NA’s world conventions, and wishes that one day WCNA could be held in Edinburgh.

Getting to know and sharing with addicts, one-on-one, from different corners of the world truly reminded me that “no addict anywhere need die from the horrors of addiction.”

Kevin R, Kentucky, USA

Sweet sixteen

Upon arriving at my first world convention (WCNA-32), I felt overwhelmed by joy. I saw thousands of people from different places and backgrounds in peace with each other. I also felt blessed to have this opportunity and to have survived addiction. Initially, I planned to travel with some friends and to celebrate my sixteen years clean at the convention. Even when they backed out, I never considered cancelling. It was my destiny to attend the convention. At first, I felt a little anxious because I felt alone, but then I went to the first meeting and got a hug. I was home.

I’m so grateful to my sponsor, who shared his world convention experiences with me. Once I got to WCNA-32, I called him every day to share my experiences with him and my sponsee. One time I called, crying—tears of joy, for a change.

As I write this, on the first of September, I am celebrating my sixteenth year clean. I can’t express my gratitude for recovery and for our worldwide fellowship. How sweet it is!

Margaret T, New York, USA

Recovery village

It’s 6:20 pm on Thursday, and the excitement is building. Thousands of people are pouring in as music fills the Alamodome, and dancers in brightly colored costumes draw the crowd’s attention. The stage is backdropped with what appears to be mountains of spiritual principles in blue, green, red, and yellow. The positive energy I have felt since I landed in San Antonio is evident here at the WCNA-32 kick-off meeting.

As the speaker shares, everyone seems able to relate to the behaviors we recognize, and we can’t help but laugh because the insanity mirrors our own struggles. He shares about how his introduction to NA was his first spiritual awakening into a new way of life. I sit here in tears, even after eighteen years of hearing stories about the trek from addiction to freedom, because it speaks to the core of who I am.

The second speaker brings us to the place we see if we close our eyes and remember the end of the using road. She reminds us that it’s what we feel inside that brings us to our bottom. I relate to the value she places on honesty, humility, integrity, and honor. She shares about her hero being the addict in recovery who shared enough with her to spark the new sense of hope that led her to freedom. I pray that God will use me as someone’s hero.

Thousands of people file out in an orderly fashion into Sunset Station, an amazing mini-city of lights, music, and smells of food. Buildings on both sides look like a scene from a western  movie. We walk past food vendors, restaurants, several different bands, and dance clubs—all filled with recovering addicts. It’s an entire village of conventioneers, celebrating life clean. It is one of the most invigorating and exciting times I’ve experienced in all my years of recovery.

The message of hope and promise of freedom tugs at my heart. What greater power can there be to an addict in recovery than knowing that addicts all over the world share our hope and dreams of a life of freedom from addiction? That only happens through one addict helping another. Through this message, our spiritual hands reach across oceans and continents to carry hope into the hearts of the hopeless.

Dianne H, Wisconsin, USA

Kwa siku ya leo

Perhaps my most exciting moment at WCNA-32 was holding the new welcome keytag in Swahili. On one side: Karibu! (welcome) and on the other side: Kwa siku ya leo (just for today). The moment I had it in my hand, I was ready to take the next flight home to share it with my home group. I have never been so excited about some simple translation work. For me, this welcome key tag in Swahili represents the hope of our message, the hope that, some day, any addict from the region I come from will find the doors open to an NA meeting, and with it, a new way to live. This was my first world convention, and I was asked to speak for a few minutes. I had never spoken to so many people in my life before. While I used, I could barely speak, even in a small group of friends. I had lost all the confidence I’d ever had. Yet, there I was at the Alamodome for the Saturday night main meeting, sharing to the largest group I’ve ever spoken to, but I was unshaken. Why? It’s because I knew that no one there would judge me, that my fellows were all rooting for me, whatever I had to say. I know this to be true, from the bottom of my heart, because many times I am the one exercising goodwill by listening to what others have to share. I have learned this new way to live just by staying clean, going to meetings, and being a part of the NA process.

On the last day of the convention, at the Unity Day celebration, someone was reading one of our usual meeting readings. He could barely read and, like him, tears of gratitude welled up in my eyes. That was my time of tears at the convention. I thank NA for replacing my old tears of pain and deep, deep sorrow with new tears of joy and deep, deep gratitude.

On the Monday after the convention, I went to the convention center to post a letter, only to find an empty hall. How sad and lonely it felt. I recalled thousands of addicts who smiled in these corridors, laughed joyously, hugged each other, made the place look and feel so alive. I realized that NA, and our world convention, are made up of our people—not the beautiful convention center, the Alamodome, or the hotels. It’s the hugs, love, and sharing I witnessed first-hand on such a massive scale that makes NA what it is. Every time I saw an addict hug another, I felt as if I was giving and receiving the same.

Ujumbe wetu ni tumaini letu, ahadi yetu Uhuru! (Our message hope, our promise freedom.) Long live NA!

Bonnie N, Nairobi, Kenya

WCNA-32 Merchandise Available ONLINE

for limited time while supplies last…

Couldn’t attend WCNA-32 in Texas, want to purchase additional merchandise or want to buy goodies to give as gifts? Now is the time, and this is the place: http://www.na.org/wcna32/merchandise.htm. These items are available in limited quantities and sizes until 15 December 2007, or until they are sold out.

Orders will be delivered within a few weeks after the order is received. The orders are processed by us, but sent to you from a fulfillment service. (All sales are final; no refunds or exchanges.)
View and order WCNA-32 merchandise at http://www.na.org/wcna32/merchandise.htm.

Group (mis)readings We’ve all stumbled on our words while reading aloud at an NA meeting, right? Here are a few mis-readings as remembered by several NA members: We have no irritation fees or dues. Andrea L, New Mexico, USA I/We/You can, however,be arrested at some point … Jana B, Wisconsin, USA and Courtney H, Missouri, USA Just as freedom for the individual comes from the Twelve Steps, so freedom from the group springs from our traditions. Just for today, I will be unafraid of my thoughts … Susan W, Pennsylvania, USA    Our traditions protect us from the international and external forces that could destroy us. Thinking of alcohol as different from other drugs has caused many great addicts to relapse.  Wayne VW, Rhode Island, USA

Traditions Unity Willingness Surrender Steps Service Sanity Relationships Meetings Newcomer Hope Faith Gratitude Grief Reprinted with permission from MidAmerica Newsletter

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