BAHRAIN will be playing host to a regional convention of recovering alcoholics later this year, as the country’s Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) network commemorates more than 40 years of service.
The Middle East Regional Committee of Alcoholics Anonymous will be hosting its annual convention from November 17 to 19, under the theme ‘service keeps me sober’.
“Bahrain last hosted the MERCAA conference in 2016, which was attended by 82 people from across the GCC,” the chairperson of conference, who requested to only be identified as William C, told the GDN.
“There will be keynote speeches, as well as discussion sessions during this event, which will help recovering alcoholics, especially those who are ‘senior’ within the group and have been in the programme for a few years.
“This year, we have a speaker from the US as well as one from the UK, who will be sharing their experience of recovering from alcoholism and how we can support each other on this journey.
“There will also be sessions conducted by the Health Ministry, Interior Ministry and Education Ministry about the pitfalls of alcoholism and how to best deal with them.”
The event will be staged at the Downtown Rotana hotel in Manama.
Although the earliest AA meetings in Bahrain can be traced to the 1960s, regular meetings started in 1981 when an expatriate, Ronnie D’Souza, moved to Bahrain and organised gatherings at the American Mission Hospital (AMH) in Manama on Tuesdays. Today, AA Manama meets on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Fridays, with an additional meeting in Hindi every Friday.
The ‘By the Grace of God’ AA group meets on Sundays and Wednesdays at AMH in Saar, and the Sacred Heart Church hosts meetings on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday.
There is also a Zoom meeting every Thursday.
Some of these are closed sessions where AA members can work on their 12-step programmes in confidentiality, while others are open meetings where anyone interested, including non-alcoholics – often family members of those trying to recover from the addiction - can attend and learn more about the programme.
The GDN attended an open meeting recently and spoke with AA members about their recovery experience especially during the pandemic. At their request, names have been kept confidential.
“The 12-step programme is at the core of the AA and guides our personal journeys,” a 71-year-old Bahraini, who has been in AA for 16 years, explained.
“The steps start from accepting our powerlessness over alcohol, move into accepting the need for a higher power, while making a decision to turn our lives around, taking stock of how we have hurt ourselves and others, and making amends where possible.
“The final step, which comes after we have worked through our own journeys, is to guide other recovering alcoholics through their journeys.”
The meetings are the scaffolding around which many recovering alcoholics structure their rehabilitation, finding support in sharing their stories and hearing from those who have managed to remain sober for many years.
The longest-serving AA member in Bahrain has been sober for more than 36 years, and been part of Bahrain’s AA community for 18 years.
“For the longest time I didn’t want to admit that I was an alcoholic,” the British expatriate added.
“It was only when I hit rock bottom that I decided to take the programme seriously. I had been part of the programme in London and joined the group in Bahrain when I moved here.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the group had to switch its meetings to an online format for the first few months, in line with Health Ministry guidelines.
During Zoom meetings, they had alcoholics from around the world joining in to share their perspective, and the members themselves could attend sessions staged overseas from the comfort of their homes in Bahrain.
“I remember, there were these marathon open international meetings, which would run for 24 hours or more, and there’d be 200-400 people in the session at any given time, sharing their stories and going through their programme,” a 38-year-old Indian female expatriate added.
“We even tried to start up an AA meeting, focused at Arab women who were struggling with the disease, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite pick up.
“The challenges women face are quite distinct from men. Not only is there a stronger social stigma around alcohol, which discourages them from admitting there is a problem, there is also an unfortunate phenomenon where their vulnerability during their recovery is taken advantage of.
“We jokingly call it the 13th step, but it can be devastating, and it’s also why a recovering alcoholic can only be sponsored by someone of the same gender.”
In AA, as part of the 12th step, experienced individuals can choose to ‘sponsor’ those who are just starting. This involves offering one-on-one guidance and help whenever their ‘sponsee’ is feeling tempted to regress to old habits or is facing a challenge in their recovery.
The Covid-19 pandemic proved to be a challenge for recovering alcoholics around the world, with multiple academic studies finding an increase in alcohol abuse as individuals and families were locked in.
The World Health Organisation estimates that three million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol. It also notes that the harmful use of alcohol is a contributing cause in more than 200 disease and injury conditions.
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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