NA Meeting in Ghana

Revival has been given to Narcotics Anonymous in Ghana . This came about after several attempts by Ghanaians and international friends such as Maurice G. and others to plant NA in the country. The first NA grup in Ghana met on Saturdays and was called the Crucial NA Group. Another NA group met for about six months at a church in Adabraka and was started by Yusuf I. and others.

The new attempt to is expected to be a permanent one and was encouraged by Logosu A., the current Head of the Addictive Diseases Unit of the Department of Medicine of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by seven recovering addicts who have come to the Unit for treatment and counseling. The recovering addicts admitted that what makes some of them go back to using (relapse) is the lack of maintenance programme.

The first meeting was held under a blackberry tree close to the clinic on Monday, 4 May, 2009. It was an open meeting and was attended by the nurses and a security man who incidentally was an addict. Though it was a topic discussion meeting, the group booklet was read and the content of the text was explained to newcomers. Both old and new members shared their experiences, strengths and hopes.

At the end of the meeting, members were grateful for the initiative by Logosu A. for the formation of the local group. Though Logosu A. proposed the name “Crucial Group”, the group finally settled on “The New Man” as the name of the “home group” after it was proposed by a newcomer, Isaac A who did not know the history of the clinic. The name miraculously coincided with the founder of the Addictive Diseases Unit, Dr. Isaac Newman, a physician specialist who was sponsored to study about addiction and substance dependency disorders in February, 1991.

International NA members visiting Ghana and addicts with the desire to stop using can now have a sigh of relief as they can have a place to fellowship by attending the Monday morning meetings at the Addictive Diseases Unit at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra . We are expecting Maurice G. and his group to visit Accra in June, 2009.

Submitted by
Chris D.