From 3 March, 2010 to the present, June 6, we have been on the road studying a variety of approaches to help deal with recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. We expect to arrive back in Bethesda/Washington, DC on June 15.
On March 3 we drove from Bethesda to Richmond, Virginia where we met Byron Merriweather the Oxford House representative who spent six weeks in 2009 with Hopeful Way Foundation in Ghana. Byron brought us up to date on his work in Virginia and gave us a tour of an Oxford House in Richmond. We were impressed by the emphasis that residents placed on attending AA meetings, working the 12 steps and participating in activites of the Fellowships of AA and NA.
From Richmond we drove to Raleigh, North Carolina and spent a week in the area with Dr. Al Mooney of the Willingway Foundation. Through mutual contacts in Egypt, Dr. Al made our three month study visit possible. We first had a brief look at The Healing Place in Raleigh, a halfway house in the area and a continuing care group for former patients of Willingway Hospital. We then drove to Willingway Hospital, located 370 miles to the south in Statesboro, Georgia (http://www.willingway.com/) where we spent two months. The hospital was established in 1971, has 40 hospital beds and has treated over 20,000 patients and family members. A highly dedicated staff provides excellent care including detoxification, inpatient, outpatient and extended care for both men and women. The treatment and group sessions at Willingway are based on the approaches of AA, NA and Al-Anon. Former patients of Willingway Hospital attend weekly "continuing care" meetings in about fifteen cities, mainly in the southern part of the U.S. The entire staff of the hospital treated us like royalty. We were most fortunate to attend the homecoming celebration of Willingway Hospital where over 400 former patients and friends came to Statesboro on the weekend of April 23. In my next blog entry I will describe some of the activities of Willingway Foundation and how they could benefit our efforts in Ghana.
Dan
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ReplyDeleteThe date of our next mission trip to Ghana is fast approaching, January 5, 2011.
ReplyDeleteOur goals for this trip:
1. to use the 15,000 books left over from our shipment from Phoenix in 2009 in setting up at least four new libraries;
2. to hold our annual in-service for at least 27 libraries out of the 48 we have previously set up;
3. to open up a recovery house in Kukurantumi for alcoholics and drug addicts based on AA program and the infrastructure of Oxford House International;
4. to disseminate information about alcoholism and HIV/AIDS to all libraries;
5. to hold further training courses for librarians and certify them using the curriculum we have developed.
It has taken us a full year to settle into our house and the St. Louis community, but it is done and we are so grateful to God for His faithful love and Grace in this process. We live close to two of our five grandchildren and have been able to see them on a regular basis. We are taking a third grandchild, Kwesi, to Ghana with us for our five and a half month mission trip. We hope one day the other two grandchildren who live in Florida will one day visit us in Ghana.
Sister Marian Boberschmidt, OSF will come to Ghana to volunteer with us for six weeks beginning in February 2011. She will be there during our annual library in-service and help set up several libraries.
I have been researching for information regarding extended care recovery, and I have read this very nice post. Thanks for people like you, for continuing to help reviving the lives of addiction patients.
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