Report from Byron in Ghana
September 22, 2012
I
arrived in Accra, Ghana on April 16, 2012. After months of collaboration with the
Catholic Archdiocese of Accra; planning with Hopeful Way Foundation board
members (along with key people in the recovery community of Ghana); and physical
preparation with help from Hopeful Way Oxford House – Oyarifa members (along
with Gustavo Aguilar Marco, a volunteer worker from Sweden), the 40-bed
rehabilitation center named House of St. Francis opened August 1, 2012. This treatment facility utilizes Recovery
Dynamics as a curriculum for 12 step recovery along with the Healing Place
social model of Therapeutic Community and concept of non-medical detoxification.
It is initially designed to provide a needy client with 3 to 6 months of
inpatient care. Our first two resident clients were relapses from Oxford House
– Oyarifa. Currently, there are five
resident male clients. As a result of many serious inquiries about the house by
potential women prospects, a decision will be been made regarding the
accommodation of women in the House of St. Francis as well as men. We have
envisioned the challenges of having women and men in the same facility and
determined that if we could obtain the staff necessary to handle both genders,
it could be done successfully. We may also set up a separate Oxford House for
women.
I
am now beginning to receive some needed help in running the facility. Two
resident nurses from Accra Psychiatric Hospital (one male and one female) are
on board to assist in providing individual counseling for both male and female
clients. The two extension workers from
the Oxford House – Oyarifa are in training to assist in presenting the Recovery
Dynamics curriculum to the clients. Hopeful Way Foundation board members Dr. Joseph
Asare president, Dr. Eugene Dordoye and Mr. Logosu Amegashie (Korle-Bu Hospital
Addictive Disease Unit head) are also ready to assist in family and individual
counseling when they can be available.
Araba Sefa-Dedeh (Accra Psychiatric Hospital & Korle Bu Hospital
Women’s Psychiatric Unit Counselor/Professor) has come on board to assist in providing
counseling for the potential women clients. Meanwhile, the search for a separate
facility for women clients is a work in progress.
We
envision House of St. Francis to ‘pipeline’ the human resources needed to establish
more Oxford Houses in the near future. Each of the five current resident clients
has agreed to transition into an Oxford House either in Oyarifa or a planned
new house in Tema. More will be
revealed. The existing two Oxford
Houses, one in Oyarifa, Ghana has six members currently and efforts are being
made to reopen the Oxford House - Came to Believe in Kukurantumi. Currently, through
much patience and perseverance, Pantang Hospital TC Unit (REHAB) is now fully
supporting our Oxford Houses with clients from their six-month in-patient treatment
program. I am still working towards
establishing a woman/woman with children Oxford House. This I believe will
happen sooner than later. There may be a need for a woman from OHI to come to
assist in this project soon.
There
currently exist, 13 AA/NA 12-step meetings in the Accra Metropolitan area.
Three new venues for AA/NA meetings in the Tema/Ashiaman area have been
identified to start having meetings. The
Brain Clinic and Tema Sleep Centre, which will open its first meeting Saturday
September 29, 2012, Tema General Hospital and Blessed Clementina Catholic
Church in Ashiaman, are expected to open soon.
Public
Information talks via the press, radio and television have been established
more this year than any of the previous years combined. These platforms, I believe, are needed to
help reduce the stigma of the disease of addiction. The PI talks can expedite
the process of embracing the viable solutions available to help eradicate the
problem of alcoholism and drug addiction in Ghanaian society today.
The
collaborative efforts from Dr. Al Mooney of Willingway Foundation and Mr. Larry
Gaines of Kelly Foundation spent a combined five weeks in Ghana helping
us. In May/June of this year 12 students
and staff visited Ghana from Georgia Southern University and Texas Tech
University to inspire and encourage Ghanaians to embrace the concepts and
methods used in understanding and treating the disease of addiction.
In
closing, there are many challenges ahead for Ghanaians with regards to embracing
and developing methods of treating the disease of alcoholism and drug addiction
from using proven recovery models and concepts used
around the world today. Daniel O’Laughlin and Hopeful Way Foundation/Recovery
Africa have begun the task of establishing a solid foundation for a long term partnership
between the U.S and Ghana in meeting these challenges head on. I’m truly blessed to have the opportunity to be
of maximum service to God and to my fellow mankind in this endeavor. Thank you,
May God Bless You All, and please have an enjoyable and
successful fundraiser.
Byron
A. Merriweather
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