Byron Merriweather Report

The Ghana Report

This is Byron Merriweather reporting on my third tour of Ghana. My mission is to continue to expand Oxford Houses by establishing a chapter of at least three houses; increase the number of 12 step meetings in Ghana and develop a rehabilitation treatment center to assist in meeting the aforementioned goals. I arrived in Ghana April 16, 2012 to partake in establishing the House of St. Francis in Ashaiman, Ghana (a 40 bed capacity three to six month programed facility). With the help of several Oxford House members including Gustavo Marco from Sweden, in May of 2012, we partook of the task to first do the physical cleanup of the dust ridden facility. This process took one month to complete.  The initial opening was scheduled to be June 1, 2012 but because of delays in finalizing the MOA between HWF and the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, the House of St. Francis didn’t open until August 1, 2012. On that day we had our first client. By the end of August we had three clients. I was solely responsible for the day to day tasks of performing the administrative duties, doing the interviewing and intake assessments of clients, providing counseling with clients and presenting the Recovery Dynamics curriculum to the clients. Thank God my help came in late September. By the end of 2012, the HSF had received 20 clients. Currently, I have a stipend volunteer staff comprised of 3 cooks, 1 utility workman, 1 security man and 4 Recovery Dynamics presenter/counselors, including myself and volunteer support from graduate students in Clinical Psychology through the Narcotics Control Board Demand Reduction Unit and two volunteer social worker/psychologists affiliated with the Addictive Disease Unit at Korle Bu Hospital that are assisting clients with individual counseling and group counseling needs.

As of February 2013, there had been three clients who successfully completed the 3-6 month program. One (the first client admitted) has stayed on staff to become a peer mentor presenter/counselor; another has been transitioned into the Hopeful Way Oxford House and another is in After Care while living at his family’s home. The Board of Directors for the House of St. Francis has finally been established and there now is a collaborative effort towards adjusting and improving on what has been started at the House of St. Francis.  The Oxford House at Oyarifa is currently at 9 members thanks in part to the House of St. Francis.  More will be revealed.

Back at the ranch in the US, I had the pleasure of visiting the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery (CSAR) at Texas Tech University in Lubbock TX. I had the opportunity to talk with various faculty members regarding internships, family programs to implement, and ideas regarding the pursuit of funding and donors for our projects in Ghana.  I also had the pleasure of being the quest speaker at the Celebration of Recovery meeting at the center.  

During the next two months in the US, I plan to visit various facilities and persons on the east coast to propagate the recovery movement in Ghana and try to gain some support from these institutions and private individuals in long term treatment of recovery. I plan to return to Ghana mid to end of April 2013 to continue my mission work of recovery with emphasis on establishing a women’s Oxford House and treatment section or center for women.  In closing, I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be of maximum service to God and in position to help other people help themselves.