We Lost Delali

Today, June 14, 2014, the 39 year old Delali S. was laid to rest at a service held at City God Church in Accra, Ghana.  The hundreds of mourners included seven from the House of St. Francis (HSF) family.  Delali had been a much loved resident and alumni of the HSF for over a year; he passed away on May 3 after an illness which got the best of him.  A generous and gifted person “with a high IQ, exceptional talents and excellent human relation skills”, Delali will be greatly missed.  The pastor at today’s service said: “This is the most honest funeral that I have ever attended. The family asked for forgiveness for the shortcomings of Delali; The Lord says ‘I like that’”.   

 

The program for the funeral paid tribute to Delali’s many achievements and went on to say: “The last 15 years of his life, Delali battled with dependence on Pethidine, a painkiller belonging to the Opiate family.  This very powerful painkiller was used in treating the pain of sickle cell borne pain crisis from is teens.  He struggled with this dependence for about five years before it came to the family’s notice.  Over the past ten years he gave a good fight.  Those of us who cared about him felt he should have fought harder but alas we don’t understand the hold of addiction over a person’s life.  The last two years of his life, he found a new family in the House of St. Francis, a rehab house for people with drug dependency problems.  They were a superb family!  They accepted him as one of their own and their rehab programme brought Delali a renewed sense of dignity and self-worth.  He also drew closer to God while there.”  For more information see tributes at “rememberingdela.com”. 

Dr. Gerald Marti Visits Ghana

Dr. Gerald Marti Visits Ghana

 

Hopeful Way Foundation/Recovery Africa was privileged to host Dr. Gerald Marti to Ghana from 10 – 23 May, 2014.  Dr. Marti has a long career of working with various forms of addiction and the organizations in the U.S. which are involved with prevention, treatment and recovery.  His visit did much to enrich recovery work and to carry the message of recovery in Ghana.  As detailed in his report, Dr. Marti participated in over 10 meetings and training sessions during his visit.  He often said that “I came to Ghana to learn, to find out how lesions learned in the U.S. could benefit Ghana; how recovery in North America could benefit experiences in Ghana”.  He believes that lessons learned from the long time use of marijuana in Ghana could be of use in seeing how the legalization of Marijuana in the U.S. may have unexpected results.  He believes that the recovery movements in Ghana and the U.S. could benefit from closer collaboration. 

 

At a meeting with the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), officials expressed a particular interest in obtaining research findings on the effectiveness of drug courts in the U.S.  They explained to Dr. Marti their interest in examining the feasibility of establishing such courts in Ghana.  Dr. Marti also conducted four training sessions for the staff of Pantang Psychiatric Hospital and their drug and alcohol Treatment Center.  Various aspects of treatment and recovery were discussed, with emphasis on the need for after care follow-up programs.  Meetings at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and Valley View Clinic provided opportunities for explaining about the House of St. Francis and Oxford House.  In his presentation at the University of Ghana’s Psychiatric Department, Dr. Marti expressed his wish that Ghana and the U.S. could learn by exchanging recovery experiences. 

 

An important part of Dr. Marti’s visit to Ghana consisted of three Back to Basics training sessions conduced for the staff and clients of the House of St. Francis.  He also shared his experiences at a HSF family meeting with over 50 clients and family members present.  Counseling and the hearing of 5^th steps was well received.  In a visit to the Kuo Tufo Oxford House and treatment center in Kukurantuim, Dr. Gerald provided valuable information on the medical and twelve-step aspects of treatment and recovery. 

 

Reflecting on his visit to Ghana, Dr. Gerald said that he “liked the people, their culture, their food and the market places”.  On a more important note he was impressed by the grasp of the 12^th step in their recovery programs.  Ghanaians I recovery seemed to intuitively know that they had to give it away in order to keep it.  To that end, several individuals are planning on returning to their home areas to start 12 step meetings in order to maintain their sobriety and to carry the massage.  Very impressive.   

Lonnetta Albright Supports Recovery in Africa

Great Lakes ATTC – Great Lakes ATTC – Lonnetta Albright is Executive Director of the Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center at the University of Illinois /Jane Addams College of Social Work. Her regional ATTC leads the ATTC Network in Recovery-Oriented System Transformation efforts. She led the 2008 NIATx-ATTC pilot with the Detroit ROSC provider network as well as other county, state, regional and national ROSC transformation efforts. Under a PEPFAR sub-grant she led her ATTC’s ROSC efforts in Tanzania, Africa to train and build capacity within the substance use disorders systems and recovery community. During her 15 year tenure with the ATTC she chaired the National ATTC Criminal Justice committee; NIDA/SAMHSA-ATTC Blending Team to disseminate research results from the Motivational Incentives for Enhanced Drug Abuse Recovery, and is past co-chair of the ATTC Recovery Committee. “What I believe really helps people, families and communities achieve recovery-health-wellness is essentially what they tell us works. Recovery is personal, transformative and it depends on the entire community (formal and informal networks). I personally witnessed this as the daughter of a recovering alcoholic father who in partnership with his family, friends, employer and community enjoyed over 30 years in recovery prior to his passing at 92 years of age. Rather than focusing solely on evidence based clinical practices that revolve exclusively around treatment, government, health care and research entities our ATTC broadens its mission to include dissemination of emerging models and promising practices for designing and delivering recovery support services; leadership development and capacity building within the recovery community; and developing recovery community organizations.”

Janis is part of the Recovery Africa Family

Janis Omide says that I am a person who was “called” to help people recover from the disease of addiction.  I was introduced to the alcohol/drug treatment “field” in the 90’s and witnessed it grow into a profession.  I have a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling for addiction, and I am a certified substance abuse counselor.  However, my most valued accomplishment has been learning and living the 12-steps of recovery.  My greatest reward comes from witnessing the transformation of others in body, mind and spirit.  I am interested in Recovery Africa because I witnessed Byron Merriweather struggle in his addiction and grow in his recovery—and he invited me to the team.  I support the late Father Martin’s goal:  to ease the suffering of individuals and families, around the world, affected by addiction. I see Recovery Africa (RA) as the pioneer for providing leadership and resources for addiction treatment, prevention and recovery for African stakeholders wanting to address problems faced by people in need of treatment for addiction. 
Using a network of professionals and evidence-based resources from The United States, RA will be able to share proven programs, policies, information, data and funding to help implement effective programs in Africa—while acting on the disease-model and knowledge that treatment is effective, prevention works, and people recover.

Dr. Gerald Marti Going to Ghana in May

Dr. Marti is a MD, PhD; a physician scientist (hematologist) who spent the last 30 years in the US PHS at the NIH and FDA studying hematological malignancy. As part of his recovery program, as a physician he was directed to become a member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). As a member of the Maryland ASAM chapter, he has primarily focused his efforts in the area of continuing medical education. Currently as president of the Maryland ASAM chapter he has become involved in the issues surrounding medical marijuana and medical health parity. His interests include smoking cessation, screening, brief intervention and referral treatment (SBIRT), the use of naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension for the treatment of alcoholism, the scientific basis for 12-step programs and medical student education in the field of alcoholism and addiction. Dr. Marti plans to go to Ghana for ten days in May and will meet with Ghanaian professionals regarding the addiction and treatment of health care workers in the U.S. Dr. While in Ghana, Marti is prepared to share his experiences in treating addiction to heroine and cocaine in the U.S. which involves stabilization, withdrawal, treatment and relapse prevention.  

Oxford House in Kukurantumi

Report from Koo Tufoo Oxford House, Kukurantumi

There are currently three men in the Oxford House here. The house opened officially January 17^th and the residents are doing well. One of the men arrived in poor health, but due to improved nutrition and medical care is currently doing quite well. In fact, he is the first one up now in the morning to do daily chores.

The men have two meetings daily, morning and evening, and a two hour session using Larry Gaines’ Recovery Dynamics text. The evening meeting is an open meeting and one man from the town comes regularly. Kwabena D. teaches the Recovery Dynamics text, and chairs the evening meeting. Moses chairs the morning meeting. We have had several inquiries from nearby New Tafo and Koforidua. Actually, people have told us they are coming, but then didn’t show up. We expect one individual to follow through. There are rooms available for women in the compound, but to date, none have come.

The translation of the “Big Book” Alcoholics Anonymous into Twi is almost complete. It is being reviewed by a translator at the University of Ghana. She should finish soon, and then the text will be sent to the WSO in New York City for final approval, and then they will provide funds to print 2,000 copies. There is some interest in holding an AA meeting in Koforidua, but again we need to identify individuals there who will be interested and committed to attending.

Association of Recovery Schools & Recovery Africa

Association of Recovery Schools – Kristen Harper M.Ed., LCDC is the Executive Director of the Association of Recovery Schools (ARS) and a person living in long-term recovery (Est. 2001). ARS supports existing as well as emerging recovery high school programs by providing schools with an optional accreditation process and best practices trainings. Kristen is pursuing a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration at Texas Tech University, where she was the Collegiate Recovery Communities (CRC) Replication Coordinator for the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery over the past three years. Prior to joining Tech, she founded a CRC at Georgia Southern University in 2008. One of the most rewarding project Kristen has been working on in addition to school and career is the Recovery Africa effort that the Hopeful Way Foundation is leading in West Africa. She has been to Ghana three times over the past three years to spread the message of recovery and hope to Ghanaian addicts and their families. "Every time I go to Ghana, I am reminded of how it must have been in the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1930's. I am so grateful for the unique opportunity to serve in such an amazing country!”