In the Spring of 2001, a fellow was struggling with staying sober from lust. He had tried many ways to stop, including using spiritual tools—but he could not stop. Then in the Fall of 2002 he met another man who also wanted to stop.

These two men resolved to try to stay clean, so they started talking about their thoughts and supporting each other. They knew about Twelve Step programs and applied the Twelve Steps in an attempt to stop lusting. They also began looking for others who were suffering from the same illness. For the first time they began sharing their problem with people they knew. Within a month, they found two other fellows who had the same struggles, and they decided to form a recovery group.

On March 11, 2003, four men started a meeting in a park in Shiraz, without any pamphlet or brochure. At first there was much fear and shame, because these men were talking about issues they had never talked about before. But the meeting was quite effective.

Soon, the first member talked with his sponsor from another Twelve Step program, and that sponsor told him about SA. He then searched the Internet and found the SA fellowship. He then emailed SAICO and reported that there were four men in Shiraz suffering from lust, and that they needed guidance.

Within three days, he received an email reply—in Persian—from a member saying that he would help them. He was an Iranian man who had been in SA for three years. SAICO also sent some pamphlets and other materials, including the format for SA meetings.

We could never have imagined what has happened since then. Today, twelve years after that initial meeting, we have more than 1,500 members, seven Intergroups, and 99 meetings in many cities around the country.

Just last month, in May 2014, the General Delegate Assembly recognized us as the “Persian-Speaking Region” of SA. We are happy to become a Region and we want to carry this message to bordering countries where there are also Persian-speaking sexaholics seeking a way out. And just this month we published 5,000 copies of the White Book in Persian.

Here in Iran, as all over the world, our old-timers help others to stay sober and seek help in gaining victory over lust. Every three months we hold a national group-conscience meeting in Tehran to help us improve our fellowship and serve the newcomer. We appreciate having this fellowship in our country. All of this has happened only by the grace of God.

We’ve maintained contact with long-sober members outside Iran in order to bring the original SA message to our members. We’ve launched and maintained a successful national website and we hold seven Skype meetings per week as well as a WECHAT meeting.

Currently, we are in need of:

• An SA Twelve Traditions Book, to replace the AA or NA books that we currently use.
• Workshops for members who are doing service at the Intergroup and national level, like the one held in Istanbul in December 2013.

We are grateful for all the support from the SA fellowship as we carry the message in Iran and surrounding countries.