Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our experience of working with therapists, counselors, the church, and others. It has been quite a journey since we Nairobi members began meeting in our venue nine years ago. It is a room at a church; during weekdays, the room is used as a gym. We have a physical meeting on Saturdays, while we meet online during the week. We use SA and AA literature: the White Book, Step into Action, the AA Big Book, and sometimes the 12&12.

For the two years approx of Covid, we could not meet in our room so we had our meetings outside, on church grounds, drawing some benches together. There were times when meeting like this distracted from the focus on recovery.

Beyond Covid, there was the challenge that church service was on the same day as our meetings and this made access to our room difficult.

We usually give a small amount of money to the church for allowing us to use their room.

Many members have joined in the last nine years. Some have stayed with us all that time. We have members sponsoring each other. Sobriety is taking root. Members help out in various service positions.

Thank God, one of the staff members in the church has been very supportive in helping us get back to our room. We tried getting a room in other churches but they don’t appear to be ready to support the SA message at this time. Several therapists and counselors have sent clients to us and, by working the SA program, they are managing to stay sober.

Carolyne K., Kenya