IN THE CURRENT MAGAZINE

My name is Mervat, and I am a recovering sexaholic, or to be more precise, a lustaholic, from Egypt. I walked through the valley of the shadow of Death—or Lust—since I was a four-year-old. My full-throttle sexual acting-out started when I was 18 years old. I lived in that Lust Valley for more than 3 decades, not knowing the wages I had to pay: my life. It was a miracle that I found SA because all I wanted was to live.

While participating in a Twelve-Step workshop last weekend, I had the opportunity to share my experience, strength, and hope on the topic of forgiveness. After the workshop, I was asked to write down my share for the ESSAY magazine, which follows here:

I am Colombian but currently living in Germany. I registered for the Ukrainian convention the very first day I saw the flyer. I remember that day as I felt sad about not being able to attend the convention in my home country, Colombia, which coincidentally was scheduled for the same weekend. So, without hesitation, I filled out the form and attended my first SA convention!

Many fellows from all over the world were deeply saddened by the news that oldtimer Dave T. had passed away. He had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer but it didn’t seem anything was imminent at the time.

David M., my grandpa sponsor, just passed away after struggling with cancer for some years. You would never guess he had cancer because he never complained. For me, he was the embodiment of Tradition Two, “Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.”

In my high school there were a lot of international exchange students. I remember people from all around the world coming to Italy with summer clothes even if it was autumn or winter! The same happens when we Northern Italians go to the central or the southern part of the country. Why am I telling you this? In Italy we had a recovery weekend in Rome at the beginning of November. It rained during our incredible walk through the Roman Hills! We thought we could find hot weather, but the only thing that was hot was the radiator.