The third Asia-Pacific Unity conference took place on Sunday April 25, 2021. The real purpose of this one-day conference is carrying the message and strengthening small groups through unity with others.
Our Hungarian fellowship was established in September 2019 on the closing day of the SA conference held in Budapest. The determination and enthusiasm that set us on the road is still with us to this day.
Dear Members of SA, Have you heard of the SA Board of Trustees? Do you have any idea what service the Trustees provide our fellowship? Have you ever thought that you might be a candidate to serve as a Trustee? Whatever your answers to these questions, we invite you to read on and learn more about this particular service opportunity.
In 2005, my AA sponsor told me: “I found the solution for you, SA has arrived in Venezuela.” He put me in contact with a member who had several copies of the White Book. I read it in one sitting, from beginning to end, and totally identified.
When I came into the program about ten years ago, there wasn’t much Persian-translated SA literature. We didn’t have any translation of the SA White Book yet. This led to an imperfect understanding of the Sobriety Definition, which caused our fellowship to have loose or erroneous interpretations of it for many years.
The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way members connect with each other. Where once a long-established home group might receive an occasional visit from an out-of-town member, nowadays members routinely pick and choose meetings from across the globe, “Zooming” or dialing in at the touch of a button. While this technology is a blessing, there are concerns that it might undermine the familiar structure of the SA fellowship; concerns too that this technology can be open to misuse.
It all started over nine years ago but that story is for another day. Fast forward to about one year ago. Let’s say from the start that this whole story was inspired by an Amazing Loving Higher power. Three members of the Australian Newcastle Monday night Beginners Group formed a SA Prison Committee.
The very first 100% online SA/S-Anon International Convention took place from Jan 22 till 24 and was an incredible event gathering fellows from all over the world. There were 955 SA registrants, and 685 S-Anons and 12 S-Ateens, which makes it the biggest IC in our SA history!
In the last few months, paradoxically because of the terrible pandemic, more members in India (and other “remote” places) are able to join international meetings on platforms like Zoom. This allows newcomers to see “how it’s done” from members with experience around the world.
The Spanish SA Winter Convention had a strong focus on staying sober with panelists from all over the Spanish-speaking world, among whom old-timer Harvey A. who shared his invigorating joy with us.
