Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) South Africa will be celebrating 75 years on October 18.
This NPO, which is run by its members voluntarily, has helped thousands of South Africans recover from alcoholism over the past 75 years.
On any day or night of the year, those seeking help from the awful grip of alcoholism will find the help of AA at the end of a phone line, in AA meetings in cities and towns across the country, and online via Zoom or WhatsApp.
Founded 11 years after AA was established in the United States of America in 1935, AA South Africa has a proud heritage of helping those seeking to overcome their issues with alcohol.
Trustee on the board of AA South Africa Joe P said their 75th jubilee will kick off with a nationwide Zoom meeting on October 18. The meeting is open to all alcoholics in the country and other counterparts around the world.
“The meeting will be followed by virtual and physical events that adhere to the protocol of Covid-19’s safety measures. Given the anonymity of the fellowship, most of the events will be for AA members only,” said Joe P.
“From that date until October 18, 2022, our diamond jubilee year will be packed with physical and virtual events – just one of the highlights being the AA National Convention in Cape Town from August 15 to 17, 2022.”
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The origins of AA in SA
“It’s an interesting one and is best represented by the following anecdote,” said Joe P.
In 1946 Reader’s Digest published an article entitled My Return from The Half-World Of Alcoholism.
The article had been extracted from an American AA publication titled The AA Grapevine.
This story was responsible for two separate inquiries from South Africans who had little or no control over their alcohol consumption.
The first occurred in an unrecorded month in 1946. Solomon M, a black translator at the Johannesburg Law Courts, was hungover and wandering the streets of Alexandra township, when he found a copy of Reader’s Digest containing the above-mentioned article in an overflowing rubbish bin, which he took home as he had nothing else to read.
That incident was about to change his life forever. His last bender had brought him and his family to the brink of starvation. Having nothing better to do, he paged through Reader’s Digest and found this article on an organisation called Alcoholics Anonymous.
This appeared to be the answer to his prayers. At last Solomon M had found something that had given him hope.
He hurried back to his one-roomed shack and immediately wrote to the address given in the article. He soon had a reply, which included extracts from the AA Big Book.
This information enabled him to acquire and maintain sobriety.
Solomon M became the first member of AA in the country; he never started a group but remained sober for many years.
On October 14, 1946, a group of prominent Johannesburg residents helped a man by the name of Arthur S, an alcoholic stockbroker, to start the very first meeting of AA.
Arthur S was the second person to write to AA and subsequently, finding help and sobriety. Because Solomon M never started an AA meeting, it is this later date that is recognised as the official beginning of AA in South Africa.
Those interested, as well as those seeking assistance, can visit the website to learn more about alcoholism and AA’s solution: www.aasouthafrica.org.za or Facebook: Alcoholics Anonymous South Africa or use their national helpline number 0861 HELP AA (435722).
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