The Growth of NA in Iran this is pretty cool

[Moontime]

A request was made for me to send out a bulk mailing of all the reports
from NA World Services visit/travel throughout IRAN. It is truly
interesting and feel free to send it to all you friends and so forth.

Keep in mind that there is no A.A. in Iran, so the fellowship growth is so
stunning because this is their first exposure to the 12 steps. As well
as
the Iranian government named N.A. as the best non-government
organization. That is equivilent to the US Senate recognizing A.A. back
in the 50's as a successful treatment for alcoholism.

When I went to California in April, they had 4,200 meetings ...... when I
went to the World Wide Workshop in New Orleans (I'm the Florida AD
for those you that don't know)
at the end of September, Becky reported
they had over 6,000 meetings, let's see what happens as a result of this
trip.

Becky, Anthony and Tom may be the only three Americans in Iran. Just
amazing stuff.


Bob L
__________________________________________________ _________

#4 REPORT FROM IRAN

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Day 13
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We are by the Caspian Sea, just finished a 7 hour
workshop in a city I cant pronounce let alone spell,
The location was definitely an inner city experience,
and again it was packed, at least 350 or more people.
These workshops have been held on weekdays, workdays for
these guys and yet they come and they stay until its all
done. I cant tell you how much I love these people,
Polite,
my god, thoughtful, you wouldn't believe how considerate
they are, I believe this is the way Iranian's are. Its
an old old old culture and there are some very beautiful
things about it.

So we are by the Caspian Sea, I didn't know but its
really a salt water lake, The biggest in the world and
it boarders five other countries including Russia. The
drive to here took 5 hours and was breathtaking, up
over a snow covered mountain range and across a
massive dam the feeds all of Tehran, the dam and
the roads were quite an engineering feat. Again the
driving and the traffic had me puckering at both ends.
They will pass on blind
turns, and over come 5 cars at
a time to pass with on coming traffic,the roads were so
narrow at places with share cliffs. It takes over three
hours to get through the pass and an accident would shut
this pass down for the day.

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I forgot to mention that Anthony and I had gone to famous
mosque and shine while we were in Mashhad last week,
I don't believe I have ever seen anything as beautiful.
I have seen a lot of beautiful things, this was really
pretty indescribable. The whole mosque covered at least
one square mile, we got there about an hour before the
call to prayer. they were rolling huge Persian carpet
out over the marble floors, I am talking hundreds of
carpets, thousands of people, families and old people
were pouring in from all directions. We didn't get to
see how the call went because as soon as the sun set
you couldn't move and we would of been stuck there
for a long time. The out side was just
gorgeous,
towering domes made of pure gold, beautiful ceramics
and marble inlays everywhere. Going inside the mosque
was like entering another world, of course no
photographing was allowed and one would have to have
their head examined to even think of treating that
place with anything other than with the up most
reverence and respect.

I felt a little uneasy being there like I had no
business there, we moved through crowds of people
praying and doing their rituals kissing doors as
they passed through, touching things in ways you
knew were meaningful to them, there was one room
where there was a tomb, it was the tomb of
the
Imam Reza, the eighth of the Shiite Imams, of which the
mosque and shine was dedicated build for. I don't know
that much about Islam, but from was explained to me
Mohammed had only one daughter and no sons, the
daughter got married to Alli who was Mohammed's
cousin, they had 12 sons, of which one mysteriously
disappeared, they believe he was brought to Heaven
much like what Christianity believes happened to Jesus
and He will one day return. ( I hope I didn't mess
this description up, please for give me anyone who
is Muslim if I didn't get it exactly right ) As each
one of the Sons died a holy place was built in their
honor, many Muslims believe that at these shrines
miracles happen all the time, so people will bring
their sick and dying their afflicted and blind and
they would get as close to this tomb as they could
and stay as long as they could. There are tons of
stories about people being miraculously cured. We
didn't get very close to the Tomb as it was mobbed
with people climbing the tomb hollering prayers and
throwing money into the tomb, it was pretty wild and
chaotic for our standards.

All the time we were walking through the mosque no
ever one looked up at us and stared, you sort of knew
they knew who you were, but you never got the feeling
that they
resented you being there. Anthony is a big
black man and me a white balding Irish guy, we definitely
stood out. This was not a tourist spot and it is unusual
for westerners to be there. We were with five NA members.
I really wish I could describe what it looked like in there,
the ceilings and walls floors and everything, I have been to
the Vatican and many great cathedrals, Buddhist and
Hindu
temples and none of it comes close to this. I can only imagine
what some of the other great shines in Islam are like. I feel
sort of dumb as a westerner not really haven known any of this.
As we were walking through the mosque we ran into an NA member
who was from the Caspian Sea area and visiting Mashhad, he had
come to the shrine to pray. It seems every where we go we were
running into NA members.The bazaars the airports on the streets.

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One of the members in Tehran was telling us before
he found NA he tried everything to stop using. He had
walked all the way to Mashhad four different times
in
hopes of a healing from his addiction, it would take
him 10 days by foot, It is supposed to be common for
Muslims to do things like this, it is their belief
that they would receive a miracle. I asked him if he
brought any drugs with him for the trip and said "of
course , what you think? I would be going through
withdrawals on the road ?" We all laughed.

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When we got to the Caspian sea the members that lived
there told us that the member we had run into at the
mosque in Mashhad had gone to the tomb, he saw a young
man tied to the
tomb with ropes and two large men
guarding him so he wouldn't run away, when asked why
he was tied to the tomb they told him his parents had
him brought there in hope that a miracle would happen
and he would be free from his drug addiction, the NA
member talked to him and ended up bringing him to an
NA meeting. As of this date he has 7 days clean.

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NA is where Miracles happen everyday!

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We are back in Tehran, Piet from Sweden is here at
the hotel, so we have another member of the world
board with us, He will be with us for the next ten
days, Tonia from Greece will be here in a few days,
she is also a member of the world board and she and
Becky will be doing some workshops for the woman.
There is usually a dozen or more woman at all the
workshops, it seems after a while they loosen up
with us and you start to get the feeling that under
the veil an addict is an addict is an addict. But
Islamic law is tough on them and they have a rough
rode. Becky did one workshop in Mashhad for the woman
while Anthony and I went to the mosque and she said
their were over 70 woman there. At one time I heard
an estimate
of about 2,500 woman in NA in Iran. There
is an increasing move to segregate for woman to have
their own meetings.

Tomorrow was supposed to be our first day off in 14
days. But an appointment with the United Nations Drug
Control office in Tehran has been arranged for us, we
cant very well say no. So we will see how that goes
tomorrow, I am sure its going to be a meet and greet
visit and another opportunity to connect NA's name to
some of the people who can open doors for us.
__________________________________________________ ____________
ANOTHER NOTE FROM MIDDLE EAST
Apparently NAWS will be visiting the several countries in the Middle East in
addition to their extended trip to Iran. See e-mail cc: to me below:


Dear Friends,

NA in the UAE will be holding a workshop on Monday 27 November in Dubai. It will
start at 4.30 pm and finish late.

If you are in the UAE or want to get here, please email or call me
(00971504162857) if you need any more information.

Becky from NAWS and Tom from the World Board will be running the workshop.

It will be a great opportunity to meet friends from the region and two oldtimers
who are dedicated to our fellowship.

Love in fellowship,
Lisa

----------------------

NOTE: FYI, UAE stands for United Arab Emirites. The UAE is the westernized
country of those located in the Gulf States (Persian Gulf Country).

__________________________________________________

REPORT #3

Another report from Iran........... very few people in the United States have this experience of communicating with people in Iran.


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"YOU ARE MY BELIEF"
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Yesterday Anthony and I went to Qom. Its was suggested that Becky did not come as she might draw too much attention. Qom is the most important place for Shi'ite Islam. It is supposed be considered the Vatican of the Shiites. We drove there early in the morning and were met with 400 members. the workshop was supposed to be 200 but many of the members just came, we worked it out although that is a huge group to facilitate, the enthusiasm was wonderful, many of them were just happy they could meet members of their world services. At one point a very large man came up to me and hugged me and looked me straight in the eye and said "you are my belief." I can not begin to tell you what it feels like to have someone with such deep sincerity place their love for the fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous on you like that. You know its not about you and yet your the channel they want to express this though.
It was a long day and we had a long drive back to Tehran, exhausted I hit the bed, up at 6:00 AM to get ready to facilitate another series of workshops with a group of doctors and the local fellowship PR/PI committee..It was a great success and the beginning of a cooperative relationship between these professionals and the NA fellowship in Iran.
Tomorrow we will do a series of workshops with the Tehran Area and the following day we have 3 Areas coming into Tehran from different parts of the country where we wont be able to go because of time restraints. Some how we are able to keep up with the pace and stay present. Our hotel is comfortable and we have Wi-Fi, cant ask for more.
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The Tehran workshops were different than Mashhad and Qom, I suspect its going to be that way as we travel, each Area has its own personality. Tehran tended to be looser and a little wilder, I could joke around more and they would get it, The workshop was held in south Tehran, which be like Venice Calif or lower manhattan NYC, my kind of people. Both workshops had close to 400 members.
The streets were crazy, and the traffic actually was worse, I could spend a page describing what the traffic is like here, all I can say is buckle up and know God is in charge, the exhaust is over whelming and you pretty much have to keep your windows up, we came up along side of a truck yesterday and as he turned his exhaust pipe was pointing straight at us, he hit the gas and blew a cloud of smoke straight into our car. It was so thick you couldn't see. Traffic comes from every direction, up one way streets in the opposite ways in the roundabouts, left hand turns from right hand lanes, u-turns where ever and when ever you want. Everyone drives aggressively but they don't seem too pissed off. Its life in Tehran.
The Workshops in Tehran were held at a state run Orphanage. As I have said I don't know that much about the Islamic culture but from what I was told they provide wonderful social services, I guess the workshops we had with the doctors would be a good indication of how much they care.
But I got to meet all the children, they were just gorgeous, I showed them some magic tricks and they were thrilled, they all put their hands to their hearts and said "Salome Tom" as I left, I got a few good pictures that I will cherish.
Anthony left last night, I think he was looking forward to getting back home and tending to the office, also he and Bea celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary two days ago so and he was feeling bad he was not there.
Becky and I will leave for the Caspian Sea Area today with Siamak and translators and helpers, You would not believe how much support we have had putting on these workshops, how completely organized and efficient they are. These guys are serious about being in service. So far we have work shopped and trained over 1000 trusted servants and got them to address the issues that most affect them and come up with solutions and strategies that will work best for them. They are very smart and once they get it they take off with it. Its really a joy to see it happen. This is NA moneys at work, its Seventh tradition, its Twelfth Step in action. We should all be proud at what NA is doing through Narcotics Anonymous World Services.
We do a lot straw polls to get an idea of what is working or not working with these Areas, when do the section on Sponsorship we ask how many have a sponsor? The response is nearly 100% the same with how many are sponsors, you have to realize this is a fellowship that is really only 14 - 16 years old and most of the members at these workshops are 1 to 6 years clean, when asked how many sponsor 5 people about half the room raises their hands, about a third sponsor 10 and a hand full more will sponsor 15 and more. those are some significant stats compared to what we would see with the same polls taken in most US communities.
Not sure what the Internet connections will be like in the next couple of days so I am going to send this off now. I have received so many responses from these little updates from members I have never met who have had these forwarded to them and I want to say thanks for all the prayers and support, we appreciate it. I am glad to be able to do it, I know this is the kind of stuff our fellowship loves to know about and its my hope that they will know this is their work being done that those of us on this travel team are but representatives Our Primary Purpose and Vision Statement
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NA in the Middle East #2 update
I have to be one of the luckiest people in the world to have this experience, We arrived in Mashad, greeted at the airport by 15 members. Again they said our arrival time was a secret as several hundred members would of shown up. This all sounded a little exaggerated but then we were told they were going to have a meeting tonight and wanted us to be the speakers. We arrived a block or so from the meeting and were told we have to wait in the car until 9:00. Then they drove us through a maze of cars and into a huge auditorium where there were over 3000 members sitting on the floor a big banner at the back room that said welcome NA world services we love you. It was just amazing. I didn't feel overwhelmed but more humbled by the spirit by which they were all there.
We all shared for about 20-30 minutes each with interpreters. you could hear a pin drop in the room they were so quiet and attentive. We were told if they had more time to plan there would of been several thousand more, but to expect that in next city's we visit as word gets out.
Its absolutely astonishing.
There were several rows of woman in the back of the room, Becky shared as a woman with 27 years clean, you can only imagine the impact that had. When we spoke and said how long we were clean they all chanted out something in Farsi that I later found out meant "and may nothing ever take it from you"
We were told we would have to be whisked out of the auditorium as we will be (lovingly) mobbed by the members, everyone wanting to hug us and have their pictures taken, it would of taken hours and could be a bit dangerous for us and the crowd its self. For NA that is bazaar to even think we could be treated like that but we were told to forget it, the fellowship is going to want us to be special and they are going to treat us like rock stars weather we like it or not. This only tells me how important their connection to the rest of NA is to them, we are symbolic of their Unity to NA as a whole and to have members from their world services and the united states is huge for them.
For them to see members with 27, 28, and 37 years clean shows what they can look forward to, These are times when you just have to accept that our higher power is going to use us in a temporary role that might feel awkward but is a role you have to accept.
The next we conducted the first of a series of work shops that we will be doing all month through out Iran, there were 215 members from the Mashad Area, all of them were Group Service Representatives or Area and Metro committee members. I have been to a lot of workshop in NA and pretty much know the challenges of keeping a roomful of addicts focused. Many times a third of the room will have faded off halfway through the day. These guys were amazing, they were so into it. I was surprised at the grasp they have on the principles and the service structure and how quickly they adapted to the tools we utilize in these workshops.
Even with 200 members it is a bit over whelming when they get a chance to get up close, everyone wants to hug you kiss you on the cheek or neck, they absolutely swam you, some grabbing at your arms some pulling you, everyone wanting to get their photograph with you or get you to sign their books. They didn't want a recovery greeting in their books they just wanted a large sweeping signature that really was like a scribble. This is their culture and this is what makes them happy and is important to them. I feel a little weird reporting it as I know some of you are going to think (What the F). What ever happened to humble anonymous service. I can only assure this is just as weird for us. The energy can suck you dry, and by the time we hit our hotels we are wiped out, and this is only day four.
Tonight we get back into Tehran at midnight, probably get to bed at one or two AM, then we start a series of meetings with various Iranian health and addiction agencies beginning at 8:30 AM and this will go on for two days. On the 7th Anthony and I will travel to Qom, (the Islamic equivalent of the Catholic Vatican. As a woman Becky is urged not to go. We will do a workshop there. On the 8th more PR meetings, then a series of workshops in Tehran with the local fellowship.
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Before we left Mashad we went to a Bazaar, as we were driving through the streets we would see groups of students marching with flags and banners, Siamak told us they were celebrating the Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and the over throw of the American Embassy 27 years ago. For some reason I assumed there more Americans in Iran for various reasons like business or other NGO's but the reality is we could very well be three of the only Americans in Iran.
I asked if maybe I blended in, I was assured I didn't But here is the feeling you get here, We have only been greeted with kindness, smiles, friendly glances and in some occasions people from the streets going out of their way to assist us and once they know we are Americans they welcome us and hope we have a pleasant stay. The Iranian people are some of the warmest sweetest people I have ever met.
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The work shop with the doctors and health providers was very productive, Anthony did a great presentation about our fellowship and we fielded various question that pertinent to this group of professionals but not that unusual as to the questions we would receive any where else. The purpose and theme of the workshop was to build a cooperative relationships with these professionals and the local NA fellowship. After our penetration we had round table discussions that comprised of the doctors and the local public relations committee (PI) members .It was fabulous to see them all working together.
None of this would be possible with out the relationship the Iranian fellowship has had with the Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies and the two doctors who have befriended us.
__________________________________________________ _______
UPDATE #1
NA in the Middle East as of yesterday.
UPDATES FROM MIDDLE EAST - WORLD SERVICES TRIP TO IRAN
I will be forwarding these emails when received unless you inform me you don't want them. Tom will write and send them when possible. Please refrain from writing Tom, as he is very busy and Internet access isn't so simple their. You can foreword them to other interested NA members if you'd like, a form of sharing....
All the best,
Shmuel/Stephen (member who got clean in Ft. Lauderdale in 1983, he now lives in Israel)
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Hello everyone
Here I go with another one of those travelogues. This trip like the trip earlier this year is going to be long, hopefully I will be a able to share with you some mental snapshots and impressions. of a country few will ever have the opportunity to visit. At least for now.
Why Iran?
For those of you who don't know about what is happening here with the Narcotics Anonymous fellowship I will give you a brief synopsis.
NA has been in Iran for a number of years. We knew it was growing but we had no real idea how much, we could see progress in the number of translations of the literature and we knew they had a working service structure in place. Although there's been quite a bit of activity in the Middle East for some reason Iran seemed to be more quiet than the rest of the communities.
About 4 years ago the Iranians wrote a letter to WSO asking for some guidance on the traditions, The President of Iran wanted to recognize and give the NA fellowship an award for the best NGO (non governmental organization). the members were concerned that this might violate the traditions. We assured them so long as the it was accepted on behalf of Narcotics Anonymous is was ok. But what really got our attention was they said the president was going to it at one of their conventions and they were they were expecting 14,000 members to be in attendance. That's bigger than the largest regional convention in the US. We thought surely they are exaggerating. But shortly after we saw photographs of a sports arena filled to capacity.
Since then the WSO communication with Iran increased and we sent two members of the World board who live in Europe to Tehran to see first hand what was up. They came back with a report and photos that were astonishing, exciting and really pretty mind boggling.
The fellowship has upwards to 80,000 members and new meeting starting every month. Hopefully before this trip is over I will be able to give you some estimates on the number of groups and how many cities have NA meetings.
In order to provide services and distribution of our Literature and merchandize we have opened a branch office of the WSO in Tehran and have hired staff. Fortunately the members in Iran have an abundance of well qualified members who we could choose from to head up the operations..
I am going to be traveling with Anthony and Becky our executive director and assistant executive director, Two more members from our world board, Piet from Sweden and Tonia from Greece will be joining us along the way. Its going to be a fabulous team and from what we understand the fellowship is excited about our visit, we were told our arrival date and time is a secret because if it got out there would several hundred members at the airport to greet us at 2:30 in the morning.
What we will be doing is holding workshops through out Iran and meeting with as many of the areas as we can, We will be doing some PR work with various government and non government agencies and completing some of the legal requirements as well as contracts with local venders etc.
Our schedule is going to be aggressive to say the least, I am sure we are going to asked to speak a lot, the typical meetings are 2-3 hundred members. We will be crisscrossing the country for the next 27 days and then fly to Dubai to do another set of workshops after we leave Iran. I should be home by December 1st.
Email might be difficult, the Iranian government filters the Internet which will make it hard to just go line and send these updates out. I usually use AOL but will have to use my Tommyc...@gmail.com<mailto:Tommyc...@gmail.com> account to send this off in the future.
So keep us in your prayers for the work we will be doing. I have no apprehensions for our safety, I believe we be well taken care of and very welcomed. Its kind of nice to be able to put a positive spin on Iran, as I said on my last trip "the people the people" I am so grateful our traditions keeps us out politics and religion. love Tom
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Arrived at 3:00 AM, customs and immigration was pleasant, we were greeted with sincere smiles, Siamak and four other members were there to greet us, bless them they stayed up so late. Siamak is our office manager in Iran and just a sweet heart of a man. They have been busy, busy, busy, making arrangements for us.
Tehran is huge, The city at 3:00 AM was still bustling, during the day the traffic is as bad as it can get, a cross city trip can take two hours.
The flight was packed, it felt good to get comfortable with the Iranians. I hate to say it but the media crap we get sets us up to be paranoid. Of course the announcements upon arrival that the Iranian government requires all woman to cover their heads with scarf's upon arrival let me know I am definitely about to enter a new culture with mandatory customs. But this is the world we live in, neither good nor bad and like our traditions we neither endorse nor oppose.
Visiting the new WSO Iran office was fab. The atmosphere had this wonderful peaceful orderly energy to it, everyone who works there was just full of smiles and so happy we were there, also so proud. and they should be.
Next we visited the NA central office (RSO) for Iran. The entire Regional service committee was there to greet and hug us, they toured us about the office and eventually we sat down for a lengthy meeting on some of the real pressing issues that they hoped we would have some guidance on. Then we ate. They cooked a traditional meal called Kubiann (my spelling is probably wrong)
We leave for Mashad by plane today and do two days of work shops before heading back to Tehran for a series of workshops and meetings. I will chime back in when I have Internet access again love Tom
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[Moontime]

"My name is Habib and I am an addict. Greetings to all the addicts at the
Central Prison of Qazvin, and to all NA groups around the world.

"I am writing this letter as I pass the final moments of my life. I am very
close to death. I wish to send a message to all fellow members: I got clean
through a Narcotics Anonymous meeting in jail, and through attending these
meetings, I stopped using drugs in jail. I have become very close to God. I
feel good, and I am at peace with myself and the world. I have accepted the
will of God.

I'd like to ask you fellows to stay clean and be of service. Try to help
other addicts stay clean physically, mentally and spiritually. Please
continue this path to save other addicts. I have nothing else to say. My
name is Habib, and by dawn my life will end. I will be hanged for the crimes
I committed, but I have been clean for eighty-four days beside you I wish
success for all addicts . . . members and non-members. God bless."

Habib, Qazvin, Iran.

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Several members who read that article asked me if I could find out about
Habib? I am sorry to report he was executed three months ago.

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We leave tomorrow for Isfahan and will do another workshop there. I thought
I might give you some details about exactly what we are doing in these
workshops. Prior to coming the WSO asked the Iranian Region what issue were
pertinent to them? What did they want to discuss? how can we be helpful?

So we basically structured the topics of the workshops around the input we
received from them. They of course wanted to know about NAWS (narcotics
anonymous world services) their WSO, their world board and their World
service conference, we brought some video that shows snapshots of the
fellowship from all over the world, they got to see their brother and sister
addicts celebrating, I looked at them while they are watching and see their
faces light up. For most of them this is the first time they have had any
real connection with NA out side of their country, suddenly their world
expanded. When the snap shot of Iran comes on they applaud as they realize
that they are one with us. They made up posters for the workshop with the
Hawaii world convention theme " One fellowship Many friends" Way cool.!

We then give them details about the WSO, the staff and our three branch
offices, we tell them where the money comes from that supports the services
of WSO and the WSC. 88% from the sale of literature, 11% from direct
donations and 1% comes from interest on misc. investments. When we tell them
the fellowship through the conference gives away about 500,000 in free
literature every year they start to get the picture of how important the
seventh tradition is. In my opinion it is really no more than an extension
of our twelfth step.

Then we facilitate a discussion on what is working and what isn't working
in their service structure, they form circles of 15- 20 members and write
down their ideas, we then have them prioritize the two most important ideas
and have each circle give us their two ideas as we write them on a big
poster paper in English and Farsi. When we are finished collecting the ideas
we tally up the ones that got the most hits and can pretty much tell them
what they believe are the most important issues and solutions are that they
need to work on. What is even more useful than us walking them through this
process is we teach them how to use this tool in their own workshops.
Everyone gets to participate and they love that. They are quick and smart
and will put this to use right away

We do the same thing with the IDT (building strong home groups and keeping
an atmosphere of recovery in our meeting.

The discussion we had on the seventh tradition is very interesting, they do
no fund raising, nor do they tack on a profit from their events or
conventions. Much of their funds come from their direct contributions and
the sale of the literature and other recovery related materials. They
definitely have issues with the fund flow, groups hanging on to money or the
money getting hung up in the metro, area or literature committee. But its
very interesting to me that they come closer to fulfilling the spirit of the
seventh tradition than anywhere else that I seen. Its my hope they become
the first community in NA that is totally self supporting through the
basket. What a concept..............!

Later we have a larger discussion on Sponsorship and end the workshop with
a lengthy question and answer period, that range from questions on sex,
members of NGO's who are also NA members, lots on working the steps,
traditions and concepts and on and on. Its an 8 hour workshop and we are
wiped out by the time its over. at each break they crowd in wanting pictures
and hugs. It gets overwhelming and means we get no breaks. But they are
unbelievable, almost no one leaves, the room is packed to the end and they
not only do this on a work day but hey also pay to attend the workshop,
which covers their lunch and teas and on top of that they have to turn away
lots of members because their just isn't enough space. ManOman these guys
are serious about serving NA.

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We are going to be on the road for the next 8 days and I have no idea if we
will have Internet access at the hotels e be staying at. But I will do my
best to these up dates coming.

[dalin]

kermit and i talked about it a few days ago.
life saving program wherever it goes