NA H&I meeting at DOH-TRC rehab

It has been 3 months now since I have been doing service for our Narcotics Anonymous Hospitals and Institutions meeting at the Dept. of Health-Therapeutic Rehabilitation Community rehab center at the Camp Bagong Diwa at Bicutan,Rizal. So far there has been consistent support by members of the NA groups from MOA, New Manila, ABS-CBN and little Baguio groups in conducting the weekly 9:30am Wednesday meetings in the 6 male dorms. We were able to conduct 3 meetings at the Ladies dorm until recently when our female volunteer had been busy with her school work and unable to go for 2 consecutive weeks now.
Together with the Public Relations sub-committee, we conducted a short presentation to the OIC Dr. Lleabres and also updated him with the status of NA Philippines and had him approve some world conference approved literature for use by the residents.
It is my observation that the residents, especially those nearing completion of their residency have constantly expressed a desire to know more about NA and have been asking about what meetings they could go to. As such, we have permission from Dr. Lleabres to post the meeting schedules and make copies of the meeting schedules available for the outgoing residents at the final guard house for them to take home.
For myself, I am happy to be able to do this service even though it means a one hour motorcycle ride going and a one hour ride coming from the facility. It has given me a new appreciation for the efforts of NA as a whole, in trying to carry the message to the still suffering addict who do not have access to a regular NA meeting. My service has also taken my recovery to a new level of awareness and spirituality and for that I am grateful.
It is my desire to carry the message of the 12th step to the regular NA member who has at least 3 months clean time because I know this is a powerful tool that can definitely help maintain them keep clean.
Lord take my will and my life, guide me in my recovery, show me how to live clean. Keep coming back, it works if you work it.

HIV Prevention, treatment and care for IDU's

I have just completed a 5 day comprehensive training on HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for people who inject drugs. This was held at the Parklane Hotel in Cebu City and organized, conducted and facilitated by the World Health Organization, Dept of Health- Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the tropical Disease Foundation. It also had cooperation from the Philippine National Aids Council and participating NGO's like SHED, HDES and PNGOC who were also the pilot project implementers in General Santos City, Zamboanga City and Cebu City respectively of the Harm Reduction Concept of the Comprehensive Service Package for People Who Inject Drugs.
Technical support was provided by the WHO who sent Dr.Fabio Mesquita, technical Officer for Harm Reduction for HIV,Aids and STI. He showed data that evidenced the success of the HRP in countries where the program was implemented like Brazil and Indonesia among many other countries. There were other lectures provided by the DOh regarding the social and physical implications of drug abuse and the direct relation of the spread of HIV/AIDS/and STI particularly among people who inject drugs-PWID. Other high risk populations are men who have sex with other men, freelance commercial sex workers, and OFW's particularly those working on seafaring vessels.
A presentation was also made by the NGO's in Zamboanga City, General Santos City and Cebu City who implemented the CSP-PWID harm reduction concept on the work they had done among idu's in their locale. For work done in just 18 months from project implementation up to the present, noteworthy was their success in accomplishing their target goals in achieving negative growth for HIV/Aids/STI in their project area.
Coordinating on a regional level where project implementers and coordinators Dr.Gerard Belimac of the DOH and Philip Castro for the Tropicana Disease Foundation, whose challenges now lie in fine tuning and improving the delivery and continuity of the service package and at the same time making legislators aware and if possible, repeal existing dangerous drug laws affecting the smooth efficacy of the HRP/CSP-PWID project.
I saw that the Philippines is still, in a way, fortunate for a low prevalence of HIV/AIDS. And I am glad that there is this effort made to arrest and reverse the incidence of HIV/AIDS in our country but this effort needs to be done on a continuing basis not only at the targetted high risk populations but in all levels in our society. It is a gargantuan effort at best and needs the cooperation of all the sectors in our society. This is happening in my lifetime and that of my children and I need to do my share to help in whatever way I can.

NA H&I meeting at DOH-Curred

Yesterday we had 4 guest speakers at our weekly NA H&I meeting at the DOH-CURRED rehab at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan. Bob From Honolulu, Babbalu from Calcutta, India, Tully from Oahu, Hawaii and Suzanne from China. Alt RD Bobby B, RSC H&I chair Solex, Luzon ASR York, Luzon P.I. sub-com chair Ritchie C., Luzon H&I sub-com chair Mario N., members from the New Manila, ABS-CBN, MoA men of action, and Little Baguio, na groups participated.
Noteworthy was the revival of the meeting at the ladies dorm chaired by new volunteer Ros of the MoA group and attended by Tully and Suzanne who likewise shared their experience strength and hope.
Our foreign guests were pleased by what they saw and heard and in the manner in which we conducted ourselves and the meetings.

NA Hospitals and Institutions subcommittee

Lately I was elected as chairman for our Luzon area NA sub-committee on H & I. The election was held at the general assemply of GSR's of the Luzon area.
Part of my H&I area's responsiblity is to conduct the weekly Wednesday 9:30am meetings at the DOH-CURRED rehab at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Rizal. The Curred rehab is composed of about 7 dorms occupied by mostly male residents witha dorm each for the female and adolescent residents totalling about 330 residents all in all.
At the moment, pending the conduction of our P.I. and H & I learning day on Feb.21 to be held at the New Manila NA meeting venue, and the recruitment of trained and willing volunteers with the appropriate clean time, we are currently able to handle only 5 dorms.
I was glad to see my friend and province-mate from Cavite, Doc Bien L. who is presently reassigned from the DoH Tagaytay rehab to the DOH Curred rehab.
At the moment, volunteers from the MRH, New Manila and MOA group continue to help conduct and support the meetings at the Curred rehab. We however, see the need for at least 2 women volunteers for the female dorm and at least one adolescent volunteer, age 16 and below, from our fellowship who would like to carry the message of recovery to the addicts at the Curred rehab.

Pico de Loro trek

Last Saturday, a bunch of us guys and gals from the MOA NA group, and some of our children, went to trek to the summit of Pico de Loro. Although only roughly 800 meters in altitude, the walk towards the base of the summit until the summit itself took 3 hours and another 3 hours coming back. Darkness overtook us at the last 30 minutes of the trek to our jump off point which consisted of a rocky uphill then a downhill to the highway. Fortunately some brought flashlights while the others used their cellphones to illuminate the way. For the newbies at trekking, this was an ardous 6 hour trek, but everyone felt a sense of accomplishment specially after making the dramatic uphill to the summit and being on the windy 50 square meter summit.
Pico de Loro is a 2 hour drive from Manila to Ternate, Cavite. You can see the itinerary and its legend by visiting the website of the metropolitan mountaineering society at www.metropolitanms.org. Click on itineraries then click on pico de loro.

My birthday

Yesterday was my natal day. I celebrated it by carrying the message of NA to the founder of one of the pioneering therapeutic community facilities in Southern Tagalog. I was glad because he agreed for us to start an NA meeting at his facility every Tuesday until such a time that his clients can conduct ot on their own. Afterwards, I spent the whole day in a trainor's training for a forthcoming workshop and symposium on family health and wellness. I wanted to go and attend a christmas party with my trekking buddies from high school but I felt tired and didn't relish the thought of going back to Makati through all the traffic and decided to stay home instead.
Today I attended our sunday NA meeting at the Coffee World at the Mall of Asia. This meeting is slowly but surely growing in number of attendees. We took possession of books sent by our Area Service Rep and planned our weekly service schedule for this coming week as well as our group's first Christmas party. There was a newcomer in today's meeting and he came from a facility in Masbate and found out about our meeting from MADAC. I was glad about that and glad at the progress in our group. That's all for now.

Baguio Alcoholics Anonymous Round-up

We had just concluded our 2nd Baguio AA round-up at the Pine breeze cottages in Baguio City yesterday Nov.30. A total of 61 AA and NA fellows from the Green minds Makati group, the New Manila group, MOA group, Lipa, Batangas group, Baguio group, and a strong Angeles contingent, as well as a few expats signed up. The theme was " of myself I am nothing". The highlight of the event was last Saturday's count down which was preceded by a string of speaker's meetings with an Alanon and Coda meeting on the side. The person with the Longest Sobriety was Woody E. from the Subic/ Castillejos/ Wahlawahla, Washington AA group with 29 years sober time. The newcomer with the least sobriety with 3 days was a newcomer from the Angeles group. All in all we had a great time of sharing our experience, strength and hope and how we worked our steps.