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Kuwait

Returning to Kuwait in 1989 I was told that there was an AA meeting, or at least there as
a loner in Kuwait who could be contacted. I had been in recovery at that time for only 2
years and it was important for me to find a contact. I was later told there were some AA's
who met on a Friday evening at the Catholic Church in Kuwait city.
I went along and was lucky to find Joe from India, Fritz from Holland and Simone from
France. We used to meet every Friday for about 25-30 minutes in the heat as there was
no room avialble for us at that time to hold meetings.
We used to stand under the shade of one of the palm trees in the compound of the
church. There was no Preamble or Serenity Prayer at the meetings and certainly no
privacy with people milling around, but the spirit of recovery was amongst us four
persons who gathered. It was without a doubt the highlight of my week and I don't know
what I would have done without it. It gave me hope.
When Kuwait was invaded by Iraq, we did not have any meetings until after the country
was liberated. Then our group started to grow with the influx of people who came to
Kuwait for the re-building programme.
We have come a long way since those early days. We now have 3 meetings each week
and they are conducted in the traditional AA manner and we observe the normal
protocols and traditions. We have a comfortable air conditioned room with seating plus
hot coffee and biscuits. We usually start with the Preamble and end with the Serenity
Prayer - a long way from where we started.
In fact, the Ray of Hope group hosted the 6th Arabian Gulf AA Convention in November
last year with visitors from all over the region and as far afield as Canada, UK, and USA.
All credit for this must go to the Fellowship, the Recovery Proramme and the Power
behind it.
Long may it last - one day at a time.

Abu Dhabi
For many years AA has existed in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi with four
meetings a week in the capital city and two in Al Ain. Initially
membership was small and consisted mainly of expatriate members however,
thanks to the careful fostering of relationships with the Health
Services, meetings have recently been started at a local half-way house
and AA visits the National Rehabilitation Centre on a bi-weekly basis.

It is exciting to note that the most recently inaugurated meeting (at
the halfway house) is conducted on a bilingual basis with translation
from Arabic to English and vice-versa, and membership includes locals in
secondary treatment.

Bahrain

AA in Bahrain started in 1964 with the support of John Peter, a staff member of the
American Mission Hospital. He was not a member of AA but a well wisher of Alcoholics
Anonymous to the extent where the first meetings were held at his apartment. By
1983-84, AA meetings were regular at the American Mission Hospital. And included
local as well as expatriate alcoholics in recovery.

Bahrain has been hosting an Annual Public Information event since May 2005. At the
last event were present: the Minister of Health, the Head of Bahrain Prisons and one of
the top religious leaders. They were very concerned about Alcoholism in Bahrain and
interested in AA and the religious leader spoke extremely positively at the end about
what he'd heard, and drew parallels between the AA way and the spiritual path
advocated by all religions: Abandon yourself to God, Clean house, and Help others.

Qatar

AA was started in Qatar by an indian member John L from Goa in 1988. In the
initial stages the new members were ex-pat workers who had already found the
message in their home countries. Ian C and Laurrie together with Edwin and Lorraine
(our first
woman member) were all sober when they landed in Doha. Pacific and Freddie were
the first residents of Doha to get the message here. Soon after Marie began attending
our
meetings and later Ian S and Bill. Malcolm W arrived from the UK at about the same
time.
In the beginning we had two meetings per week - Tuesday and Friday. The first
meetings were held in the homes of the membership and it was not until 1989
that the Doha College kindly gave us a meeting room. We met there until
1995. At that time we went back to hosting the meetings in the homes of the members.
Sadly in 1997 Laurrie was our first member to pass away. Laurrie had underdone heart
surgery in the Hamad Hospital but died as a result of complications. He died sober.

In 2002 Fr John, the parish priest in Qatar, and a great friend of AA was
generous enough to give us a meeting room in the Parish Centre. We met there every
Friday for several years. When a two Qatari members Khalid and Abdulla started
attending meetings we were obliged to find alternative accommodation because of
political/religious reasons.

As the population and country expanded so too did our membership. In 2003 we
started meeting no. three - a Steps Meeting.
We are extremely grateful for all the members who opened up their homes for
the meetings over the years - Freddie, Pacific, Laurrie, Bill, Ian S, Marie,
Wendy and her husband Kevin, Barbara, Debbie, Malcolm, Abdulla, Khalid, Knut and
Steve. However it became clear that we needed to find a new home for our group. Due
to the hard work of Bob T we were soon able to meet at the Sofitel Hotel (2002) and not
long after the Qatar Red Crescent Society (2003). Later on we moved to the Psychiatric
Ward of the Hamad Hospital (2004) where our meetings now take place. Drs A/.Aziz
and Shaltoot have to be commended for their warm hospitality there. Jihad our Bahraini
member was also instrumental in finding this venue. Bob T was also responsible for
getting a 24-hour AA hotline number and having the number printed daily in the Gulf
Times. Of course we are grateful to that newspaper for their generosity and
understanding.

In 2004 we started a Jail meeting on a Monday night. This meeting was in
Arabic but English speaking members attended in a "supporting role". The meeting
stopped after about 6 months but we have recently made contact with the authorities
with a view to starting it once more. Captain Al-Ansari was a most sympathetic and
generous host for this meeting.
We also have permission to start a Hospital meeting soon. Again this will be
in Arabic. In 2005 a fourth meeting - an 11th Step meeting - was started in the Club
House of Riveria Gardens compound. This meeting was hosted by David and Maree
until
they left Doha in December 2006. Now we currently have three meetings per week.

Dubai

AA started in Dubai just like AA did in most countries.
A few founding member met as early as 1977. Mainly meeting in each others homes.

Over the years the Dubai fellowship continued to grow and meetings moved into public
venues.
2002 Marked a milestone for AA with 25 years of service in Dubai.
The 1st Intergroup in the Middle East was formed in Dubai in January 2003.
Dubai has hosted a number of conventions and now has meetings every day at
several different venues throughout the Emirate.

Al Ain

Before 1998, there were no meetings in the small
desert city of Al-Ain, in the Abu Dhabi Emirate. Two newcomers living in Al-Ain
happened to meet at the Sunday night meeting at American Hospital, Dubai.
Both were driving an hour and a half each way to make > a meeting twice a week in
Dubai. So in February of 1998 they decided to form a Tuesday night meeting in Al-Ain.
By November of 1998 there were 5 members and, by the Grace of God, 2 AA members
with many years of sobriety arrived in Al-Ain and provided some strength
and experience to the fledgling group. The Al-Ain Group still meets every Tuesday night
at the Oasis Hospital and added a second meeting on Saturday nights. In the past 9
years, many newcomers and old-timers alike have found refuge and sobriety in
the Al-Ain group.

Oman

AA formally began in Oman in the late 60s-early 70s. A second group was established
5 years ago, also at a medical clinic. Today both groups are working to establish a
regular
meeting at a government hospital that treats alcohol and drug addiction.