Japanese Visit 2006
We had another successful visit by our Japanese friends. The trips are organized by the director of Minowa MAC, a treatment program started by an American priest who was a recovering alcoholic.We provided training for them on topics like adolescent treatment, intervention and Dawn Farm's programs. We also had some fun, ate well, and dedicated a new peace pole at the Farm. These visits are important for the Japanese treatment system because Minowa MAC brings several staff from hospitals that treat addiction, many of whom have never witnessed recovery. These hospitals often place addicted patients on sedatives and offer little or no hope for recovery. Minowa MAC staff tell us that their visits here and the training that we've done in Japan have made a real difference in some of these hospitals.
We also have Minowa MAC staff, volunteers and several people whose sole interest is that they are recovering. It's often a powerful visit for them. The recovering community in Japan is very small (4000-5000 in a country of 130 million) and the stigma is very powerful. When I was in Japan, I was told than many AA members use false names for fear of their anonimity being broken.This visit was special because their first visit was in June 2003, one month after the original farm house was detroyed in a fire. During that visit we told them our plan to build a community barn and they made the first donation for the construction of the barn. The barn construction is almost completed and we used this as an opportunity to thank them and show them the barn.
