Update May 2020: This meeting has closed as the member who started it moved away. For more meeting information, visit www.alcoholics-anonymous.eu/meetings
There are no alcoholics in Albania. There are no alcoholics because drinking is simply part of the culture. Men drink and women do not. Mornings start with Raki (the local “moonshine”) and a macchiato (or Raki-atto). Work is scarce and jobs are few. Men spend their days in cafes and betting locales drinking coffee and Raki. Women stay home. They clean, cook, and raise children or run a small bakery or laundry or shop. Public drunkenness is tolerated. Driving while drunk is not recognized as a problem or legal issue. School attendance is optional after age 13. University degrees are bought not earned. Family honor is the primary value. To shame the family is unforgivable so violence, debt, and any abuse is carefully hidden from public view. Divorcing a spouse that beats and strangles you would be too shameful (“shume turp”) so it is better to stay married and live in different villages. Alcohol is seen more as an activity rather than an actual problem.
I came to Albania in March 2014 by accident. In October 2013, I was invited by an organization to serve in Ukraine leaving the following March 2014. I promptly accepted and began studying the Ukrainian language. I have been a sober member of Alcoholic Anonymous for nearly 20 years and I was pleased to discover that there are meetings in Ukraine. I began to study in earnest.
Putin had other plans. In February 2014, the program in Ukraine was cancelled. After a frantic few weeks, I was offered a spot in Albania if I could leave within 7 days. I accepted and arrived in Albania knowing nothing. The first few days of language training were baffling because people kept talking about ship and I knew Tirana did not have a shipping port. “Shqip” is in fact the name of the language.
As I settled in, I was surprised to find that there is no 12 Step recovery of any kind here. The AA World Services Office has the Big Book of AA in over 130 languages but not Shqip. Internet listings of meetings indicated there were none, in any language, anywhere in Albania. A fellow volunteer introduced me to AA meetings on Skype. I also discovered inexpensive way enabling international calling so I could call my sponsor and other AA members in the states. At the first164YP online meeting, I met three other members who live in Albania. We wanted a face-to-face meeting and started the process to make that happen. I started asking around for a room we might be able to rent. Helpful expats pointed us to the International Church of Tirana. We were graciously welcomed and found the missionary community had wanted to start AA in Tirana but did not know how nor were they themselves alcoholic. We scheduled our first meeting, committed to a six month trial and sent notices to other churches, medical professionals and WSO in both York and New York.
I went to an international AA convention in Prague in August, EURYPAA (European Young Peoples AA)  At EURYPAA I spoke in many groups about Albania, alcoholism and recovery. I was able to announce the start of AA in Albania and ask for help. Members offered to come attend/support AA in Albania. Others offered assistance with public health information, contact with professionals and with other institutions. Still others promised to spread the word among their community. I also met an American Albanian who had been trying to start AA in Albania and he joined right in.
Alcoholics Anonymous had its first meeting in Albania on Friday August 22, 2014 and has been meeting every Friday since that date. As of June 2024 Albania has a weekly meeting and Fellowship in Tirana and has AA members in Vlore and Schroder. Our meeting is an open AA meeting and anyone interested in finding out more about alcoholism, or the program of AA, is welcome to attend. We simply ask that only those with a desire to stop drinking share and others simply observe. Over the next few months, English speaking expats attended, Albanians that spoke English attended and an Albanian who did not speak English attended because he wanted help to stop drinking. We have met with an Albanian psychiatrist, a local psychologist and members of the missionary community in Albania. The missionary community is particularly interested in providing recovery options to their youth. Recently, we attended the Congress of Psychotherapy in Tirana. There we met with professors from the medical schools and hope to be helpful in training future providers. As the English speaking contact listed on the web site, I have fielded calls from clergy and physicians in Albania. We also received emails from the US Embassy and the US State department asking about treatment options on behalf of their patients.
When we registered our meeting with AA World Service in New York they told us that a registration for meeting starting in Macedonia had just been received. We contacted the Macedonian members and learned that they were a mere 10 miles from me on the other side of Lake Ohrid and laughed at the coincidence. Ironically, we have yet to meet because, though the distance is short, the border is complicated.
At the same time we launched AA in Albania, an Al-Anon meeting was started in Albania. My personal experience has been that new AA meetings are often attended by friends and family concerned about someone else’s drinking. This has been the case in Albania as new members are brought to meetings by friends, family and clergy. While this meeting is successful, this is a story for a different place.
The Friday Night Serenity meeting of AA is registered with Continental European Region of AA. CER maintains a website listing all English speaking AA meetings in Europe and that list now includes Albania (and Macedonia). In September, I sat in on a CER regional WebEx meeting. CER meetings are open and anyone may attend. Albania was on the agenda because carrying the message to the still suffering alcoholic is the primary purpose of AA. All of CER was interested in helping and they offered many insights as to how best to proceed. AA is by definition anonymous and I am not so much concerned about my own anonymity per se but no one is the representative of AA. I wanted to be sure I was within the traditions. A number of CER members have since served as mentors for our tiny group here in Albania.
I had planned a short trip to Istanbul in November and was invited to attend meetings while there. CER has a sizable presence there and Turkish AA is strong. Each group was interested in hearing about developments in recovery in Albania. I attended seven different events speaking to Americans, other expats and Turks about AA in Albania. I shared how we had found each other and about the particular challenges in terms of culture. Gender issues in recovery are common but the particular dichotomy here in Albania is unique in the extreme. American women were particularly interested in Albanian gender issues and the impact this has on recovery.
In December, I went to Italy to attend the face-to-face CER regional meeting. Over the course of three days, I had many opportunities to describe the cultural challenges of recovery in Albania, including lack of treatment options, few legal consequences and little knowledge of alcoholism generally or within the medical profession. The experience of meeting our mentors, asking questions and sharing trials and tribulations was priceless. One of the aims of CER is bringing the message of recovery to the suffering alcoholic in isolated communities. As a result, Albania and Macedonia are becoming a focus simply because CER knows we are here and need help. I met members who have extensive experience with bi-lingual meetings. We talked at length about how to develop similar meetings here. They had particular insights into language challenges and translation. They shared wisdom about translation challenges, cultural differences and gender issues.
One member shared how CER hosted a table at the European Mental Health Conference in Estonia in October 2014. Attendees reported on the outcome of meeting with over 300 psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses in attendance. AA members were able to connect with dozens of interested providers and share information about recovery in Eastern Europe. Hearing this story gave me and other Albanian AA members the courage to attend the Congress of Psychotherapy in Tirana, Albania. Albanians were not as receptive as the attendees had been at the European Conference but we were able to share some information and make a few connections with providers.
While there may or may not be alcoholics here in Albania, there is recovery. As 2014 comes to a close, Albania has Alcoholics Anonymous for the still suffering alcoholic who wants to stop drinking and Al- Anon which provides hope and support for friends and families affected by the alcoholics drinking. You are all very welcome to join us!
Bonnie S.
Tirana, Albania
Editor’s note: this article has been published in accordance with our ArenA Editorial Policy.