Johannesburg, South Africa

Special Forum in Alaska

On August 19, five representatives from AA's general service structure flew to four cities in four days (Anchorage, Homer, Fairbanks, and Juneau), to meet with Alaskan AAs for a day of presentations at each location. Designed to give AAs in remote communities a chance to learn more about the general service structure and how it supports Twelfth-Step work, this forum also gave trustees and staff a better understanding of the Fellowship's concerns in Alaska. Attendance at the forum was low, but as Dave M., the current delegate from the Area, said, it gave vital impetus to the challenging work of carrying the message in Alaska, where villages are separated by vast wilderness, and cultural differences, and where alcoholism continues to take a devastating toll.