We're not alone in this.

Can't be done alone.

We need each other to get better.

We need a family.

We need the whole community.

Everyone.

We need this.

That's why I want people to know, like a person can do this alone.

This is coffee.

Not a lot of people know the coffee actually is cream.

Coffee actually first found in Ethiopia.

So we still do the same process they do back home.

And this is the this is what I used to roast the coffee.

And this where I brewed the coffee.

And grown up in Ethiopia was different.

I was raised by my grandparents because my mom was in America at that time.

The drinking came to me as a very early age because alcohol was in my house 24 seven, and probably age eight or nine years old.

It's the first time I have tried alcohol, but by age 15 or 16, I got addicted to it a lot.

Like I had to drink every day.

I was 19 years old when I when I got to this country and my first thing that I find out about in this country was that you cannot drink to your 21.

And so that was like the first thing I was got to do is to and I was scared because I was 19 and I didn't know how I was going to live for two more years without alcohol.

But took over when I came here.

And I was just I start out with weed and alcohol then.

Yeah, I came here and I started getting into pills and then cocaine and I start losing external stuff like job and and houses and stuff and start going down.

And I was homeless, sleeping at the Kirby Park.

I thought everything that I had, like, my job, my family and all this stuff as like, was the point even to stop right now.

And even if I want to, I'm going to do it.

I thought it was over.

I got this one lived for like I have been in this cause for all.

And I met a person there that was a patient and I saw that person a month later and she looked totally different person that I met months ago.

And I ask, How do you get better?

You look better.

And that person and start taking me through you know, places and introduce me to more people.

That was, you know, doing this recovery and getting better.

And I saw my life actually changed.

The saddest thing about this journey, not everybody can stay in the same path.

So right now, she is not doing good.

She had a relapse.

So there's a hope.

You know, she will make her back.

It gave me a purpose.

Having this issue was alcohol and drugs.

So I work in that field and is very satisfied.

I don't know if you ever had a chance to see somebody an act of addiction as very sad to see them.

But coming from that, you're watching writing your face, turning to physically, getting better emotionally getting better, getting in touch with their family, getting better with everything.

And as and we do have what is called a family visiting ocean and watch their kids coming to see their dad and mom and and he has a way around.

You know, it's just a beautiful thing to watch, you know, just watching people get better.

You can't put any more money on that.

I have built a life before and destroy it.

I was sober almost two years at one time and I picked up again and lost everything I had at that time.

Yeah.

So I didn't.

I started from zero and a lot of people to me.

Misconceptions that you can do it alone.

You cannot do it alone.

I believe that many people in recovery, you know, that the more weaker they get by themselves, you know, I have to be able to fellowship, I have to be able to support group, I have to have people that I.

Can talk to that know and suffer from some of the same stuff that.

That people do in recovery.

You know.

I got a lot of all reassurance.

This actually was Roger Shorter than I took it from him.

What is the common thing about the spiritual life?

Music and food, right?

All the three.

I have one thing in common.

They bring people together.

That's all it's all about.

My life has been.

I love bringing people together, watch people eat as so connected, just enjoying something together.

Having a strong togetherness has helped me in my recovery because it really helped me change my perception of how I look at myself, how I look at the people around me.

Having real connections with people can help you.

You feel better, you do better things.

My life is a lot different than it was five, six years ago.

So I describe my journey.

One.

It's not easy.

It takes a lot of practice.

It takes a lot of patience.

It takes they have a lot of room to make mistakes and it takes a lot of people by your side.

That's my journey.

My journey is not alone.

I wish I can say I did this all alone.

Absolutely not.

I barely do anything as other people show me how to do this.