Tilda B. – Sober Since February 1994Tilda B. – Sober Since February 1994
AA Recovery Interviews
Tilda B. recounts her journey from early drinking in London and a chaotic life in film to long-term sobriety and service in Nairobi’s AA community. Her experience highlights how AA’s fellowship and principles can sustain recovery across borders and through life’s toughest seasons.
1:04:01•29 Jul 2026
From London to Nairobi: Tilda B.’s 10,500-Day Journey in AA
Episode Overview
- AA can provide the same sense of fellowship and support in different countries, from London to Nairobi.
- Counting repeated blackouts and recognising a pattern of harm pushed Tilda to seek help from AA.
- Immersing in meetings, getting a sponsor, and working the steps from the start helped stabilise her early sobriety.
- Being a sober parent became one of her greatest gifts, breaking a family chain of addiction.
- Service and sponsorship, including via Zoom, keep her connected and grounded in a ‘no matter what’ commitment to sobriety.
“"There is no problem that would be solved by alcohol."”
What remarkable journeys have people faced head-on against addiction? Here, AA Recovery Interviews focuses on Tilda B., who has been sober since February 1994 and now lives in Nairobi, Kenya, showing how Alcoholics Anonymous can carry you far beyond your home city – literally and figuratively. Tilda shares growing up in a chaotic London home where, as she puts it, her "family tree rattles with bottles" and she and her siblings "tumbled up" rather than being brought up.
Drinking started shockingly early, with blackouts and shame-filled incidents by age 11, yet the chaos felt normal. By her teens and early 20s she was a regular on the London club scene, moving into film work in Los Angeles and later the Caribbean, all running on what she calls “heavy fuel” – booze and drugs, plus a steady diet of self-loathing. Her turning point came in London after counting 14 serious blackouts by early February and finally calling AA.
Expecting “men in long coats with brown paper bags,” she instead found a packed Chelsea meeting where she was “struck sober, struck dumb by the honesty.” She quickly got a sponsor, worked through the steps, and immersed herself in daily meetings and service. A few years into sobriety, Tilda accepted a job in Nairobi.
Arriving two years sober and knowing no one, she went straight to meetings – some held under trees, in coffee shops, or cathedrals – and found that “the fellowship was the fellowship. It was the same.” Today she’s deeply rooted in Kenya’s AA community, sponsoring women across continents via Zoom and throwing herself into service, including a regional convention.
Her story offers reassurance that “there is no problem that would be solved by alcohol” and that an AA programme can travel with you anywhere. If you’re facing change, a move, or just another difficult day, how strong could your own “no matter what” commitment become?
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