SAPTA is an acronym for Support for Addictions Prevention and Treatment in Africa. The organization was registered as a Kenya nonprofit organization in March 2004 under the name of SAPTA Trust. At inception, the objectives of SAPTA were provision of educational programs for addiction counselors; running of community based prevention programs; advocacy for greater access to treatment; promotion of professionalism in the addiction field through strengthening and capacity building for treatment centers; and outpatient treatment. The first SAPTA Trust board consisted of members drawn from diverse professions and social backgrounds. Also at that time, SAPTA Foundation was registered as a USA nonprofit organization for the financial support of SAPTA Trust.
SAPTA is recognized by the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Counselors (NAADAC – USA) as an approved addiction counseling training center. It is the only NAADAC approved center in Africa and the only organization in Kenya offering diploma training in addictions counseling. It is also among the few organizations specializing in offering substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. This puts the organization at a vantage point not only because of its accreditation by NAADAC but also due to the quality and uniqueness of its services. For a long time, substance addiction and its link to other social economic problems such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, crime and disintegration of social structures has been ignored thus leaving a huge gap in provision of social services by government agencies and other actors. SAPTA existence is therefore aimed at addressing substance abuse and related problems in the society by coming up with evidence based and quality programs built on basic overarching prevention and treatment principles
About The Founder
Dr. Bill (William) Sinkele was born in Youngstown, Ohio in the USA. He entered the Dominican Fathers in 1966 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1973. During this time he completed a BA in Philosophy from St. Stephen’s College, Dover Massachusetts, and a BA in Theology from the Dominican House of Studies Washington, DC. He completed a M. Th. from Howard University, Washington, DC in 1975. For several years he worked in both parish and retreat house programs.
While studying for his Doctorate in Ministry at Catholic University, Washington, DC he had to face his addiction to alcohol, Valium and Zanex. He marks his sobriety date from January 18, 1988 which was Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday. He wanted to be a part of the solution to alcohol and drugs in the black community, not part of the problem.
After completing his doctorate in ministry in black Catholic spirituality in 1992 he joined a team of Dominican Fathers who went to Nairobi, Kenya to found the male Dominicans in Kenya. He was the major superior for the Dominican Fathers and Brothers from 1992-2000 in Nairobi, Kenya.
He is co-founder of Redhill Treatment Centre with Father Dan, SJ in 2001.He returned to the USA in 2000 for a sabbatical and after prayer and discernment decided to leave the Catholic priesthood in 2002. In 2003 he was given a papal dispensation from his priestly vows.
He worked at Joseph’s House in Washington, DC from 2002-2003 as the assistant director for an AIDS hospice for homeless men.
In September 2003 he returned to Nairobi, Kenya and established in 2004 with Father Francis Kamau, the first chairman, SAPTA Trust, a Kenyan nonprofit charitable organization to train addiction counselors and provide treatment services, especially to the poor and vulnerable.
He married Rahab Chari Baya in 2005 but according to God’s plan she died in November 2007. He is stepfather to her six children as well guardian to three other young men from Rwanda.