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| Bahá’í News | March 1985 | Bahá’í Year 141-142 |
Welcome ‘home,’ Dr. Carney
On the cover: Dr. Magdalene Carney (left), a Counsellor member of the International Teaching Centre in Haifa, Israel, is greeted by former Counsellor Edna True during Dr. Carney’s visit January 16 to the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. Dr. Carney, a former member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, was in that country briefly en route to visit Bahá’í communities in Hawaii and the South Pacific area.
Bahá’í News[edit]
Message from the House of Justice on International Year of Peace | 1 |
Iran’s UN ambassador repudiates the Declaration of Human Rights | 2 |
The Anís Zunúzí Bahá’í School makes great strides forward in Haiti | 3 |
House of Worship in India is profiled in ‘Engineering News Record’ | 4 |
Brazil issues urgent call for Bahá’í pioneers to its Amazon region | 6 |
Switzerland’s Landegg Centre provides superb educational climate | 10 |
Los Angeles History Conference draws Bahá’ís from eight countries | 11 |
Around the world: News from Bahá’í communities all over the globe | 12 |
Bahá’í News is published monthly by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community. Manuscripts submitted should be typewritten and double-spaced throughout; any footnotes should appear at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Send materials to the Periodicals Office, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A. Changes of address should be reported to the Office of Membership and Records, Bahá’í National Center. Please attach mailing label. Subscription rates within U.S.: one year, $12; two years, $20. Outside U.S.: one year, $14; two years, $24. Foreign air mail: one year, $20; two years, $40. Payment must accompany order and must be in U.S. dollars. Second class postage paid at Wilmette, IL 60091. Copyright © 1985, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
World Centre[edit]
Make plans now for ‘Peace Year 1986’[edit]
To all National Spiritual Assemblies
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
1986 has been named the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Considering the dangers surrounding mankind and the remedial prospects of the Lesser Peace to which Bahá’u’lláh has summoned the nations, we embrace this God-sent opportunity to proclaim ever more widely and convincingly the vitalizing principles upon which, as our Teachings emphatically assert, a lasting peace must be founded. The nature and variety of the proclamation activities which the Bahá’í community will undertake, during 1986 and beyond, will be outlined in detail later. We wish now to indicate some of the ideas we are contemplating, so that you may sense what to expect and how to prepare for your own participation.
In addition to projects to be initiated at the World Centre, these ideas include:
- Calling upon local and national Bahá’í communities to sponsor a wide range of activities which will engage the attention of people from all walks of life to various topics relevant to peace, such as: the role of women, the elimination of racism, the eradication of prejudice, the promotion of education, the extension of social and economic development, the adoption of a world auxiliary language, the establishment of world government.
- Mounting a publicity campaign which will make use of such themes as “world peace through world religion,” “world peace through world education,” “world peace through world language,” “world peace through world law”—a campaign which could lead to discussion of these subjects in small or large gatherings, at local or national levels, and perhaps in collaboration with organizations promoting such ideas.
- Urging the publishing within and without the Bahá’í community of a wide assortment of literature, posters and other graphic materials on peace.
- Requesting Bahá’í magazines—children, youth, adult—whether intended for internal or external circulation, to carry special features on peace.
- Inviting Bahá’í radio stations to devote particular attention to this theme.
- Asking the Association for Bahá’í Studies to conduct programs on peace.
- Encouraging Bahá’í artists and musicians to contribute, and consider inviting their non-Bahá’í colleagues to contribute, to the effectiveness of such activities by giving expression through the various arts to important themes relating to world peace.
In effect, we envision a proclamation campaign which will not only involve large public events and the use of the
mass media, but will also engage people at the grassroots
and at all other levels of society in a broad range of profoundly effective activities through which they will interact
with the Bahá’í community in a sustained, world-wide effort to attend to the fundamental issues of peace, aided by the unique insights provided by the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
As you contemplate what possibilities these and similar ideas suggest for your own plans, we advise you to take preparatory steps to hold within your jurisdiction, during 1986, local and national peace conferences to which public officials and other prominent persons should be invited. In those places where national conferences may not be possible, local conferences should certainly be held.
In some regions, neighboring National Assemblies may find it convenient to pool their resources and hold regional conferences instead of national ones. These need not be large, but should be effective enough to make a good impression on the public as well as on the national Bahá’í communities involved. It is left to the initiative of the National Assemblies, in consultation with Continental Counsellors, to hold such conferences.
Simultaneously as you make initial arrangements for the conferences, you will also want to find out what plans are being made by the governments and organizations in your respective countries, so that you will know beforehand how to coordinate your own programs with the programs of others in ways most conducive to the proclamation of the Faith and the mutual benefit of all concerned.
We would welcome any thoughts and suggestions you may have on the activities to be undertaken by you during the International Year of Peace.
Your planning efforts for 1986 must not, of course, interrupt the work of the Seven Year Plan. Indeed, the activities associated with the economic and social development of the Bahá’í community, the observance during 1985 of International Youth Year, and the anticipated activities for the peace campaign to begin a year hence are mutually reinforcing and go far to enhance the teaching opportunities necessary to the successful completion of the Plan.
We have every confidence that your continuing exertions to meet the new challenges resulting from the emergence of the Faith from obscurity will be richly rewarded by the Blessed Beauty; and we shall renew our supplications at the Holy Threshold that your brightest expectations may be surpassed by resounding triumph.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
January 23, 1985
United Nations[edit]
Iran repudiates Human Rights doctrine[edit]
Last month we reported that Said Rajaie-Khorassani, the permanent representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, said that his country “would not hesitate” to violate the UN Declaration of Human Rights whenever its provisions were in conflict with Islamic law. The following statement by Mr. Khorassani is taken from the summary record of the 65th meeting of the 39th UN General Assembly on December 7, 1984.
Mr. RAJAIE-KHORASSANI (Islamic Republic of Iran), having cited surah 30, verse 41 of the Koran, said that his country was greatly concerned at the degrading manner in which many regimes treated innocent people and at the shocking news which was reported in the international press. While certain crimes drew the attention of international organizations, the latter remained deaf to other extremely distressing phenomena which were beyond their scope of action. As an example, he cited cases of indecent assaults on minors; in the Western countries, such crimes were reaching proportions that were utterly scandalous. His delegation wished that it were only possible to induce Member States to revive moral decency and spiritual health in their societies.
In his delegation’s view, the concept of human rights was not limited to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Man was of divine origin and human dignity could not be reduced to a series of secular norms. Corruption of all kinds was widespread and must be fought. Although torture, the killing of innocent people and deprivation of freedom could not be tolerated, his delegation saw in those phenomena effects rather than causes. Only when the real causes were examined would it be possible to understand why certain concepts contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights needed to be revised.
Some delegations had shown sincere and honest concern at human-rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Others, through misinformation or ignorance, had leveled baseless allegations. He noted that none of the critics of his country had a “clean slate” in the annual reports of Amnesty International. Instead of engaging in polemics, he preferred to clarify the difference between the axiological doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the socio-political values upheld in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Since the Islamic revolution, the Iranian people had been blessed with the honor of living under the banner of Islam. In that connection a distinction must be made between an Islamic State established by the Muslim people of the country in order to administer the affairs of the State according to Islam and to implement Islamic law, and an Islamic country of which the great majority of the population was Muslim but which had a regime similar in structure to Western or Eastern secular regimes. The Islamic revolution had removed the discrepancy which had existed between popular belief and behavior and the political order of the country.
He believed that with the establishment of the Islamic regime, the prayers of the Iranians had been answered.
The new political order was not simply a democracy, a theocracy, a socialist regime, an autocracy or anarchy, but a monocracy in full accordance and harmony with the deepest moral and religious convictions of the people and therefore most representative of the traditional, cultural, moral and religious beliefs of Iranian society. It recognized no authority or power but that of Almighty God and no legal tradition apart from Islamic law. As his delegation had already stated at the 36th session of the General Assembly, conventions, declarations and resolutions or decisions of international organizations, which were contrary to Islam, had no validity in the Islamic Republic of Iran. If secular States decided, for example, to produce a convention abolishing capital punishment, his country had no objection because it would not be bound at all by such a convention. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which represented secular understanding of the Judaeo-Christian tradition, could not be implemented by Muslims and did not accord with the system of values recognized by the Islamic Republic of Iran; his country would therefore not hesitate to violate its provisions, since it had to choose between violating the divine law of the country and violating secular conventions. That did not mean that the allegations made against Iran were true, or that there were no elements in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that accorded with Islam. His country was convinced that the Declaration must be respected by all secular and non-Muslim States because the inhuman treatment and degrading practices often reported in El Salvador, Chile and South Africa could not be tolerated. Those who could not live up to the divine standards of Islam should at least meet the minimum requirements established by international organizations, if they did not wish to become centers of corruption, torture, injustice, oppression and tyranny. The Islamic Republic of Iran, which strongly condemned torture, believed that corporal punishment and the death penalty did not fall within the category of torture when carried out on the basis of Islam, in accordance with a sentence by an Islamic court.
Haiti[edit]
Anís Zunúzí School: Annual report[edit]
The Anís Zunuzi Bahá’í Elementary School started the (1983-84) school year with 228 pupils (121 boys, 107 girls). Attendance dropped to 183 (101 boys, 82 girls) in June 1984. Except for a few cases of illness or lack of interest, the majority of the decline in attendance was due to the parents’ unwillingness or inability to pay the monthly tuition, despite the fact that the tuition rates were lowered, compared to the previous year ($3/month for 1 child, $2.50/month for 2 children, and $2/month/child for 3 or more children coming from the same family).
Income from tuition fees accounted for approximately 28 per cent of the annual school budget this year, the remainder coming from private contributions. This year, contributions ranged from $14 to $400, and came from donors in 11 countries: Belgium, Canada, Germany, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Hawaii, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States, not including the continued generous support of the family which founded the school.
The Anís Zunúzí School was also the springboard for six other pre-school centers of the Development Project. Although the supervision of the food program consumed a considerable amount of time and energy, the effort was well worth while. The first grade teacher noticed a great difference in his 6-8 year olds. Whereas previously his class had generally had a low level of concentration by mid-morning, after the food program was implemented, the class’s ability to learn increased dramatically.
A major change occurred in the kindergarten in January when the school
To further spiritualize the attitudes and actions of the children, a new Bahá’í Creole 1st grade reader is being prepared by the school’s administration which will have many sentences about God’s love and wishes for His creatures.
hired a graduate of the Anís Zunúzí Rural Development Program for Early Childhood Education who is also a Bahá’í. Because the program collaborated with UNICEF, the kindergarten also received the UNICEF toys and program materials. The tendency to teach reading and writing to four- and five-year-olds was thus nipped in the bud and replaced with useful, necessary pre-writing and pre-reading activities, as well as other games and experiences.
Due to a sudden drastic budget cut, the Anís Zunúzí Bahá’í School was forced to let go its most capable French-speaking teacher as well as the teacher of religion, music and agriculture. Despite this, three-quarters of the 6th grade pupils passed the difficult state evaluation and all passed the 6th grade in terms of grade averages and obtained their certificate of primary studies. Herculean efforts will be necessary next year to bring the outgoing 5th grade up to a similar standard.
| This report of activities during 1983-84 at the Anís Zunúzí Bahá’í School in Lilavois, Haiti, is taken from the Summer/Fall 1984 issue of Timoun, the newsletter of the Anís Zunúzí School. |
As for the subjects of religion, music and agriculture, the class teachers and English teacher attempted to pick up some of the slack. Almost weekly, lessons based on passages from the Bahá’í Writings were given in basic moral and character development, from the kindergarten up to the third grade. Music and agriculture remained weak. Happily, Bahá’í songs remembered from previous years were sung at the daily flag-raising so that the new pupils picked up some of the more popular songs.
The school owns a few recorders, and a Bahá’í friend has been found to volunteer time to teach music outside school hours. English was given in the 4th-6th grades.
There were three festive school celebrations in which each class presented poems, songs, dances and/or skits, on the occasion of the Anniversary of the Birth of the Báb, the Intercalary Days, and Naw-Rúz. Refreshments were served at some, and a pen was given to each pupil for Intercalary Days. The school was always closed on Bahá’í Holy Days. Because the majority of the student body are not Bahá’ís, the school also had to close on Christian holidays.
After January 1984, the staff included the principal, assistant principal, six classroom teachers, a teachers’ aide, a caretaker, and a gardener, all of whom were Bahá’ís except one. All the teachers attended semi-monthly teachers’ meetings during which school problems were discussed and principles of Bahá’í education studied.
The official state reform to teach the pupils to read and write their native tongue (Creole) first, while developing their oral ability in French, was adopted this year. If the teachers can assure a high standard of achievement in oral French, we feel this system will lend itself to a considerably higher literacy rate without jeopardizing more capable pupils’ opportunities to advance during secondary education.
To further spiritualize the attitudes and actions of the children, a new Bahá’í Creole 1st grade reader is being prepared by the school’s administration which will have many sentences about God’s love and wishes for His creatures.
India[edit]
Magazine profiles House of Worship[edit]
Like Australia’s Sydney Opera House in miniature, the “mother temple of the Indian subcontinent” for the Bahá’í faith is an amalgam of rounded concrete shells standing on end, one cupping another. Also like the opera house, the temple has had its share of delays, finally taking shape more than four decades after land was bought for the project.
One key difference between the two, however, is in cost. While the notoriously inflating bill for the opera house rose more than 1,400% (to $151 million) during the building’s design and construction, India’s small but intricate temple will cost only about $10 million to build, largely because of inexpensive labor.
The graceful form of the New Delhi temple, designed to resemble a lotus blossom, is slowly emerging from a formidable array of formwork and construction clutter. According to its Iranian-born architect, Fariburz Sahba, of F. Sahba and Associates, London, innovation is encouraged in the construction of Bahá’í religious structures, typically dominated by a dome. Nonetheless, each building must follow two principles influenced by the Bahá’í faith: all main architectural features should be grouped in nines—representing the nine major religions of mankind, on which Bahá’ísm is based—and the building must allow natural sunlight to enter.
Symbol of purity[edit]
In 1976, Sahba went to India seeking a design symbolic of the subcontinent but distinct from existing religious architecture. He struck upon the idea of the lotus flower. “In all religions, the lotus flower symbolizes purity, but I
| This article, “A Temple Blooms in India,” is reprinted from Engineering News-Record, November 8, 1984, copyright © McGraw-Hill Inc. All rights reserved. |
hesitated a lot before adopting the idea,” Sahba says. “I did not want to do a cheap imitation of nature.”
A recent view of construction work on the Mother Temple of India.
Although New Delhi’s lotus is daunting in its construction requirements, it is simple in concept. At the center is a 115-foot-dia prayer hall, encased in nine concrete “inner” petals and topped with a skylight. The prayer hall is overleafed with nine concrete “outer” petals. A step farther from the center are nine more petals, facing outward and providing canopies over entrance arcades. Nine stairways radiate from the entrances, separated by nine reflecting pools representing the leaves of the lotus.
The central dome is made up of three layers of concrete supported by a network of concrete ribs. The inner petals are sections of toroids, or doughnut shapes. The nine outer petals, looking much like upended ships’ hulls, are built up from intersecting spherical sections. The entrance petals are sections of spheres as well. The petals will be covered with marble, laid out to suggest the veins in a flower.
The nine water pools are meant to provide natural cooling. A current of air will pass over them, enter the open basement area and rise through the prayer hall. The prayer hall dome acts as a chimney, an effect that is enhanced by fans.
The site chosen, a few miles south of India’s capital, was purchased more
[Page 5]
than 40 years ago by India’s Bahá’ís.
Soon after, the temple ran into the first
of the many hitches that have delayed
construction until now—the government issued a “no-construction allowed” notice with the intention of
keeping the area a “green zone.” It
took the better part of three decades to
get the decision reversed. The construction permit was cleared only a year before civil work was to begin in April 1980.
The conceptual work on the temple began in London in 1976. It took six months to plan the basic layout of the building and an additional two and a half years to compute the main coordinates of the complex shape. Coping with the geometry of the temple was a nightmare, Sahba says. “Without the use of computers, it would have been impossible.” London’s Flint & Neill Partnership was the structural consultant for the design.
In the late 1970s approaches were made to half a dozen Indian contractors “whom we felt we could use,” Sahba says. Four responded, and a Madras-based company, the Engineering Construction Group, was chosen.
At that time the cost of the project was estimated at only $6 million, and even now with inflation it will run only about $10 million, Sahba says. The low cost results largely from the low cost of local labor. “Anywhere else in the world, the project would have cost $100 million,” the architect estimates.
Foresight also played a part, Sahba boasts. The contractor bought steel and cement in bulk seven years ago, before prices rose steeply.
Eight-month strike[edit]
If labor was cheap, it wasn’t without problems, problems that have added considerably to the time it has taken to build the temple. A few months after work began, the 400 or so workers on site staged a strike that lasted from May 1983 until January 1984. “We reached an out-of-court agreement which then was made binding,” says S. Naharoy, the contractor’s project manager. “We paid off the entire work force and recruited a new batch, taking great care that no former worker was taken on again,” he recalls.
The next problem was finding subcontractors. The trickiest to seek out were the carpenters, essential for a project with such a heavy reliance on intricate, custom-made formwork. Carpenter teams in India are traditionally small, and six different subcontractors had to be hired.
The curvilinear, layered design of the temple added its share to the delays as well, says Naharoy. “It took us more time than we expected. Because of the sheer complexity in form of the temple, we spent a lot more time computing and checking measurements. Instead of having a straightforward X or Y linear measurement ... each measurement was tedious, a multiparametered formula that was difficult to visualize.”
Small tolerances[edit]
The contractor was likewise impressed by the “high accuracy” required for the concrete shells, “higher than most international standards,” says Naharoy.
A total of 10,000 cubic yards of concrete was poured in the non-visible foundation structures and another 3,000 cubic yards in the shells. It took two years to prepare 430,000 square feet of formwork, of which 320,000 square feet was for the shells alone. Because of the temple’s complexity, each piece of formwork can only be used once, or in a few cases twice.
According to both Sahba and Naharoy, the project’s greatest demand has been the care required in building this formwork. A shell is first shaped by structural steel girders, then wood pieces are laid on to form a secondary frame. Plywood is nailed on top. The reinforcing steel is fixed in place a strand at a time, each piece numbered beforehand. The process is “more like furniture making” than typical form-building, says Naharoy.
The concreting is done in 24-hour cycles. Because of the high temperatures of India’s hot season, crushed ice is used to keep the concrete cool.
Architect Sahba has been impressed by the agility of the women laborers who carry the concrete from the crane-lifted bucket to the forms. Each woman carries about 50 pounds of mix in a dish on her head. “That makes up to four tons a day, sometimes more,” he says.
Now that the construction permits have been obtained, cooperative labor has been collected and the intricacies of the building’s shape have been figured out, the temple’s designers and builders expect the construction to proceed uneventfully until December 1986, when India’s man-made lotus is expected to be in full flower at long last.
Now that labor problems have been ironed out and construction permits obtained, work is proceeding smoothly on India’s Bahá’í House of Worship with a target date for completion of December 1986.
Brazil[edit]
Amazon a ‘new frontier’ for pioneers[edit]
Dear friends,
Nearly 10 years ago, the historic “Green Light Expedition” brought to the attention of the Bahá’í world a new frontier for spiritual conquest. Those pioneers who arose to follow Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s challenging example were overwhelmed by the immensity of this new frontier and by its infinite, multi-faceted potential for individual and community growth.
These pioneers arrived with all the usual fears and doubts about their capacity to serve and survive in the Amazon, but in a short time they began to witness those “confirmations which alone can change a gnat into an eagle, a drop of water into rivers and seas, and an atom into lights and suns.” One notable example is the pioneer couple who recently completed seven years of travel-teaching during which time they navigated all the major tributaries of the Amazon River in a 38-foot motorboat. Before coming to Brazil, this couple, originally from Iran, had seldom crossed a river more than knee deep or navigated a boat other than in an amusement park, and they could not speak a word of Portuguese. Nonetheless, they succeeded in opening the majority of more than 500 new localities in the Amazon region.
Early last year, the National Spiritual Assembly of Brazil, inspired by the call of the Universal House of Justice summoning the community of the Greatest Name to greater involvement in the development of the social and economic life of peoples, determined to launch a durable plan for teaching and consolidation in the Amazon. Well aware of the special characteristics of the Amazon region which include almost exclusive dependence on lengthy water or expensive air transportation, its great distance from the traditional production centers of the country as well as from strong Bahá’í commu-
When the National Spiritual Assembly, in collaboration with the Continental Board of Counsellors, presented the proposed project of the survey group to the governor, he put his official boat and crew at their disposal for 30 days.
nities, and the large number of embryonic Bahá’í communities that are much in need of consolidation but widely dispersed throughout a vast region, the National Assembly resolved to make a survey of the living conditions, employment opportunities and potential for socio-economic projects, hoping that the findings of the survey would provide added incentive for potential pioneers all over the world, particularly those Persian Bahá’ís who are presently living in temporary conditions in countries such as Canada, Pakistan, Turkey and the United States, but who are seeking permanent settlement in countries where they can distinguish themselves in service to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.
The National Assembly was further encouraged to make the survey by the assurances of the Brazilian government that the Justice Department would study individually and with sympathy and goodwill the petitions of each pioneer family for permanent visas. Also encouraging was the attitude of the governor of the State of Amazonas who, once contacted, considered the idea of the settlement of pioneers, especially professionals, in the small cities and villages of the Amazon not only interesting but sensible. When the National Spiritual Assembly, in collaboration with the Continental Board of Counsellors, presented the proposed project of the survey group to the governor, he put his official boat and crew at their disposal for 30 days. The survey group was formed by a number of pioneers from Brazil, Iran and the U.S. who have been employed in the fields of health, education, agricultural production and rural development for the past five years in the Amazon region.
The survey group visited many typical villages and towns, observing the population during their daily routine as well as consulting with them in public meetings, in government and business offices, banks, sawmills, brick factories, schools, hospitals, university and extension agencies, cooperatives, plantations and farms, to learn about their problems and possible solutions.
After more than a hundred hours of prayer, meditation and consultation, the group reached the conclusion that, to have continuous success in both teaching and consolidation, as well as in socio-economic development in the Amazon region, it is essential that permanent elements be present who, through their constant daily contact with the people, can gain their confidence and set examples in both the spiritual and practical aspects of life.
This need for a permanent element was clearly demonstrated to the survey group after observing the few successful attempts by government extension agents to bring innovations to the river communities. The success of these agents almost without exception was the result of the bonds of trust and friendship they established with the community, but this required an extraordinary dedication and personal sacrifice on the part of the extension agent to maintain a demanding timetable of periodic visits to a number of communities. Ideally, these extensionists should be allowed to live and concentrate their efforts within a given community, but unfortunately, the number
[Page 7]
The world-famous Opera House in Manaus, Brazil, site of a recent Bahá’í teaching conference for the Amazon region.
of such dedicated, self-sacrificing professionals is very few and the communities in need of assistance are very many and widely dispersed. Years of exploitation and neglect of the region have aggravated the human resource problem, for it has caused many of the more enterprising and able elements of the rural population to seek apparent benefits in the capital of Manaus or other larger cities in the country.
The survey group concluded that Bahá’í pioneers could be excellent elements of both spiritual and material change in the Amazon. Until now, the efforts of the pioneers around the world have been directed primarily at spiritual change (the most difficult but most important change to achieve) rather than socio-economic change, and this directed effort has led to an unprecedented achievement—the establishment of thousands of Bahá’í communities around the world. In the socio-economic sphere, the contributions of Bahá’ís have been mostly individual and indirect, rarely systematic and concerted efforts. These individual contributions as yet have not been evaluated by conventional means, but in longer-established communities, notably in the Cradle of the Faith, where this individual effort has been concentrated through time and space, the results have been noted by unbiased observers. As the Universal House of Justice has written, the social and economic progress of the Iranian believers was attained through the beloved Master’s illuminating words, deeds and loving guidance, and subsequently through the unfailing encouragement of the Guardian of the Cause of God. Now, through the infallible guidance of the Universal House of Justice, a wider horizon has opened before us new pursuits upon which we may soon embark to achieve a dynamic cohesion between the spiritual and practical requirements of the life of mankind. The Universal House of Justice has affirmed that it is now within our power to contribute to the formation of the society of the 21st century. That power, they have told us, is due partly to the incalculable potentialities of the spiritual drama being enacted in Iran and partly to the creative energies set in motion by the consciousness of our proximity to the close of the 20th century.
The question now is, where can this power be most effectively applied? Our contributions as pioneers to the development of future societies can be much more effective and rewarding in the so-called underdeveloped regions of the developing countries where the disparity between spiritual and material aspects of life is much less than in the more developed parts of the world. In the developed countries, the people’s spiritual sight is thickly obscured by their highly developed material civilization. The tendency, unfortunately, is for their egos to become over-inflated by their own material progress, in contrast to the humility of people in developing regions who live in more immediate contact with nature and who are almost completely dependent on agriculture, and thus more aware of their limitations and dependence on the mercy of God for their survival. They are amazingly receptive to both spiritual and material change, once the good faith of the outsider has been tested. Also favoring the pioneer’s contribution in these regions is the fact that the needs of the people are quite basic so that almost any pioneer with some training could be useful in elevating the quality of life of the population.
The survey group was convinced that although a limited number of pioneer professionals such as doctors, nurses, dentists and teachers could count on being contracted by public institutions, many more could be independently employed in small or medium-sized enterprises such as the production and processing of agricultural products, exporting local fruits and herbs, furniture-making, and sawmill or brick-
[Page 8]
making operations. These activities
could also be an additional source of
income to the private practice of professionals who may not be initially contracted by public institutions. The prospects for such undertakings would
be studied as part of the logistical support planned for future pioneers.
One area of activity that shows great promise both as a means of economic self-sufficiency for the pioneer and as an alternative to socio-economic development is small-scale farming. Considering that the overwhelming majority of the rural population is involved in traditional subsistence farming, it is hoped that the small farms of the pioneers will work as a model for crop improvement and diversification, scientifically producing many temperate and tropical crops and animals that are only sporadically produced, consumed and marketed today in the region. It is quite likely that the small farm will become a common denominator or catalyst for integrating the pioneer into the local population. Once well-integrated, the pioneer family, through the spirit of Bahá’í consultation, can motivate the community step by step to solve those problems that require community action such as construction and operation of rural schools and health posts. Such model farms can help improve the economic productivity of the community and can provide financial subsidies for community projects. There also exists the possibility of inter-community cooperation with the pioneers or community leaders as liaisons to form production and consumption cooperatives.
The survey group was acutely conscious of the difficulties all pioneer families face in their posts, as well as of the special challenges facing them as they embark on different pursuits in a frontier region such as the Amazon. For this reason the group strongly felt the necessity for creating a permanent center in or near Manaus for providing continual logistical support to the pioneers to reduce the practical risks of pioneering in the Amazon. Ideally, this center for logistical support will function as a socio-economic project directed to the needs of the rural population and sponsored by a Bahá’í Group or community. It will offer services to the pioneers as well as to the general population. Among these services will be information on employment or investment opportunities; reception, orientation and adaptation of the pioneers to the region; educational facilities for their children; and practical and professional training in health, education and agriculture. The center will also produce various agricultural products for research purposes, consumption by the center staff, and for offsetting a part of its expenses. The
Once well-integrated, the pioneer family, through the spirit of Bahá’í consultation, can motivate the community step by step to solve those problems that require community action ...
center will maintain close and periodic contact with the pioneers once they are settled at their posts to provide continuing physical and psychological support as well as technical assistance, and to share with them ideas and experiences of fellow pioneers in both the spiritual and material aspects of their endeavors. The center will generate and coordinate a continuous flow of information among the pioneer posts in the Amazon to optimize the process of teaching, consolidation and introduction of innovations in the practical aspects of life.
In September 1984, the National Spiritual Assembly of Brazil, in one of the longest meetings in its history, approved the formation of the “Nucleo de Projeto Amazonas” (Amazon Project Committee) whose members (Persian, American and Brazilian) were drawn from the original survey group and other Bahá’ís with experience in socio-economic projects. This Nucleo is a national committee which will coordinate at this time all the activities that facilitate the settlement of pioneers in the Amazon.
The National Spiritual Assembly also approved a proposal of the Nucleo for the establishment of a foundation or association composed of Bahá’ís with experience in socio-economic projects, especially in the area of education. This association will gradually evolve in complexity to perform the services of the center for logistical support envisioned by the survey group. Presently, the legal structure of this association is being studied. It has received an offer of 4,000 square meters of land which, once the association is legally formed, will be placed at its disposal and on which will probably be built the primary compound of the center including a rural development school and lodging and training facilities for pioneers in transit to their posts. The mayor of a town near Manaus has offered 30 hectares of land for the development of an agricultural extension center. A pioneer couple (Persian, Uruguayan) have already arrived in Manaus and have volunteered to begin a model farm on the site of this future agricultural extension center. A donation of $50,000 has been received from a Bahá’í family in Brazil for the specific purpose of constructing the association’s support complex.
At the time of this writing (November 1984), only 50 days remain until the International Conference in Manaus that will be blessed with the presence of the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum commemorating the 10th anniversary of her historic visit to the Amazon and opening a new phase in the spiritual and practical development of the region. In addition, nine of the Continental Counsellors from the Americas and many members of National Spiritual Assemblies from countries in the Amazon region will be participating. The whole question of teaching in the Amazon will be thoroughly discussed, as well as the important aspect of socio-economic development, both in general and specifically for the Amazon. Such an illustrious gathering may not again be possible until the next century, and by then it may be too late to count on the forces now in motion to carry forward the divine plan for the spiritual conquest of the Amazon.
Manaus, Brazil
November 22, 1984
Most pioneers who have been serving in this region for many years will tell you that the Amazon is far more hospitable than they had imagined. In most atlases, the region is described as having a tropical climate, hot and humid. In fact, the temperature is no higher than the summer heat of Tehran, New York City or Los Angeles. One rarely needs more than a ventilator, and the nights are always cool, unlike many areas of the world where the heat continues through the night. Some days of the year you may even need a warm sweater and blanket at night. For those who really cannot stand much heat, air conditioners are readily available. The humidity is high and you’ll feel it in the beginning, but the normal rhythm of life in the region is paced to climatic conditions, and you’ll be surprised by your ability to adapt. The rain is not the 24-hour monsoon type that one can experience even in sunny California; it usually pours daily for about 20 minutes to an hour during the rainy season and is quite refreshing. Even the humidity drops after a good rain. You’ll have only two seasons—wet and dry—instead of the four to which you may be accustomed. As for the mosquitoes, they are not much more bothersome than those encountered in the summer villas of Iran or in the national parks of the U.S. and Canada. Some normal precautions and using good common sense protects you from any possible natural hazards, and you will learn quickly to co-exist with an occasional spider or snake, even if you have a great fear of them now, as you will find that you are really more dangerous to them than they are to you. Regarding the language, Portuguese is not the most difficult of languages to learn, even if you are in your 40s. Brazilians are patient and understanding with foreigners because, as many of them will confess, they themselves do not speak their own language well. (You may even be mistaken for a Brazilian from another part of the country.) Unlike most Latin American countries, Brazil produces almost all of the household gadgets and conveniences you’ll find in the world market including sophisticated electronic equipment such as video tape machines and home computers. In addition, Manaus is a free port which gives you access to many imported products that many cities in the world do not have. From any town in the Amazon you can telephone direct to any other part of the world. There is at least one color TV channel in each town on which you can watch many popular American programs as well as excellent satellite coverage of world news, sports and cultural events and high-quality local productions. Manaus has a modern international airport that provides the cheapest flights from any other city in Brazil to the U.S. and Europe. Manaus has modern hospitals, and all towns have medical facilities. Also in Manaus are a large university and many public and private schools so that children of pioneers can continue their studies in the capital. For those who are interested in agricultural or ecological research, Manaus has an internationally respected institute involved in studies of the flora and fauna and the agricultural economy of the Amazon region.—Nucleo de Projeto Amazonas |
India[edit]
In northern India’s Harayana State, not far from Delhi, a teaching campaign named for the late Hand of the Cause of God Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir has resulted in victories that far surpassed its original goal.
The State Teaching Committee had aimed at 200 enrollments and the formation of five new Spiritual Assemblies during the month-long campaign that began last October.
By mid-month, between 30 and 40 residents in each of 14 villages had accepted the Faith.
In the village of Balimahara, 700 villagers gathered to meet the Bahá’í teachers. Following a large public meeting, all of the villagers expressed their desire to become Bahá’ís, but it proved to be physically impossible for the Bahá’í teachers to enroll all of them at the same time.
The teachers, who are themselves residents of Harayana State, are amazed by the response to their efforts.
After becoming Bahá’ís, many of the villagers have accompanied the veteran teachers to other villages to help with the teaching work.
Selected Bahá’ís from various rural areas in India’s Maharashtra State attended the first training course of the Centre for Rural Development held last October 28-November 7 in Panchgani.
The course, which represented a demonstration of cooperation and unity among the institutions of the Faith in Panchgani including the New Era Bahá’í School, the Bahá’í Academy, and the Centre for Rural Development, included classes on Bahá’í history and administration, proofs and prophecies of past dispensations, and other spiritual topics taught by four qualified Bahá’ís.
Also a part of the program were vocational classes on aspects of agriculture, health and first aid. Graduates of the course on poultry were certified by the Indian government and became eligible for loans to begin their own poultry farms.
Switzerland[edit]
Landegg Centre new mecca for education[edit]
Introduction[edit]
In the establishment of Tagungszentrum Landegg, an institution has come into existence contributing to understanding and friendship among the nations, races and religions. On the occasion of the opening in June of 1983, the Universal House of Justice expressed the hope that Tagungszentrum Landegg would develop “into a beacon for the Cause of God in the heart of Europe.” Under the patronage of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Switzerland, programs offered at Tagungszentrum Landegg shall include summer and winter schools, seminars and a wide variety of courses employing speakers from Europe and other continents. These programs contribute to the study of the Bahá’í Faith. The teachings of this youngest world religion shall be related to questions of the present day. In addition, Tagungszentrum Landegg is open to all cultural, social, religious and economic institutions also from the viewpoint of modern science.
Review[edit]
The course programs for 1984 were lovingly prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Alaee, who currently reside in England. Their efforts have provided Landegg with an excellent basis for the planning and establishment of future activities. Once again, we extend our sincerest thanks to the Alaees for their highly treasured services and are pleased that we may rely upon their assistance in days to come.
In 1984 nearly a thousand Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís from all over the world have thus far taken part in courses at
| The information in this article is excerpted from “Landegg info,” a news bulletin of the Landegg Centre published under the auspices of the sponsoring National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Switzerland. |
Landegg. The course on “Bahá’í Education” in February was especially blessed by the presence of the Hand of the Cause of God Ugo Giachery. In August, participants were overjoyed by the presence of the Hand of the Cause of God Dhikru’lláh Khádem, whose valuable words greatly enriched the course about the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. The unexpected arrival of a member of the Universal House of Justice during the course on “Art and Music” was also a most welcome surprise for all present. The visit of a member of the International Teaching Centre was as well a great inspiration to everyone at Landegg. During the course of the year, numerous competent speakers offered their services at Landegg. For reasons of space we cannot list them all in this short review, but we extend our heartfelt thanks to all of them.
Highlights[edit]
It was amazing to see how many different musical instruments appeared during the course on “Art and Music.” Friends of extremely different backgrounds began making music with each other. One especially beautiful scene was that of a young girl playing a flute duet with a retiree. The spontaneous music sessions were also tremendously enriching for the musicians and listeners alike.
The small agglomeration of friends attending the course entitled “To Be Different” was composed of participants so varied from one another that the principle of “unity in diversity” could not be ignored. This great variety, however, did not prevent a good group spirit from developing. In the evenings, the members of this course left Landegg to support public meetings, one in Romanshorn and one in St. Gallen.
Landegg was “full to the rafters” during the course on “Arabic Writings.” A few young women had to take residence in a nearby home for the aged. Most of the participants, all of whom demonstrated an exemplary radiance, had come from Arabic-speaking lands. These friends were always eager to help and serve. The “highlight” of this course was the spontaneous declaration of belief by two of the participants—no one was aware of the fact that they were not already Bahá’ís.
The high point of the course on “Shoghi Effendi” was the attendance of the Hand of the Cause of God Mr. Khádem. For many, one particular evening in his presence shall remain unforgettable. The atmosphere and spirit present that night are simply indescribable! As the evening progressed, one young non-Bahá’í was moved to embrace the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.
This course was also attended by some 30 friends who came from Arabic-speaking countries. These believers brought a very special spirit to Landegg. One of these friends described the experiences of Bahá’ís who once had been imprisoned in one of those countries. The members of three Local Spiritual Assemblies had been imprisoned and were tortured by the guards, who wanted information about other Bahá’ís. The speaker explained how he himself had once been tortured for five hours non-stop. As a result of the whipping, his shirt was literally “stuck” to his badly wounded back. In spite of this treatment, the prisoners had never laughed so much as during this terrible time “behind bars.” Friday was the usual day for executions. When the turn of these Bahá’ís came, they were overjoyed by the thought of having the privilege of giving their lives for the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. How great was the disappointment, however, when, instead of being executed, all were set free.
United States[edit]
Second L.A. History Conference held[edit]
Bahá’ís from eight countries and several states attended the second Los Angeles Bahá’í History Conference held over the Labor Day weekend.
The conference, co-sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles, the Bahá’í Club at UCLA, Kalimat Press and the Victory Foundation, drew nearly 200 serious students of the Faith to its various sessions.
Two Bahá’ís resident at the World Centre traveled from Haifa, Israel, to attend the gathering. William Collins, director of the World Centre Library, and Dr. Vahid Rafati, director of the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, each contributed to a discussion on sources of Bahá’í history in archives and libraries.
Roger Dahl, chief archivist at the National Bahá’í Archives in Wilmette, Illinois, also attended and presented a paper, as did David Piff, chief archivist of the Northwest Regional Branch of the U.S. National Archives.
Dr. Rafati also presented a paper on the relationship of Shaykhí doctrines to the religious thought of the Báb.
The presentation was a part of the Middle East panel among whose other members was Dr. Margaret Caton, who discussed Bahá’í influences on Mírzá ‘Abdu’lláh, an Iranian Bahá’í who is perhaps the most influential Persian musician of modern times.
Although unable to attend the conference in person, Dr. Denis MacEoin of the University of Newcastle, England, sent a paper to be read. In it, he discussed authority claims in the Bábí community during the most obscure period of its history—1850 to 1866.
Dr. Peter Smith of the University of Lancaster, England, made two presentations—one, a sociological analysis of the development of the Bahá’í Faith in the western world, and the other a discussion of liberal and fundamentalist attitudes as found in other religions
William Collins, director of the World Centre Library, and Dr. Vahid Rafati, director of the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, each contributed to a discussion on sources of Bahá’í history in archives and libraries.
and in the Bahá’í community.
Dr. Nader Saeidi, a professor of sociology at UCLA, discussed the role of faith and reason within the Bahá’í community, while Anthony A. Lee drew attention to the need for Bahá’ís to transcend limited attitudes toward other religions and cultures in a quest for the unity of mankind.
Viva Tomlin, who was graduated from Oxford University with a degree in theology and is now pioneering in Honduras, gave a provocative presentation on the concept of knowledge in the Bahá’í Writings.
Steven Scholl of Seattle, Washington, made a presentation on the same panel on the studies of the Shaykhí school made by Henri Corbin, the French orientalist. Mr. Scholl is writing a thesis on that topic at McGill University.
Graham Hassell traveled from Australia to present his research into the history of the Bahá’ís in that country. His efforts represent the first systematic attempt to recover the history of the Australian Bahá’í community.
Papers were presented on the history of the Faith in West Africa by Don Addison and Anthony Lee, and in the U.S. by Richard Hollinger. All three of these presenters are doctoral candidates at UCLA.
Dr. Jalil Mahmoudi, an Auxiliary Board member, addressed the conference on sociology and history. Olinga Ta’eed of Leeds, England, sent a paper analyzing the question of belief by using general systems theory.
On Bahá’í literature, Farzad Nakhai of Tucson, Arizona, discussed the poetry of Na’im, the famous Bahá’í poet, while Diana Malouf, a doctoral candidate at the State University of New York, sent a paper on Shoghi Effendi’s translation of The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh which was presented on her behalf.
The conference was attended by non-Bahá’ís as well as Bahá’ís. Notably, Dr. William Royce, a professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Arizona, attended the conference and chaired one of its sessions.
Intensive daytime sessions continued for four days with the evenings devoted to informal discussions and socializing.
A concert and demonstration of classical Persian music and dance provided entertainment Saturday night, and many of those from out of town visited Disneyland on Monday morning.
Australia[edit]
There was standing room only on the ground floor and in the gallery of the House of Worship in Sydney, Australia, last November 23 for a United Nations Day program which attracted many Bahá’ís, dignitaries and the general public.
Among those present were a member of Australia’s Federal Parliament, two members of the State Parliament, and several members of the Warringah Shire Council.
The program included songs by the Temple choir, a Persian choir and a children’s choir. The Báb’s prayer for the removal of difficulties was recited in many languages.
The World[edit]
Hawaii confers 10th Alexander Awards[edit]
The Hand of the Cause of God William Sears and Florence Mayberry, a former Counsellor member of the International Teaching Centre, were the speakers last December 26 at a banquet in Honolulu, Hawaii, honoring recipients of the 1984 Agnes Baldwin Alexander Award for Service to Humanity.
The award, established in 1975 by NAHBOHR, the Human Rights Office of the Hawaiian Bahá’í community, was presented on the 83rd anniversary of the introduction of the Faith in Hawaii by the Hand of the Cause of God Agnes Alexander. The banquet was held at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel in Honolulu.
Awards were presented to Mary Kawena Pukui and Dr. Samuel Hoyt Elbert, co-authors of the definitive Hawaiian dictionary, who were praised for their contributions to literature, culture and the languages of the Pacific area and in particular Hawaii.
Many local dignitaries attended the banquet, which received considerable press and radio coverage.
Pictured at the award ceremony for the 1984 Agnes Baldwin Alexander Award for Service to Humanity, sponsored by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Hawaiian Islands, are Tracy Hamilton (right), chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly, and the two award recipients, Mary Kawena Pukui (represented by her daughter, Patience Bacon) and Dr. Samuel Elbert. The portrait at the left is of the Hand of the Cause of God Agnes Alexander, for whom the award is named.
Ghana[edit]
Sixteen local Spiritual Assemblies were formed and 291 people were enrolled in the Faith last July 15-September 13 during the “Paul Haney Entry by Troops” teaching campaign in the Enchi District of Ghana’s western region.
Twenty-one believers including three members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Ghana, one Auxiliary Board member, and one member of the National Teaching Committee took part in the direct teaching effort.
One of the new Assemblies formed as a result of the campaign is in the neighboring country of Ivory Coast.
Before the campaign got under way, many officials including the paramount chief and his elders were visited by the Bahá’ís and given Bahá’í literature. The police requested and received written application for permission to teach the Faith within their jurisdiction.
When this was done, the police offered their full cooperation to the Bahá’í teachers, and several officials including police officers were among those who embraced the Faith.
Singapore[edit]
The National Spiritual Assembly of Singapore has formed an ad hoc committee to record the community’s history including photographs and interviews with early believers.
Bolivia[edit]
The first issue of El Clarín Rural, a community newspaper published by Radio Bahá’í in Bolivia, appeared last September.
The periodical, in Spanish and Quechua, provides a link to the community served by the Andean station in Caracollo, Bolivia, which is still in its first year of operation.
Besides articles about the station’s inaugural festivities, operations and broadcast schedules, the first eight-page edition of the newspaper included stories on animal husbandry, care of children, literacy and its importance, sports activities, editorials, and announcements of training courses that are being offered to rural women.
Sweden[edit]
Quotations from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh on the topic of peace were among those read to an audience of 2,500 last November in Sundsvall, Sweden, during a break in a concert that was part of the city-sponsored “Humanistic Week.”
The selections were read by members of the Bahá’í Group of Sundsvall who first suggested to the city the idea of co-sponsoring, with the local United Nations Club, a choral concert for peace with the theme “The Earth Is But One Country.” In addition, the four-member Bahá’í Group suggested the idea of a drawing and essay contest in the schools with the same theme.
Teachers of 50 classes in Sundsvall registered for the art contest and received an attractive folder describing it and including several Bahá’í quotations with information from the UN Club.
At the concert hall, the Bahá’ís put up a large banner with the words “the earth is but one country” above the heads of the 650 singers who performed during the program.
The Bahá’ís also placed two exhibits in the concert hall. One displayed the drawings by school children; the other included materials about the Faith.
Quotations from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh are read to an audience of 2,500 during a ‘Humanistic Week’ peace concert last November 11 in Sundsvall, Sweden. The concert was co-sponsored by the Bahá’ís of Sundsvall and the local United Nations Club.
The project has been described as one of the largest proclamation events in Swedish Bahá’í history and a superlative example of what can be accomplished by only a few believers.
Basic tenets of the Faith including progressive revelation and the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran were discussed last October 24 by two members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Sweden during a 30-minute meeting with Bertil Werkström, Sweden’s newest archbishop.
During the meeting, which was arranged by the Spiritual Assembly of Uppsala, the archbishop mentioned that he had visited the Bahá’í House of Worship in the United States when he was studying in that country.
At the conclusion of the meeting, he was given copies of the Swedish-language editions of Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh.
Traveling teacher Meherangiz Munsiff visited Sweden during October 1984 at the invitation of the Swedish National Teaching Committee.
During her visit, Mrs. Munsiff spoke at regional deepening conferences and took an active role in the teaching work in each area she visited.
Ecuador[edit]
Pictured are participants in the first Bahá’í Summer School in Ambato, Ecuador, which was held last September 13-16.
Canada[edit]
More than 50 Bahá’ís including several from Alaska met last November 9-11 at the Yukon Bahá’í Institute to discuss opportunities for using television, radio, and video and audio tape in teaching and consolidation work.
During the conference, which was sponsored by the International Audio-Visual Centre and attended by Counsellor Lauretta King and members of the Auxiliary Board from Alaska and the Yukon, participants viewed samples of recently produced video tapes from the Canadian Bahá’í Distribution Service and from other sources including two privately owned production companies in Alaska and Canada.
Discussions centered around opportunities in the field of radio broadcasting in Canada’s northern regions and the use of the Yukon Bahá’í Institute to develop audio-visual materials for teaching and deepening.
Recommendations from the conference were forwarded to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada.
It appeared likely that a regular Bahá’í-sponsored radio program would begin broadcasting from Whitehorse, Yukon, beginning at Riḍván 1985. It would reach many other Canadian communities via satellite.
The National Spiritual Assembly of Canada recently collaborated with four other religious bodies in Canada to sponsor a series of public hearings on nuclear-related issues.
The Interfaith Program for Public Awareness on Nuclear Issues began with the first of a series of week-long public hearings last October 29 in Toronto, Ontario.
The purpose of the forums was to examine the moral and ethical implications of domestic nuclear issues, the sale by Canada of nuclear technology abroad, and the military uses of nuclear power.
The Bahá’í participants were touched by the warmth of the welcome they received from representatives of other faiths and by their appreciation of Bahá’í views and efforts.
Bahá’í participation in the program, they report, has proved to be productive in terms of contacts made and recognition gained for the Faith.
“What has impressed all of the Bahá’ís who have taken part in this process,” the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada reported, “is the potency of the Bahá’í teachings, which we often take for granted, to guide us through vexing issues and win the appreciation of people of good will from many different schools of thought.”
Bermuda[edit]
Sixty-five people attended a public meeting on drug use last October 25 which was sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of Hamilton Parish, Bermuda, and held at a public school.
The guest speaker was the head of the police narcotics division, and the program included a lively question-and-answer session.
Members of the press were there, and the program was recorded for use on television. It ended with a statement on drug abuse that was prepared by the Bahá’í International Community and read by Leon Johnson, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of Bermuda.
The Spiritual Assembly of Hamilton Parish was commended for sponsoring the program by Gilbert Darrell, a member of Bermuda’s Parliament.
United Kingdom/Ireland[edit]
This home, owned by Bahá’ís in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, is the site of regular Bahá’í children’s classes attended by children from the nearest Bahá’í communities in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
What may be the only regular international Bahá’í children’s classes are being held in a private home near the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The classes represent one instance of the often-stressed importance of cooperation between the Bahá’ís in the two parts of Ireland.
The home in which classes are held belongs to isolated Bahá’ís who live about halfway between the closest local Spiritual Assemblies, those of Letterkenny, Republic of Ireland, and Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Bahá’í children from these and other communities regularly attend classes at the home on the shores of Lough Swilly in County Donegal, Ireland.
Bahá’ís from all parts of Scotland attended the first Scottish Bahá’í Women’s Conference last fall at the Bahá’í Center in Edinburgh.
Presentations were made on the life of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the equality of men and women, and the lives of women in developing countries.
During this last presentation, the importance of the Bahá’í teachings on education was emphasized.
Guyana[edit]
Henry Dolphin (left), a member of Guyana’s Bahá’í Public Relations Committee, presents the proceeds from a piano recital by a visiting Bahá’í to the director of the National Cultural Center in Georgetown. The center’s director, surprised by the gift, said the center had never before received a monetary donation in appreciation of its work. Also pictured are two other members of the National Spiritual Assembly’s Public Relations Committee, Edward Widmer (second from left) and Mr. M. King (fourth from right).
Nicaragua[edit]
Representatives of six local Spiritual Assemblies in Nicaragua attended a training institute for selected Assemblies last December 15 at the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds. The institute was sponsored by the national Community Development Committee.
Included were workshops on how to establish and maintain books for the registration of births, marriages and deaths, financial records, and Assembly minutes.
Among the speakers were two members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Nicaragua and Armando Fonseca, a newly appointed member of the Auxiliary Board for protection.
Participants shared in a review of the goals for local Spiritual Assemblies and offered useful suggestions to the National Spiritual Assembly.
They were given special books to take back to their communities where they were asked to begin putting their new skills into practice.
Honduras[edit]
Seven Bahá’ís from various parts of Honduras attended a two-week course last June at the Ruhi Institute in Cali, Colombia.
These believers will, in turn, train tutors to be incorporated into the teaching and consolidation activities in Honduras.
Guatemala[edit]
More than 100 people mailed in coupons requesting a correspondence course on the Faith and more than 85 attended a public meeting in Guatemala City, Guatemala, last November in response to newspaper publicity in one of Guatemala’s three major newspapers that was paid for by that country’s National Spiritual Assembly.
A full page was devoted to the Faith in the November 8 and 9 editions of Prense Libre, a daily newspaper with a circulation of 78,000.
The first article focused on the question of why the Bahá’ís in Iran are willing to lay down their lives for the Faith and explained the relationship between religion and true civilization.
On November 9, page 5 of Prense Libre bore the headline “What Is the Bahá’í Faith?” and contained quotations from the writings of Shoghi Effendi titled “The Model for Future Society” and short sections on the basic teachings of the Faith, the Central Figures, current Bahá’í statistics, and the Faith’s position on loyalty to government.
Both paid pages included invitations to attend public meetings in seven cities along with a coupon for applying for a correspondence course on the Faith.
On the day the first article appeared, many people came to the Bahá’í National Center in Guatemala City for more information.
Sixty-five people attended a public meeting in Mazatenango where four became Bahá’ís. In Guatemala City, four more declarations occurred after more than 85 people attended another of the seven public meetings.
In addition to these specific results, the educated public of Guatemala became aware of the Faith’s scope and the fact that Bahá’ís have something important to say about mankind’s present problems and their solutions.
Belgium[edit]
The Bahá’í National Center in Brussels, Belgium, was filled nearly to capacity last December 10 for a Human Rights Day program that was attended by a large number of non-Bahá’í guests.
Counsellor Louis Hénuzet chaired the meeting whose other speakers included Dr. Hasan A. Kamran, a member of the Bahá’í community of Belgium who is an international lawyer; the head of the Francophone Belgian chapter of Amnesty International; and the director of the Belgian Human Rights League.
Later, a well-attended follow-up meeting was held at the National Center at which Counsellor Hénuzet and Dr. Kamran discussed worldwide Bahá’í activities and solutions to the problem of human rights.
United States[edit]
Kara James, a 12-year-old Bahá’í from North Broward County, Florida, plants one of 180 trees that were dedicated last December 29 to the memory of recent martyrs in Iran at a ceremony planned and sponsored by the Bahá’ís of Seminole County in conjunction with the annual Bahá’í Youth Conference at Disney World near Orlando, Florida.
Each year, when cold winter winds sweep across the northern United States and the snow begins to pile up high, the annual trek to Florida begins.
Folks from the frozen north hop in their cars or grab an available plane flight and head for the sunny south.
The migration of tourists is an annual event—and among the travelers each year is a group of Bahá’í youth and young adults who attend the Youth Conference at Disney World near Orlando, Florida.
This year’s event, held last December 27-31, brought together more than 400 participants from such far-away places as California, Massachusetts, and Montreal ... even Zimbabwe and Bermuda were represented.
The gathering, sponsored by the U.S. National Youth Committee, has become something of a tradition.
The site is the Walt Disney World resort near Orlando, and time is always set aside for a visit to the “Magic Kingdom” or EPCOT Center.
This year’s conference assumed a serious tone, however, as the young Bahá’ís ushered in the observance of International Youth Year 1985 and studied, through key presentations and workshops, the conference theme, “Let Deeds, Not Words, Be Your Adorning.”
Among the highlights was a tree-planting ceremony hosted by the Bahá’í community of Seminole County.
Early one morning the young attendees traveled to a nearby state park where 180 saplings were planted and dedicated, in a moving ceremony, to the memory of the 180 recent martyrs in the Cradle of the Faith.
The program was attended by many area Bahá’ís as well as by local dignitaries, and served as a most effective proclamation event.
Among the speakers at the conference were two members of the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly, Dr. Dwight Allen and Dr. Alberta Deas.
Mildred Mottahedeh, a member of the International Goals Committee, discussed social and economic development opportunities while Jack McCants of Weatherford, Oklahoma, galvanized the audience with his poignant stories of the sacrifices of modern-day Bahá’í heroes.
Hussein Ahdieh of New York City shared a number of stories of the deeds of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Yvonne Kraus, a youth from Florence, South Carolina, spoke on chastity.
The conference gave many an opportunity to teach, both directly and indirectly.
The District Teaching Committee of Central Florida sponsors an annual teaching campaign to coincide with the youth conference, and this year the projecteers welcomed six new believers in goal communities prior to the conference.
Indirect teaching was stimulated by youth wearing their bright turquoise conference T-shirts with the slogan “Youth Can Move the World” emblazoned across the back.
A well-run children’s program was highlighted by a visit from Mickey Mouse, and the workshop series offered special sessions for parents and junior youth.
Nigeria[edit]
Nearly 60 Bahá’ís from all regions of Nigeria attended the annual Seven-Day School last December 23-29 at the District Bahá’í Center in Ndipe Village, Afikpo.
At the start of the school, about 20 believers made a formal visit to the elders of Ndipe who welcomed them with approving remarks about the purposes of the Faith and the noticeable progress it has made in the area.
Among the Bahá’ís making the visit was Auxiliary Board member Oscar Njang.
The wide-ranging Bahá’í school program included courses on the Covenant, the Universal House of Justice, Bahá’í teachings on the role of women, the Bahá’í Fund, the education of children and youth, proclaiming the Faith, the role of Bahá’í youth, and the example of the late Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga.
Among those participating were three members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Nigeria and four Auxiliary Board members.
The program included classes for children and featured a different Bahá’í who acted as program chairman each day.
During the school session, many teaching trips were made to nearby villages.
Thirty-two people participated in a seminar last November 12 sponsored by the West African Centre for Bahá’í Studies entitled, “The Goals of a New World Order.” The seminar was held at the University of Ife, Nigeria.
Three papers were presented: “The Global Agenda,” “Law, Ethics and Society,” and “Economic Interdependence and Potentiality for Growth in West Africa.”
The seminar was chaired by Prof. Jeffrey Gruber.
Another seminar sponsored by the West African Centre for Bahá’í Studies, this one on “Science and Religion in Medicine,” was to be held in March at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.
Thailand[edit]
Forty members of the Yao hill tribe who are now living in the Phanat Nikhom refugee camp in Thailand have recently become Bahá’ís through the teaching efforts of Yang Yia, a Hmong tribesman residing in the same camp.
Zaire[edit]
Six hundred forty-six people including 40 non-Bahá’í guests (chiefs, village notables and ministers of various denominations) attended a Bahá’í- sponsored institute last September 28-30 in Bululu Bakwa Muanga, Zaire.
Presentations focused on Bahá’í administration; devotion and sacrifice; prayer and meditation; Bahá’í family life and child education; the Bahá’í Fund; and Bahá’í laws.
Two hundred sixty-five people including three traditional chiefs, five village representatives and six pastors attended a Bahá’í Summer School last August 10-12 in Ndambo, Zaire.
Among the topics covered were the Bahá’í Funds and the Nineteen Day Feast.
Brazil[edit]
Five hundred people including about 400 non-Bahá’ís attended a public meeting last August 30 in São Paulo, Brazil, which was sponsored by the São Paulo Bahá’í community to mark the end of the United Nations Decade for Women.
Speakers included a member of the São Paulo city council, a psychiatrist, a well-known actress and poetess, and two Bahá’ís. Their topics included women’s relationship to work, peace, education and the family.
One of the Bahá’í speakers discussed the Bahá’í view on the role of women.
Publicity included reports on three television stations and in several newspapers. The word “Bahá’í” was mentioned in areas of São Paulo society in which it was previously unknown.
The meeting and a subsequent proclamation were made possible through the generous donation of a deceased Bahá’í who left in his will a considerable sum of money earmarked for teaching purposes in the São Paulo area.
Andaman/Nicobar Islands[edit]
Last October, the recently formed National Spiritual Assembly of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands announced that its homefront pioneer goals had been filled with the settlement of two believers on the islands of Katchall and Car Nicobar in the Nicobar group.
Taiwan[edit]
This group of 14 members of the Taiwanese Bahá’í community including pioneers to Taiwan marched last October 10 in the Republic of China’s National Day parade which was televised and attended by more than 10,000 people including public officials and other special guests. The Faith was mentioned over a loudspeaker as the group of Bahá’ís passed the reviewing stand. Kneeling at the right is Auxiliary Board member Yip Kim-fook; kneeling second from the left is John Cheng, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Taiwan.
Pictured are Bahá’ís and their guests who were present last September at the Bahá’í National Center in Taipei, Taiwan, to greet Dr. Marco Kappenberger, a representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (standing back row center in front of the Greatest Name). While in Taiwan, Dr. Kappenberger met with officials at the government information office, was interviewed on Taiwan’s English-language radio station, and presented an ‘around-the-world’ slide program during the public meeting at the Bahá’í National Center.
Daily devotions to help us spiritualize
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