Bahá’í News/Issue 535/Text
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| Bahá’í News | October 1975 | Bahá’í Year 132 |
The growth of
the Faith in Ireland
|
Illuminated (decorated) Prayers and Passages of Bahá’u’lláh for teaching and deepening make welcome gifts, provide inspiring wall decoration, and aid in memorization.
Illuminated Prayers and Passages of Bahá’u’lláh
Preservation and consolidation of the victories won: This is one of the three major objectives of the Five Year Plan as the Cause of God goes “from strength to strength” throughout the worldwide Bahá’í community. We can do this even in the face of rising global chaos if we use the strengthening serenity of our Sacred Texts, the Creative Word of God, to deepen and consolidate Bahá’ís. For this purpose, several short, simple, powerful quotations of Bahá’u’lláh have been chosen and are now available in large type, illuminated by dignified artwork. These attractive, brief prayers and meditations are suitable for framing or other kinds of display. Ten different quotations have been printed on 8.5 by 11-inch paper — large enough for wall or window display, yet small enough to be carried in a notebook. Members of teaching, proclamation, conference, and consolidation committees might want to pay particular attention to this set for possible use at summer schools, institutes, and children’s classes. They are excellent for complementing normal teaching materials or for gifts to participating individuals at Bahá’í gatherings. The large type and easy-to-handle pages also make the material useful for persons with poor eyesight or for beginning readers, either children or adults, who are not yet accustomed to Bahá’í literature. In addition, these passages are generally brief enough so that students can memorize them without difficulty. The entire set of ten can be bound into a new believers’ booklet either as they are or mounted artistically on colorful heavy paper. Further decorative illumination can then be added, limited only by the artist’s imagination. In this way, homemade albums can be tailored to a variety of indigenous cultures. Other possible uses include mementos for friends on special Bahá’í occasions or gifts for the sick or shut-in. These ten quotations by Bahá’u’lláh are available either in complete sets or as individual prayers and meditations in multiples of ten. How to Get the Illuminated Prayers and Passages of Bahá’u’lláh
Your local Bahá’í librarian or authorized Bahá’í distributor may have them in stock or may be able to supply you with prices and ordering information. If, however, you cannot find them in your area, you may send your inquiry to the International Bahá’í Audio-Visual Centre, 1640 Holcomb Road, Victor, N.Y. 14564, U.S.A., for forwarding to the proper organization. |
Contents
The growth of the Faith in Ireland | 2 |
Youth play a major role in spreading the Message of Bahá’u’lláh |
|
The Green Light Expedition: part III | 6 |
Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s 15-day visit to three cities in Brazil |
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Around the world | 18 |
Canada, Germany, Leeward and Virgin Islands, Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Togo, United States |
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page 2
page 6
page 21
| On the cover: A member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Republic of Ireland checks on the progress of the Faith in his beautiful country. |
Bahá’í News is published monthly for circulation among Bahá’ís only 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: Bahá’í News Editorial Office, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A.
Change of address should be reported directly to Office of Membership and Records, National Bahá’í Center, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A
Subscription rates: one year, US $8; two years, US $15.
Second class postage paid at Wilmette, Illinois 60091.
Copyright ® 1975, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
[Page 2]
Ireland is a land of rare natural beauty with lakes and rolling emerald green hills. These pictures are typical of the landscape. Clockwise from top, they show a stream at dusk, an old castle at Limerick, a street in Clonmel, a castle at Kilkenny, a farmer at work on a quiet country lane, and Bahá’ís having fun at the Waterford Summer School.
The growth of the Faith in Ireland[edit]
By Paul Slaughter
Doris Holley surveyed the crowd at the Bahá’í Summer School at Waterford, Ireland, and smiled with delight. The majority were youth.
“It’s the new Army of Bahá’u’lláh,” the 81-year-old widow of the Hand of the Cause of God Horace Holley said. “It’s a wonderful army, young and enthusiastic and deep in the Faith. And they love to pray.”
When Mrs. Holley arrived in Limerick, Ireland, four years ago, there were nine Bahá’í pioneers in the town. Since then, the Faith has grown fast in Limerick, and at least 50 youth have pioneered from there to other areas of the Republic of Ireland.
The young pioneers, many of whom are married couples, have taken the Cause to such places as Donegal, Galway, Tralee, Cork, Clonmel, Kilkenny, Kilarney, and Drogheda, amid the rare natural beauty of rolling emerald green hills and lakes.
The Irish people are sympathetic and warm, but tradition is strong. Ninety-five per cent of the church-going population is Roman Catholic, and the church dominates society.
“The Irish have great spiritual talent, and these young pioneers go into towns and fit in because they really love the people,” a spokesman for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Republic of Ireland explained.
But conditions are poor, and jobs are difficult to find. A predominantly agricultural land with mostly small farms, the three million people of Ireland live in an area slightly larger than the state of West Virginia. The Irish have not been spoiled; they come from large families, have very little money, and have not been given any real hope for the future. It is in this environment in which the Bahá’í youth are teaching the Cause with mounting success.
They chatted about it often at the Waterford Summer School, held in August.
“We mostly go to small towns where everybody knows everybody else,” one young woman said. “People know when somebody new comes to town, and they’re watching to see if you’re going to church. When you’re not, they wonder what’s new with you. You have to be careful to get off to a good start, to be friendly with people, and to be extra helpful.”
All agreed that the most important factor is to live the life. “You have to teach the Faith by living the life,” a young man emphasized.
The youth talked about the growth of the Cause in Limerick and the increasing attacks upon the Faith.
“Many young people have been told not to have anything to do with the Bahá’ís,” one young man said. “Of course, the first thing they do is to have something to do with a Bahá’í. They want to know what this Bahá’í business is.” And they are told. At one time in Limerick, there were 30 Bahá’ís in one parish.
Limerick, the chief west coast port, is now the center of the tremendous upsurge in teaching. There have been 10 and 12 declarations in one night in this town of about 55,000 persons.
The Faith had been growing slowly despite a great deal of teaching work by Mrs. Holley and the other pioneers. A Bahá’í for 55 years, Mrs. Holley spent 20 years in Wilmette, Ill., when her late husband was secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States.
One pioneer told the story of one young man’s meeting a few years ago with the Hand of the Cause of God John Robarts.
Mrs. Doris Holley
[Page 4]
in Limerick. He declared his faith and immediately set out to tell his young friends, convinced that the whole of Limerick could become ablaze with the Message of Bahá’u’lláh.
Mrs. Holley continued the story: “His friends came into the Cause and their friends followed. Soon we had 30 to 40 believers. We had wonderful meetings, often five times a week, in homes. Sixty to 70 people would attend. Youth were running up and down the stairs. It was wonderful.”
Many of the youth dispersed to other areas of Ireland. They were aided by pioneers from Great Britain, the United States, and other countries. “Historically, the English have not been popular in Ireland,” the National Spiritual Assembly spokesman said. “But Bahá’u’lláh has changed this and the English pioneers are loved by the Irish, both Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís.”
There are now nine Local Spiritual Assemblies in the Republic of Ireland and the National Assembly intends to have at least 17 Local Assemblies by the end of the Five Year Plan.
The first Assembly was formed in Dublin, Ireland’s largest city, in 1963, 23 years after Bahá’u’lláh’s name was first mentioned publicly in Ireland by the Late Hand of the Cause of God George Townshend.
“There is only one person who can heal the world of its present ills. His name is Bahá’u’lláh.” Mr. Townshend said from the pulpit at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin in 1940, just after the fall of France.
Mr. Townshend was a canon in the church, a position he was to resign seven years later. He had accepted Bahá’u’lláh many years earlier but thought at first that the new Revelation would reform the Christian Church from within. He wrote many papers and books, including Christ and Bahá’u’lláh, and was sent by Shoghi Effendi to London in 1936 to represent the Faith at an important religious conference. He was appointed a Hand of the Cause of God in 1951. On Mr. Townshend’s gravestone at Enniskerry is written: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.”
The Bahá’ís of Ireland talk fondly of the contributions made by Mr. Townshend. His name was mentioned often at the Waterford Summer School which was attended by Bahá’ís from Ireland, England, Germany, Iran, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and Holland.
They spent the mornings in study and devotion. In the afternoons, they went to nearby towns to teach and give out notices about public meetings to be held in Waterford during the evenings. Their effort was successful. The Hand of the Cause of God Paul Haney and Counsellor Betty Read of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Europe spent five days at the school to assist in the work.
Despite the recent expansion, teaching the Cause in Ireland is still difficult because of the entrenched values, traditions, and fears. The Irish emigrate to the United States and the overseas Commonwealth countries, and the population has been halved in modern times. Religious strife continues in Northern Ireland and bombings have occurred in Dublin. Northern Ireland is comprised of six counties which remained in the United Kingdom when Eire was established as a virtual but unproclaimed republic in 1937. Eire became the Republic of Ireland in 1949.
One goal of the Five Year Plan for the Irish Bahá’ís is to teach and consolidate in Northern Ireland. The time is ripe. As one youth put it: “Bahá’u’lláh is changing the hearts of the Irish.”
Bahá’ís are beginning to make a noticeable contribution to the quality of life in the Republic of Ireland. Pictured clockwise from top are Mrs. Doris Holley, widow of the Hand of the Cause of God Horace Holley, with two other Bahá’ís at the Waterford Summer School; one of many firesides in progress in the home of a pioneer; young pioneers talk about their experiences; the marker at the grave of the Hand of the Cause of God George Townshend which reads: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth;” the believers enjoy a Feast at Cork; deepening in the Faith at the Summer School; the friends pray for the success of teaching in Waterford.
The green light expedition: part III[edit]
By Anthony Roy Worley
“Time is short,” said Amatu’l-Bahá in one of her lectures to a Bahá’í audience. “It is straight mathematics. We are into the second century of the Bahá’í Era, which means we have 800 years left until we might have a new Manifestation of God. If, in over 100 years, we have only reached the present state of development, when will Bahá’u’lláh’s Dispensation come into being? We know that the majority of mankind will accept the Faith. How can it happen unless we have mass conversion? We must teach, teach, teach. The letters from The Universal House of Justice are foreshadowing tremendous changes. What are we going to do when instead of having five Bahá’ís in a community, we have 500? The Faith, as it grows, creates
[Page 7]
problems and finds ways to solve them; with greater numbers will come problems but so will the solutions; when we have masses of Bahá’ís, we can work with them.”
She reached out and picked up a biscuit on a plate before her. Showing it to the friends she said: “Did the man who made this biscuit take a little flour and water, mix them together and bake only one? No, it would be impossible! He started out with a lot of flour and water, worked them together and made thousands of biscuits at one time. This is what must happen to the Cause. In other words, Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings must be taught to the masses before we will begin to see a change in the world. The Master used to say ‘glad tidings, glad tidings.’ We must proclaim these glad tidings with intelligence and judgment.”
At 2 a.m. on April 12, Rúḥíyyih Khánum, accompanied by Counsellor Masud Khamsi of the Continental Board of Counsellors for South America, and the four other members of the Green Light Expedition, arrived at Belem International Airport, Brazil. The expedition, which began on February 4 in Venezuela, had already taken 68 days: 32 of them on a boat on the Orinoco and Ventuari rivers visiting the Indian peoples of the northern reaches of the Amazon basin, and 20 days in Surinam where we traveled deep into the jungles of the Guiana plateau, visiting the fascinating Bush Negroes, living in their villages and having the privilege of being present at the formation of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bush Negro village of Kamaloea.
Now we had arrived in Brazil, at Belem, the large city at the mouth of the mighty Amazon and Para rivers, here to begin a journey of intensive proclamation of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. When Rúḥíyyih Khánum had first envisioned this expedition, her plan had been to visit the primitive peoples of the Brazilian Amazon region. However, because of stringent government regulations introduced to protect the indigenous people from exploitation, as well as contamination from exposure to diseases imported from other environments, this plan had to be abandoned. Undaunted, she decided that the Brazilian part of the journey might well be given over to assisting in the spread of the Cause in the heart of the Amazon region.
The pace would be intense; in the short time available — 15 days — she would visit three cities, covering 2,570 kilometers (1,607 miles); meet the governors of two states, the heads of universities and ministers of education, speak to Bahá’ís, give lectures at universities, technical colleges, and high schools as well as seven interviews on television. All these events
| Press, television enthusiastic as proclamation projects opens |
culminated in a virtual spiritual assault on Manaus, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, where a team of Brazilian Bahá’ís, aided by Counsellor Raul Pavon of the Continental Board of Counsellors for South America from Ecuador, as well as three Auxiliary Board members, had arrived three weeks earlier to make preparations for a week-long proclamation program carefully planned by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Brazil.
It all began at 8:30 that same April 12 morning when Mohiman Shafa (a pioneer working at an ore-mining complex near Macapa, a city which Rúḥíyyih Khánum would visit in a few days) and two local Bahá’ís came to the hotel with flowers and a warm welcome to Brazil. After greetings, they presented her with a printed itinerary of her two-day visit to Belem, subject, of course, to her approval.
At 11:30 a.m. she gave a collective interview to members of the Belem press. The journalists were enthusiastic, a direct result of diligent work of the local Bahá’ís. Rúḥíyyih Khánum later explained to us that, although one can never be sure what the press will publish, the main thing is to make every effort to gain the support and esteem of journalists so that they will always associate the word Bahá’í with something worthy of praise and admiration. To create this response she considered was almost more important than what they might publish because that might soon be forgotten, but the impression they carried away from the press conference would be permanent. Over and over she pointed out to us that we must strive to establish in the minds of people that when they hear the word “Bahá’í” their reaction will be, “that is something good.”
At 8:30 p.m. Rúḥíyyih Khánum was interviewed by one of Belem’s largest television stations. Though relatively short, her interview came right after the national news-by-satellite program and was no doubt viewed by the peak evening audience. It was also the first time the Faith was given television coverage in Belem, the major city of northern Brazil. The owner of the television station, a prominent society woman, on hearing of Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s presence in the city, personally arranged for the interview.
As a direct result of this interview, a young lady who had accepted the Faith in another part of Brazil, tried to meet Rúḥíyyih Khánum. For two days, she called all the hotels, even contacting the United States Consulate, without any success. Though all the members of the expedition were staying at the same hotel, the registration was not in Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s name. On the last evening, as Rúḥíyyih Khánum was about to leave the hotel, a young woman came up and in halting English said how happy she was to be able to meet her. Not satisfied with her apparent failure and knowing that Rúḥíyyih Khánum was somewhere in the city, she had gone from hotel to hotel asking after the famous lady who had been on television. Might this not be a lesson in determination for all of us? It turned out that she had heard of the Faith from a travel-teacher and became enamored with the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. She had not read any books, only a pamphlet, before moving to a new job in Belem. She had the privilege of visiting with Rúḥíyyih Khánum for half an hour after which she received a copy of Prescription for Living
| Teachers hear a message of positive education |
in Portuguese and was put in touch with the local believers.
The day after we arrived was a Sunday and the Bahá’í friends decided to show Rúḥíyyih Khánum around the city, with a stop for lunch at a riverside restaurant where she was introduced to Amazonian cuisine. We also walked through the pleasant park of the local zoo where Rúḥíyyih Khánum was delighted to at last see a manatee, a large fish-like mammal found in Amazonian waters which, because it rises up when suckling its young at its breast, is supposed to be the origin of the mermaid legend.
That afternoon Rúḥíyyih Khánum met the Bahá’ís and a few of their relatives and friends at our hotel. After an informal talk, she answered many questions, some of which dealt with the youth of today and their problems. Rúḥíyyih Khánum stressed the importance of science and religion complementing each other. This, she said, had a great appeal to the youth. “All that science has revealed to us only serves to confirm my wonderment in the creation of God.” In answer to the question of how Bahá’ís regard reincarnation and the biblical reference to bodily resurrection on Judgment Day, Rúḥíyyih Khánum explained that Bahá’ís do not accept the theory that man’s soul should return to this material world over and over again; she then explained that the soul can progress and develop throughout the infinite worlds of God. As to Judgment Day, she referred to Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings in the Kitáb-i-Iqán where He explains that this is an allegorical reference to the Day the new Messenger of God reveals Himself to mankind. Bodily resurrection has a symbolical meaning: a study of science shows the impossibility of the identical physical recomposition of something after it has decomposed.
The following morning, April 14, the schedule was a full one. At 10 a.m. Rúḥíyyih Khánum met the director of the School of Education at the Federal University of the state of Para. He spoke to her in fluent English and then introduced her to his class of post-graduate teachers, comprised mostly of women, including some Catholic nuns.
All listened attentively when she told them that the power of the individual to effect change is greater than we think; history is made by individuals, the writer, the musician, the scientist, the leader in different fields of endeavor. She also stressed the importance of the teacher, whose character can never be hidden from his pupils; hence, the responsibility of the educator is very great. She drew their attention to the fact that our society today is based primarily on science, with its emphasis on criticism and analysis, but that when we are dealing with the individual we are dealing with feelings and emotions. The greatest mistake society makes today is incurred when it applies the faculties of analysis and criticism to personal relationships, carrying the critical and analytical approach to the extreme, seeking out the individual’s mistakes instead of encouraging the individual’s good points. We should always stress the positive, not the negative. Then and only then will our personal relationships be happy ones.
Rúḥíyyih Khánum explained that three quarters of the world’s population live in villages and she encouraged the teachers to reach these people, saying that difficult
At left, Amatu’l-Bahá meets in the village Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds with some of the Bahá’ís of Curiaú. Below, members of the expedition stopped at the marker near Macapa which indicates the equator.
[Page 10]
concepts could be conveyed to them if simple, direct language were used. She gave as an example the unity of religion through progressive revelation and stated that the primitive people could readily grasp this truth if they were taught with broad, elevated, and reasonable concepts. She stressed the role of the teacher as an extremely important one and said that when speaking to primitive people one must remember that they are as a clean sheet of paper on which the teacher will make a lasting impression.
After a short question period, the class was adjourned, in order to enable the students to proceed to their other lectures, but most of those present crowded around Rúḥíyyih Khánum to ask more questions. At this point the director of the school came to her and asked her if she had time to call upon the rector of the university as he had just spoken to him over the phone and the rector, whose office was in a different part of Belem, was anxious to meet her. Both the rector and vice rector of the Federal University of Para were waiting to receive her. The pleasant and informal interview lasted for about 30 minutes during which the rector was presented with a copy of Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s book Prescription for Living in Portuguese.
The Bahá’ís, in addition to articles in the press and the television interview, had arranged to have Prescription for Living on sale in four of Belem’s largest book stores; all available copies were sold out with requests for more.
Six a.m. April 15 found Rúḥíyyih Khánum and all members of the expedition airborne, on the way to visit Macapa, capital of the federal territory of Amapa, located on the northern bank of the Amazon River. This city dates from 1782 when the Portuguese built a fort there to protect the mouth of the Amazon from English, French, and Dutch encroachment. We were soon flying over the island of Marajó, an Indian term which means “protection from the sea”. It is situated in the Amazon’s estuary with an area of 30,000 square miles and is larger than Belgium. Today the island is used for large cattle farms and wild water buffaloes roam where once existed the center of the mysterious Indian Marajoara civilization.
Of the two advanced Indian civilizations that are known to have flourished in the Amazon region, it is believed that the Marajoara one flowered about 1000 A.D. They lived in city-like dwellings made of adobe, called “tesos,” and nowhere in the Americas have similar constructions been found. Their pottery, with exquisite bas-relief of red and black geometric designs, is the only trace of their civilization that remains. Their origin as well as the exact cause of their extinction remain a mystery. Another fascinating people were the Tapajos, who lived along the banks of the Tapajo River not far from where its clear green waters meet the muddy Amazon, near the site of present day Santarem. At the time of the arrival of the first explorers from Europe, in the early part of the 16th century, the Tapajo population was estimated at 240,000. They must have been well-versed in the martial arts, for after an attack with poisoned arrows, the early Spaniards decided to go elsewhere! Among the cultural artifacts which still remain is the Tapajos pottery which, unlike that of the Marajoara, depicts Amazon animals, a virtual clay zoo. They were also road builders. Straight highways which connected their villages can still be seen today. The Tapajos also disappeared, leaving modern scholars and archaeologists with more questions than answers.
The Indian peoples living in the Amazon region today are divided into different groups, almost all of which belong to the great Tupi peoples. Some of these tribes have lived up to the present completely isolated in the jungles without any contact with the white man, but a great many have already contacted our civilization and some have tried to become part of it. Until the 19th century, in the state of Amazonas, the main language was not Portuguese but a modified dialect of Tupi-Guarani.
Rúḥíyyih Khánum and the expedition members were received at the airport of Macapa by the pioneer family who had invited us to visit them for a few days in the beautiful residential compound of the manganese mining town of Santana, 30 kilometers southwest of Macapa, where we were lodged in a company guesthouse. During our five-day visit it rained torrentially.
The evening of our arrival, Rúḥíyyih Khánum and the other members of the expedition were driven in two cars over muddy roads to a small village of Negro fisherfolk where she was to be the guest of the governor of the territory at a traditional dance and song festival arranged in her honor. In spite of the wet weather, the governor of the territory of Amapa, Sr. Artur de Azevedo Henning and his wife, as well as other government dignitaries, were there to welcome us. The festivities were held in a large thatched roof hut built on stilts with open sides. An old generator was put to work and supplied enough electricity to illuminate the one hut. Our team
Expedition members land at Macapa
[Page 11]
was able to film the occasion, including a seldom performed traditional church liturgy consisting of African and Gregorian chants. At one point, an old Negro lady, who was calling out the dance time, took Rúḥíyyih Khánum by the hand and walked her around the room in time to the drum beat; after Rúḥíyyih Khánum, it was the governor’s turn to be danced around the room amid the applause of the villagers. During the show, both the governor and his wife conversed with Rúḥíyyih Khánum in French, and when the presentation was over, thanked her for honoring their territory with her visit.
In Macapa, Rúḥíyyih Khánum was interviewed for 30 minutes by a Catholic radio station; the program was so successful it was broadcast twice. She also taped a program for the government television station which lasted 25 minutes and included some photographs illustrating portions of the Venezuelan and Surinam trips. She was met at the TV station by its director and the governor’s officer of protocol, yet another demonstration of the high regard the government authorities afforded her visit.
After weeks of jungle travel, the expedition had a lot of washing to do before the next jungle phase started; in between social appointments, our bungalow was turned into a laundry — seven sets of hammocks, blankets, and large mosquito nets received our unanimous attention especially since it was pouring rain most of the time. Attempts were made to get things dry every time the rain stopped, but we finally resorted to an ingenious spider web of clothes lines all over the guesthouse.
On the afternoon of April 17, Rúḥíyyih Khánum traveled 45 miles to visit the believers of Curiaú; this was a humble fisherman’s village, but the Bahá’í community had built its own Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, where we all gathered. It was a clean well-kept wooden house of one big room built on stilts. The adults were mostly away at work, but the children were all eager to show Rúḥíyyih Khánum how many Bahá’í songs they could sing. We all spent a very happy afternoon among these sincere believers. Rúḥíyyih Khánum told them that she had specially come to Macapa because she had heard of them; otherwise, she would never have made this part of the trip, but gone on directly to Manaus from Surinam. She showed them some black and white photographs of the expedition and told them stories about it. She also told them stories about Bahá’u’lláh and the Master, which made them very happy and encouraged them to be active in teaching the Faith and to make an effort to send a delegate to the National Convention.
That same night, Rúḥíyyih Khánum gave a public talk in the largest auditorium in town during another torrential rain storm. She was introduced, in very cordial terms, to the audience which turned out in spite of the weather, by the minister of education for the territory, Sr. Leonardo Leite. She spoke of the needs of the present-day world, the great advances in scientific discoveries which have been made, but the total lack of the necessary moral or spiritual responsibility to control the use to which these discoveries are put. No group, whether governmental or religious, would accept the suggested controls or tolerate the imposition of another peer group’s standards. “I believe,” she stated, “that all would listen to Divine Will if they could be sure that it was, indeed, from God.” With the advances made in the means of transportation and communication, a man today lives much closer to his neighbor, but neither one likes this nor acts in a more neighborly manner. “God seems to be like a blacksmith. He is taking the separate bars of iron, putting them into the furnace until they become white hot, and when they are ready He will mould them together.”
She spoke of a new and devastating 20th-century prejudice: that of the educated towards the uneducated or illiterate. This widespread prejudice might prove to be the worst of all because the illiterate has not had the opportunity to be otherwise. He may be unlettered, but he is not ignorant, since wisdom has nothing to do with knowing how to read and write. Rúḥíyyih Khánum then referred to the education of the primitive peoples, saying that the Brazilian people have the great responsibility of bringing the Indian peoples into their civilization; there is nowhere else they can go, but great care should be taken as to how this is done.
In answer to a question about what form of government the Bahá’ís envision for the future, Rúḥíyyih Khánum answered by relating a dream one of the early Bahá’ís had had: the world was submerged in an ever-growing flood of water and mud, and while some were fruitlessly trying to save helpless humanity, the dreamer had begun looking for Abdu’l-Bahá to obtain His assistance. Finally, she found Him on a mountain top, bending over a machine He was working on. With great difficulty, she attracted His attention and pleaded with Him to help save drowning humanity. Abdu’l-Bahá’s answer was that He was busy perfecting a machine to make the
Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds on stilts is visited
| A flight over the vast region of the Amazon |
flood go down: “We Bahá’ís believe,” Rúḥíyyih Khánum said, “that by devoting our attention to the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh we are helping to perfect a Divine System that will solve the world’s many problems.” The rain had finally stopped, but her rapt audience seemed in no hurry to leave and stayed much longer than anticipated.
Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s visit produced many opportunities for teaching all segments of Macapa society. The pioneer family who were our hosts gave a reception in her honor at which we met many officials of the mining company and friends of the family, amongst them the minister of education for the Territory of Amapa.
On April 19, Amatu’l-Bahá met with some of the Macapa believers, visiting the home of the first Bahá’í family there, built on stilts over mud flats beside the Amazon River. It was almost sundown, and time to prepare for the following day’s journey but there were a few minutes to spare, so on our way back to Santana we stopped at the marker which indicates the equator and sat down on it to have some photographs taken.
Macapa is becoming increasingly important; among many other projects, the Brazilian government has already begun building a highway from Macapa which will stretch 1,895 miles across the north of the Amazon basin, linking Brazil to all its northern neighbors, the Guianas, Venezuela, Columbia, and Peru. This is but one of the seven major highways now under construction by the Brazilian government. This audacious program calls for the construction of 7,500 miles of road linking the east and south of Brazil with the entire Amazon region. For how much longer will the Amazon be an unspoiled wilderness?
The Amazon was discovered in 1539 by the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana who named it the “River of the Amazons” after an encounter with a group of Indians whom he mistook for women, associating them with mythological Greek female warriors of the same name. The Amazon basin today covers an area of approximately eight million square kilometers (five million square miles), five million kilometers of which are within Brazil’s borders. This largely forested area is said to be responsible for half of the earth’s oxygen renewal.
The source of the mighty Amazon river lies in the mountains of Peru and it is fed along its 6,750 kilometers (4,229 miles) journey to the Atlantic by thousands of springs in the Andean range and over 1,100 river tributaries whose northern sources are the Guiana plateau and its southern sources drain the Brazilian plateau. The Amazon enters the Atlantic Ocean along a 200 kilometer (125 mile) wide estuary between the island of Marajo to the south and the federal Territory of Amapa to the north. During the flood season it rushes into the Atlantic at the rate of 240 thousand cubic meters per second—which in a day is enough water to supply a city with a population of 10 million for nine years! It drives the salt water before it and at times makes waves 12 meters high. This phenomenon is known by the Indian name of “Pororoca,” an attempt to reproduce the sound of the thundering waves as they crash into each other, a sound which can be heard for many kilometers around.
The Amazon not only has the greatest volume of water but is the longest navigable river in the world, with 4,061 kilometers (2,538 miles) from its mouth to the junction with the Ucayali and Maranon rivers in Peru; of the 20 largest rivers in the world, 10 feed into the Amazon; three of its tributaries, the Madeira, Jurua, and the Purus, are many times larger than such famous rivers as the Danube, the Euphrates, the Seine, or the Thames. No wonder its basin is calculated to contain one fifth of all the world’s fresh water reserves.
The immensity that is the Amazon became evident to us when on April 20, at 6:30 a.m., we left Macapa, bidding our dear friends a fond farewell, and flew for more than 2½ hours by jet over this huge waterway to Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas.
Our team, consisting now of Amatu’l-Bahá, Mr. Khamsi, David Walker, Mark Sadan, Rodney Charters, and myself, arrived in a tropical downpour to be met by a group of excited Brazilian Bahá’ís. Many of them had come from the south of Brazil some weeks earlier to inaugurate activities which were to culminate with Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s presence at the first Bahá’í Conference of the Amazon region. At the air terminal, in the pouring rain, more than 50 Bahá’í children from the mass teaching areas of Manaus greeted Rúḥíyyih Khánum with flowers and a large welcoming banner. The secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, Auxiliary Board members, pioneers, and two new Bahá’ís from Manaus community were all there to shower her with the warmth of a Latin American welcome. In the VIP lounge, she was greeted by the representative of the governor of the state of Amazonas and presented with an official
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car for her personal use for the duration of her visit to Manaus, a further evidence of the courtesy and hospitality so typical of this part of the world.
The Brazilian National Spiritual Assembly, after hearing of Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s intended visit to the Amazon region, had, with the help of Counsellor Raul Pavon, been making plans for over six weeks for the Conference to be held in Manaus. An appeal for volunteer teachers to help with this spiritual adventure was made through the National Bahá’í Bulletin of Brazil, with an immediate response from the Bahá’ís of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, and Salvador Bahia, many having traveled over 3,500 kilometers to reach Manaus. During the five weeks of intense preparation, articles were placed in the newspapers, visits were made to the governor, the radio and television stations, the secretary of education, and directors of many schools. Arrangements were made for the use of auditoriums and the municipal library was made available for a week-long Bahá’í exposition. This exposition was a great success, as the library is frequented by both young and old, students and teachers, and turned out to be the most fruitful method of teaching, producing over 200 inquiries for a correspondence course on the Bahá’í Faith. The majority of new enrollments during the weeks of proclamation also came as a result of this effort.
The friends, including many Bahá’í youth, divided into teams and with constant prayers and consultation undertook a mass teaching campaign during the weeks immediately preceding the Conference which resulted in 150 new believers who were now all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the beloved Hand of the Cause of God to their city. Mr. Khamsi, referring to all this activity, summed it up perfectly when he said: “This was unique in South American Bahá’í history; there has never been anything quite like it; 100 per cent results have been produced by 100 per cent effort.”
During the week of April 20-26 Rúḥíyyih Khánum gave innumerable talks to the believers and seven lectures to various groups of university and high school students; a press conference was held, she was twice on the news program of two different television stations and a 30-minute interview on the government television station took place. She met with both the governor of Amazonas state and the representative of the Brazilian Department of Indian Affairs, FUNAI. To those who were present, it was Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s inspiring words that will forever remain as the highlight of her unforgettable visit.
On the evening of April 20, addressing a hall full of newly enrolled believers during her first talk in Manaus, she told them of her experience some years previously in a meeting with some illiterate new Bahá’ís in Bolivia. She had said to them they should go and teach the Faith now they had accepted Bahá’u’lláh; one of them said “but we do not know anything; we have just become Bahá’ís; how can we teach when we know so little? She had answered: “Now that you have become Bahá’ís you must go out and teach the Bahá’í Faith: You know that this is a message from God; you know that because you have accepted it, you are a Bahá’í; you know that it is a good thing, and that it will bring about the brotherhood of mankind and do away with war; these are four things you know about the Bahá’í Faith; now go and teach it!”
April 21 was to be a highlight of our visit to Brazil. At 3:30 p.m. the whole community of Manaus was present to greet Amatu’l-Baha Rúḥíyyih Khánum, celebrate the Feast of Riḍván and elect their first Local Spiritual Assembly. The gathering was held in a large hall of a district school in the area where most of the mass teaching had taken place. After the spiritual part of the Feast, Rúḥíyyih Khánum addressed the more than 50 Bahá’í children present and asked them to name the most important day of the year. Two little children answered: “Mother’s Day and Holy Friday.” She then explained the meaning of these two days. That Mother’s Day was celebrated to remember our mothers, who brought us into this world and educated us, and Holy Friday was remembered as the day Jesus Christ ascended to His Heavenly home and began His life for eternity near to His Father. “Today for us Bahá’ís,” she said, “this is the Holiest of all Bahá’í Festivals, because this is the Day that a Man who came from God said: ‘I have brought you a solution for all of your problems.’ His name was Bahá’u’lláh; He said: ‘I am the One that you have been waiting for.’
Some of the Bahá’ís who worked on the intensive proclamation program in Manaus dine with members of the Green Light Expedition below. At left, Auxiliary Board member Habib Rezivani expresses the appreciation of the Brazilian Bahá’ís for Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s presence at the Amazon Conference.
| 500 students hear talk on unity |
On this day 112 years ago, He began to give His Message to the world, and it was the beginning of the solution to all our difficulties. That is why for the Bahá’ís today is the happiest day of the world.” She went on to tell the children of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, His suffering, His exile, His humiliation, and imprisonment.
Turning to the older Bahá’ís, she then mentioned the Bahá’í elections which were to take place all over the world on this day. She explained Bahá’í administration by comparing the little children and the individual Bahá’ís present, each to the light of an individual candle; she said that the elected Assemblies in each city were like the strongest electric lights and that National Spiritual Assemblies were like the brightest searchlights. “Then we have an International Assembly and it is called The Universal House of Justice — universal because it is for all mankind and justice because justice is what we need most in the world. The light of that Assembly is like the light of the sun, while Bahá’u’lláh is the Light or Glory of God. Bahá’í means the follower of light.”
After this talk, the election of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Manaus took place. It comprised both the first pioneer to Manaus and his wife and a Chinese pioneer couple from Taiwan, as well as a number of the newly enrolled believers. The Feast of Riḍván was concluded with the hall resounding with children’s sweet voices singing Bahá’í songs.
In the afternoon of the following day (April 22), Rúḥíyyih Khánum, accompanied by Mr. Khamsi, Auxiliary Board member Jairo Cerqueira, and myself, visited the regional representative of FUNAI, the government Department for Indian Affairs. It is FUNAI which is in charge of contacting those primitive Indian tribes that lie in the direct route of the projected northern highways. During the one-hour interview, the FUNAI official showed much courtesy to Rúḥíyyih Khánum, at one point introducing her to a member of an Indian tribe from the Upper Amazon who came in; and gave her a copy of the recently adopted governmental Indian Statutes. He took much pride in showing her the excellent textbooks which are being used to teach the Indian peoples their own language and Portuguese. On leaving, Rúḥíyyih Khánum commented that every passing day makes our reaching the primitive peoples more difficult.
In the evening, Rúḥíyyih Khánum spoke to the combined classes at the Technical Federal College of Amazonas, with an attendance of about 500 students. The secretary of education had suspended all classes that night so that the students might attend her lecture. Our own film crew not only covered this event but two television stations filmed portions of the meeting which were later broadcast on the daily news programs. Following a general presentation of the tenets of the Faith and a few words about her expedition to the primitive peoples of South America, Rúḥíyyih Khánum told her young audience that the Bahá’ís believe in unity in diversity. People today when they speak of unity really mean unity in uniformity, in other words, you be like me and everything will be all right. “Each religious group says, ‘if all the others become like us then we will all be alike and everything will be fine.’ Politically this philosophy is even stronger — what are the great powers saying to each other? ‘You be like us and
| Rúḥíyyih Khánum meets governor of Amazonas |
then we can have peace.’ It doesn’t work and is one of the problems of the world.”
“... One of the profound Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is unity in diversity,” she continued, “that races, tribes, and nations should live their own lives, but not to sacrifice the whole for the part. That is why we Bahá’ís believe that eventually there will be federated states of the world. It is going to take a long time; it will not come tomorrow, but it must come — because that is the way technology is taking us. If it can come about without much suffering, we do not know. When an ironsmith has a lot of bars of iron and he wants to forge them into a single piece, he puts them in the fire until they become white hot, and in many ways this is what we see happening to the world today. This world is burning, but eventually it will become one. How soon and how well depends on your generation.”
She concluded with: “It is wonderful to be young; your life is in your own hands and you can do wonderful things with it if you want.” Her presentation was so well received that many of the students stayed for at least an hour more for further explanations and the authorities who had been present (some of whom had been lukewarm in their attitudes) requested to be personally introduced to Rúḥíyyih Khánum and were present at her later talks as well.
On April 23 at 7 p.m., Rúḥíyyih Khánum addressed the students of the State University School of Technology. Once again her talk was well attended and as a result of the intense interest shown, the question period extended well beyond the time originally planned.
One of the crowning events of her visit took place the following day when, at 9 a.m. on April 24, she had a 45-minute interview with the governor of the State of Amazonas, Professor Henoch da Silva Reis, a gentleman in his late 60’s who, before being appointed governor, was a much respected member of Brazil’s Court of Appeals. In his opening remarks, he said that he had been looking forward to this meeting ever since the Bahá’ís had presented him with a copy of her book Prescription for Living, and then quoted from memory some passages in it. The governor asked Rúḥíyyih Khánum a number of questions, most of which concerned the Bahá’í attitude toward different aspects of man’s material and spiritual existence. He asked her to tell him in more detail about life after death. He was visibly impressed by her explanation of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings on this subject. Before departing Rúḥíyyih Khánum presented him, on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly, with two books: The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh in Portuguese and Bahá’í World, Volume 14. The governor was so pleased with her visit that he kept putting off his other appointments to be a few minutes longer with his honored guest. With regards to the Faith in Manaus, he told Rúḥíyyih Khánum that he hoped to hear more of the Bahá’ís in the future.
When we left the governor, his press secretary interviewed Rúḥíyyih Khánum and a very good press release reporting her visit was published in all the daily papers the following morning. The press secretary was astonished to learn that the Bahá’ís had not asked for any favors of the governor and Rúḥíyyih Khánum had to assure him more than once that her call had been
Members of the public visit the Bahá’í exhibition held in the municipal library at Manaus.
| Youth told of their responsibilities for the future |
purely one of courtesy and made in a friendly spirit with no strings attached.
This was to be a very busy day: at 4:30 p.m. Rúḥíyyih Khánum addressed the students at the Instituto de Educacão where over 85 young women heard her speak on the great importance of woman’s role in the new world. The emphasis was on education in the home and stressed that the mothers are the first educators of the human race and they should therefore receive an enlightened education themselves, that the mother’s example and teaching sets the life-long standard for the child in moral conduct, cleanliness, truthfulness, etc. She spoke of the importance of a mother’s advice to her daughter, stressing the purity women should maintain to safeguard their future homes; how women should help their husbands to develop their spiritual qualities and be morally strong in a most corrupt world, a veritable jungle of dishonesty and temptation.
At 8:30 that same night Rúḥíyyih Khánum spoke to high school students at the Colegio Estadual de Amazonas in which she stated in no uncertain terms her views on the probable destruction of the present-day civilization and the responsibility of the youth regarding the future of the world. She first stressed the responsibilities of the individual. “There is a philosophy that has entered peoples minds which I think is ridiculous. Psychologists, to a great extent, have taught us that we are not responsible for our acts. They say: ‘He came from a poor background, that’s why he is a criminal.’; they say that the mother neglected the child or it suffered some shock in its childhood and therefore it became a criminal or drug addict. But all the religions of the world — all of them — believe that man is accountable for his acts. What do we mean by sin and virtue? We mean that when we are virtuous, we did the right thing and when we sinned, we did the wrong thing. Young people have to be more conscious of their responsibilities. You cannot blame society or the world or your parents, because the facts do not support such a theory. There is another very strange concept in the world today: nobody ever believes that he can get bananas off an apple tree; you know perfectly well that all you will ever get from chicken eggs are chickens; then why is it that so often in the world today, people believe that if you have violence you will get peace; that out of hatred you will get love; that out of completely amoral conduct you will get virtue? It does not stand to reason; a complete contradiction of what one’s mind tells one must be so; yet this kind of muddled thinking is going on all over the world.”
Referring to the trend of Western civilization and its present decline, Rúḥíyyih Khánum said: “People today seem to have their ideas canned; their emotions come already packaged, their human relationships seem to be determined by some kind of imaginary formula. I think this is one of the signs that indicate that Western civilization has gone to great extremes and it is no longer a healthy civilization. My late husband defined it as a ‘cancerous materialism.’ In other words, when material values become predominant over all moral and spiritual values, it is very unhealthy. We Bahá’ís believe that the destiny of man is to carry forward an ever advancing civilization, but a civilization that loses its spiritual and moral values is like a dead body. It is like a man, who, when he loses all his spiritual and moral values, becomes degenerate and even dangerous to society. One of the most encouraging things all over the world, including Europe, America, and Canada, is the youth. I admire the youth of today. I admire your generation. There is a reaction among the youth against this extreme materialism.” She further added, “There is only one way for us to go and that is forward, but the great question facing everyone in the world today is how to go forward safely.”
She spoke during this same lecture of Bahá’u’lláh’s teaching on obedience to government; that the most terrible thing in the world is war, but one thing is worse than war — civil war. Referring to civil disobedience she said that some people today feel that it is their right to protest any measure that does not appeal to them without considering the rights of others to do likewise and that this attitude when carried to its logical conclusion can only produce chaos and anarchy. This is true even in the home, not only in civic matters. “If you carry liberty to extremes, you get nothing but chaos.”
“Bahá’ís believe”, she went on to say, “that everything should be conducted with moderation, neither too much nor too little liberty; neither too much spirituality nor too much materialism; neither too much poverty nor too much riches — in everything the middle of the way. Often this is difficult for young people because by nature they are full of energy; it is only natural. I remember when I was your age there was not anything that I felt I could not do! That is why the youth are so important. The future is in the hands of the youth.
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If the youth are sensible, have good judgment, if they have good characters, if they have the balance between the body, the mind, and the soul, if they have the right ideas and ideals they can bring about world peace, can help build a world society, can be of wonderful service to their nation, they can change the atmosphere of the city in which they live. But they will not be able to do it unless they have both vision and discipline!”
In answer to a students’ question as to the possibility of a third world war, Rúḥíyyih Khánum replied by telling them of Bahá’u’lláh’s letters to the kings, and His exhortation to world leaders to join in preventing further wars; at this late date, however, she felt it very difficult for a war to be completely avoided. She said: “It is as if someone who is traveling down a great river, suddenly comes to very dangerous rapids; it is too late to turn the boat around, the only thing he can do is try to survive the rapids.” Her only hope was that the catastrophe might be on as small a scale as possible and that humanity should strive to come out of it. “My husband, Shoghi Effendi, used to say,” she told them, “that ‘the immediate future of the world is very dark, but that the distant future for humanity is very, very bright.’ I think that distant future depends a great deal on your generation!”
April 25 and 26 were the last days of Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s visit to the city of Manaus. On April 26, Governor Henoch Reis had kindly arranged for Rúḥíyyih Khánum and the members of the expedition to be taken sightseeing on the river in the governor’s speed boat as his guest; first to the spot where the muddy and dark brown waters of the Amazon and Negro rivers meet and then to a floating tourist hotel for refreshments of delicious tropical fruit and nuts followed by a side trip in a smaller boat through flooded Amazon jungles to see the giant Victoria Regia water lilies, the leaves of which can be over three feet in diameter.
On April 27 at 4:30 a.m., in the pitch dark, the members of the Green Light Expedition left Manaus, with all its exhausting and happy memories, for the airport, their destination Leticia in Colombia; in spite of the inconveniences involved, many of the Manaus Bahá’í friends came to see us off, even though it seemed only a few minutes ago since we had all been together during Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s last lecture in Brazil, the night before, which took place in the large auditorium of the municipal library and was her farewell meeting with the friends. She had begun by thanking all the Brazilian Bahá’ís for all the kindness and love they had shown her. Then she spoke about Manaus, how she felt here a youthful frontier spirit of comradeship, enthusiasm, and adventure. She said Manaus was the hub of a wheel and the wheel was the whole vast Amazon region, a region encompassing five countries, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. “From here,” she stated, “the whole of the Amazon region can be taught the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.” Addressing some of the Bahá’ís from the south, especially the ladies, she said that she considered the new Bahá’í community of Manaus was like a newborn infant. Who, she asked, was going to look after her baby? She encouraged the friends to return, who had worked so hard there to prepare the way, to visit again and again this new community and to bring others to help from outside.
“Adopt Manaus in your hearts,” she pleaded. “Manaus has been a very exceptional experience. I have been in places where there has been a great deal of publicity, a great many lectures, many of them in schools. I have been in places where I was received very cordially by the president or the governor and where the press has been very friendly, but I have very, very seldom, maybe once or twice in my life, ever had an experience which has had such a high percentage of successful events, as have been the activities this week in Manaus.”
She said she felt very strongly that all over the world there was a new receptivity to the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. One who observes animals, she said, can tell when a storm is about to come because they become nervous and restless; they sense the approaching storm and become much more alert. “Now it is my impression,” she told us, “from these last years of travel that humanity senses the storm coming towards it and there is a new alertness, a restlessness, a seeking, that was not there 15 or 20 years ago. This is one reason that we Bahá’ís must spend more time telling others about the Message of Bahá’u’lláh. If you believe that this religion is from God, then there is always a mysterious quality in it and this mysterious quality helps us, inspires us, enables us to do things that by ourselves we can never do. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá put it in very beautiful words; He said: ‘There is a mysterious power in this Cause, far, far above the ken of men and of angels ...’ I believe that this is the beginning of a new release of spiritual power in this whole Amazon region.”
Rúḥíyyih Khánum closed her address with the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “As ye have faith, so shall your powers and blessings be; this is the balance, this is the balance, this is the balance.”
The youngest member of the Manaus Bahá’í community sits on Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s lap at the last meeting with the friends in that city.
Around the World[edit]
Canada
Auxiliary Board member Fred Graham passes[edit]
Auxiliary Board member Fred Graham passed away on July 21, 1975. He died instantly of a heart attack in the sunny garden of his beloved summer home in Ontario, Canada. He had often expressed the wish that when it was his time to pass on, he would be at his family cottage, on the shores of Lake Huron, on a summer day. He is survived by his widow, Jean, and two sons, Brian and Barrie.
Counsellor Lloyd G. Gardner of the Continental Board of Counsellors for North America conducted a simple graveside service for Mr. Graham. He read cables and messages of sympathy from The Universal House of Justice, the International Teaching Center, and the Hand of the Cause of God Zikrullah Khadem. The Universal House of Justice cable said:
Mr. Graham’s service to the Cause was characterized by a deep love of the administrative institutions. He was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada in 1954, and was appointed an Auxiliary Board member in 1964. Following a heart attack, he retired from business to devote all his time to his activities as an Auxiliary Board member.
“How thoroughly he understood the secret of communication,” Counsellor Gardner said of him. “Fred’s door, his telephone line, and his great loving heart have been wide open to the friends at every moment, day and night. Consequently, in a vast Auxiliary Board territory that at one time included all the provinces of Eastern Canada—Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland—Fred always seemed fully aware of everything that was going on. The friends came to him with their problems, large and small, and to seek his approval for their achievements. No one who came to him left empty-handed.
“A tribute to Fred would not be complete if it did not extend also to his devoted wife, Jean,” Mr. Gardner continued. “If Fred were looking over my shoulder now he would be saying: ‘Tell them about Jean.’ ... Jean has managed to combine an intensive service to her beloved Faith with her professional life as a teacher and school principal. They have been a superb team.”
And in a letter to Mrs. Graham, Mr. Gardner wrote, “Such love was present at the service for Fred ... I doubt if the town of Kincardine had previously witnessed anything like it. We all felt that great spirit of Fred, present, as always, loving—guiding—and strengthening us.”
Germany
Summer vacationers hear about the Faith[edit]
These German youth spent 19 days of their summer distributing Bahá’í information to vacationers along the Baltic Sea coast.
The Regional Teaching Committee of Northern Germany planned this “Teach on the Beach” campaign to reach the many people who flock to the coast each summer. Response was generally positive, as the people, away from their rushed city homes, were relaxed and open to new ideas. A similar project will be launched next summer on the German North Sea coast.
Premier George Walters of Antigua, right, chats with a delegation of Bahá’ís from the Counsellors Conference. From left are Ellsworth Blackwell of Haiti, Mrs. Edie Holbert of Antigua, Counsellor Alfred Osborne, and Shamsi Sedaghat.
Leeward and Virgin Islands
Counsellors Conference cheers the islands[edit]
The Counsellors Conference, held August 15-16 on the island of Antigua, closed with a public meeting that included music and the film “Step by Step.” One song, presented by two youth from St. Thomas and Saba, said that since they were so young, the only thing they could give to Bahá’u’lláh was their hearts. That night, Antigua was blessed with two new believers.
The conference was called by the Continental Board of Counsellors for Central America to “bring together for a few days the Bahá’ís from the Caribbean and neighboring areas, to further inform and deepen us all about present tasks and methods, opportunities and possibilities, in the achievement of the Five Year Plan goals.”
Since it takes much time and money to travel through the Leeward and Virgin Islands, only 40 or 50 Bahá’ís were expected at the conference. But the conference attracted 115 believers, representing the French Antilles and nearly every island in the Leeward and Virgin chain, as well as the Windward Islands, New Hebrides, Alaska, Canada, the United States, England, El Salvador, Panama, and Mexico.
All talks were translated into either English or French. Four members of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Central America addressed the conference: Carmen de Burafato, Mexico; Rowland Estall,, Haiti;
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More than 100 persons attended Counsellors Conference on the island of Antigua in August.
Artemus Lamb, El Salvador; and Alfred Osborne, Panama. Each Counsellor spoke on a topic related to winning the Five Year Plan goals: the distinctive character of Bahá’í life, widespread expansion of the Bahá’í community, understanding the role of the Institutions of the Faith, and the role of women.
Three Auxiliary Board members: Shirley Mather from St. Thomas, Shirley Yarbrough from Barbados, and newly appointed René Jean-Baptiste from Haiti, spoke on the development of Local Spiritual Assemblies, teaching experiences, and the aim of the Five Year Plan.
Other speakers came from the United States, Puerto Rico, Barbados, and Martinique. Lively discussions followed each presentation.
Immediately after the conference, the first Bahá’í Summer School in the Leeward and Virgin Islands began. Classes, presented in both English and French, concentrated on teaching. Hazel Lovelace, an Alaskan Indian, conducted a class on teacher training. Teams formed to teach the Faith in the town of St. John’s; the coordinator of the teams had only been a Bahá’í for a few weeks.
The teams found 13 new Bahá’ís, among them the wife of the chief education officer in St. John’s, and a man who is one of the most respected broadcasters in the Caribbean.
As well as finding new Bahá’ís, the conference and summer school stimulated proclamation through courtesy calls to government officials and television and radio interviews.
The Universal House of Justice cabled the friends in Antigua: “DELIGHTED HIGH SPIRIT VALUABLE RESULTS ANTIGUA CONFERENCE SUMMER SCHOOL OFFERING PRAYERS SUSTENANCE ALL ATTENDANTS AND CARIBBEAN ASSEMBLIES REAP RICH REWARDS EXPANSION CONSOLIDATION LOVE. THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE”.
Caribbean radio personality Julian Rogers enrolls in the Faith during Counsellors Conference.
Nigeria
Ikot-Ubo Bahá’ís proclaim the Faith[edit]
These Bahá’ís of Ikot-Ubo, southeastern state of Nigeria, are gathered for a proclamation meeting. In the center, back row, is Charles Leiche, pioneer to Nigeria who spent June and August travel-teaching, aiding the teaching and deepening efforts of the friends in 18 communities. To the extreme right is Kingsley J. Umoh, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of Nigeria.
[Page 20]
Around the World
Panama
House of Worship gets thorough cleaning[edit]
The Panama House of Worship was thoroughly cleaned this summer. The youth pictured above is using a high-powered hose to clean the dome and patterned wall. The inside of the Temple was also cleaned with high-powered hoses, and the Greatest Name plaque was lowered from the ceiling of the dome, and its surface refinished and polished.
Besides helping to clean the Temple, the friend in these pictures visited the San Blas Islands and showed films to the Cuna Indians.
Another youth, visiting Panama from Nebraska, went on a teaching trip to the Darien Jungle where she and her companions showed movies and gave classes on Bahá’í administration.
Papua New Guinea
8 remote villages almost all Bahá’í[edit]
Nearly every person in eight villages in the Mt. Brown region of Eastern Papua New Guinea is a Bahá’í.
The Mt. Brown area is remote. To reach it, two Canadian pioneers wrote that they “drove as far as a regular car could go, then waited two and a half days for a passenger truck that would take us to the end of the road. From there we walked for three days up and down mountains and across six rivers until we reached Aireauka, where we received a welcome fit for royalty.”
In the village of Aireauka, the two pioneers attended the opening of the newly constructed Bahá’í Meeting Place, a building “meant to be a place for Bahá’ís to come together and worship rather than an office or administrative center.”
The most exciting thing about the growth of the Faith in the Mt. Brown region is that no outside Bahá’ís took the Message there. Some men, native to that region, learned of the Faith while traveling and brought the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh back to their people.
United States
Chicago announces own Five Year Plan[edit]
Bahá’ís of Illinois gathered at the Chicago Bahá’í Center on September 13 to learn of the Chicago Spiritual Assembly’s special Five Year Plan.
The plan requires major expansion of the Chicago Bahá’í community, the establishment of 10 college clubs with special emphasis on teaching the Faith to foreign students, sending six pioneers overseas, a 35 per cent increase in contributions to the Fund, increased minority teaching, and increased use of media, especially foreign language radio stations and newspapers.
So far, the Assembly reported, two pioneers have gone abroad, a summer youth project focused on Greek and Spanish-speaking neighborhoods resulted in 19 Spanish-speaking new Bahá’ís, and $5,000 has been contributed toward building a new Bahá’í Center in Chicago.
The Hand of the Cause of God Dhikr’u’lláh Khádem and Counsellor Edna True of the Continental Board of Counsellors for North America addressed the gathering. Miss True recalled that, in a cable sent to the young Bahá’í community
Togo
Members of first Togo National Assembly[edit]
The members of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Togo assemble with the Hand of the Cause of God Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir, seated second from left.
The Togo National Spiritual Assembly was elected at the first National Convention last Riḍván. The members are, from left, Kawku Negble Attigah, vice chairman; Mr. Muhájir; Amevor Amematchron; George Allen, secretary; and, standing, Yao Azikpati; Kodjo Honsou; Maylo Murday, treasurer; Komi Koussanta, assistant treasurer; Baban Soga Kamoe, assistant secretary; and Amru’llah Khelghati, chairman.
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The Hand of the Cause of God Dhikru’lláh Khádem addresses meeting at Chicago Bahá’í Center.
of Chicago, Abdu’l-Bahá likened that city to a heart, saying, “Thank God Chicago is a strong heart.”
Mr. Khádem said he would send a copy of Chicago’s Five Year Plan to the Bahá’ís of Ṭihrán, for it would uplift them, as they are not permitted to teach openly. He said that when he traveled in the East, the friends there asked him to tell the Bahá’ís of the West to teach, to win the goals of the Five Year Plan for them.
California teaching project a success[edit]
A teaching institute conducted by Auxiliary Board member Paul Pettit prepared a group of Bahá’ís for a special teaching effort in Watsonville, an agricultural community in Northern California.
For two weeks, Bahá’í teachers invited the people of Watsonville to meetings, both personally and through radio and TV. The nightly meetings were brief. A movie, songs, and a five-minute talk were followed by informal fellowship. The time of fellowship was most important, giving the seekers a chance to ask, on a one-to-one level, questions which they were too shy to ask in front of the whole audience.
The effort in Watsonville, sponsored by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Santa Cruz County North and the California Regional Teaching Committee, is now an ongoing project, for 69 people have become new Bahá’ís. Because they bring their friends to weekly deepening sessions, and their friends declare, the number is constantly growing.
Teaching plans mapped in agricultural community in Northern California where 69 persons enrolled in the Faith in a short period.
Though all the people of Watsonville
were invited to learn about the Faith, the major response was among Spanish-speaking people. Many of the new Bahá’ís are migrant workers, and are being trained as a valuable group of traveling teachers. Others, residents of Watsonville, are being prepared to consolidate the Faith in that area.
Displays to mark Bicentennial year[edit]
In response to a recent request by The Universal House of Justice that the American Bahá’í community befittingly observe the U.S. Bicentennial, and suggesting efforts in New York City and Washington, D.C., the National Information Office is producing displays for use in those cities.
The displays, planned for Pennsylvania Station in New York and National Airport in Washington, will reinforce and complement the National Spiritual Assembly’s advertisement in the special Life magazine Bicentennial issue, which appeared on newsstands on Labor Day and will remain on sale through December.
This is a model of the displays whivh will be seen by an estimated seven million persons in New York City and Washington, D.C.
During February, an estimated five million people will see the display in Pennsylvania Station; about two million will see it in the National Airport.
The displays, featuring backlit transparencies on eight two-foot-square modules, will also include a pamphlet rack.
Some goals won in Youth Program[edit]
This September, midway through the Two Year Youth Program, the National Bahá’í Youth Committee announced that some goals of the Program have been won: 500 teaching trips have been completed, five youth pioneers have settled in posts that are goal areas of the Five-Year Plan, and youth conferences have illumined every state and district.
Goals which need special attention from now until the end of the Two Year Youth Program in September 1976 are: the formation of college clubs, homefront pioneering, increased contributions to the Bahá’í Fund, and dramatic expansion in the number of Bahá’í youth.
The Youth Committee is optimistic about the success of the Program, feeling that sustained, personal teaching efforts, with each Bahá’í youth guiding one soul into the Faith each year, will not only win the goals but energize the entire Bahá’í community.
