Bahá’í News/Issue 564/Text
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| Bahá’í News | March 1978 | Bahá’í Year 134-135 |
World’s first Bahá’í-owned radio station
begins broadcasting in Ecuador
The Seat of the Universal House of Justice, in a photograph taken November 26, 1977. Shown are the two basement levels of the building, and the first forms erected on the ground-floor level. (The photograph is a composite of two separate exposures.)
| Contents |
Bahá’í Radio in Ecuador |
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World’s first Bahá’í-owned station is on the air | 2 |
A special gift for India’s House of Worship |
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Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum tells how $100,000 was raised | 6 |
Teaching fire rages in Guyana |
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Bahá’í youth from Great Britain help to fan the flames | 8 |
‘Spatzo’: The story of an uncaged bird |
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Bahá’í Faith lends new meaning to Sicilian prisoner’s life | 10 |
A return trip to Mornington Island |
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Aborigines shower warmth, love on Australian Bahá’í teachers | 11 |
Around the world |
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News from Bahá’í communities in every corner of the globe | 12 |
Cover
An historic event took place last October 12 high in the Andes mountains in Ecuador: the world’s first Bahá’í-owned and operated radio station beamed its first test broadcast. The 1,000-watt station began regular broadcasting on December 12; the story behind the station, its impact on the area and the entire Bahá’í world community begins on Page 2.
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Bahá’í Radio in Ecuador[edit]
In the Andes mountains, the world’s first Bahá’í-owned and operated radio station beams a message of peace and love
O my God! O my God! Unite the hearts of Thy servants, and reveal to them Thy great Purpose...
With this prayer, revealed by Bahá’u’lláh and recited in Spanish by the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador, Señorita Teresa Jara N., Bahá’í Radio of Ecuador, the world’s first Bahá’í-owned and operated radio station, broadcast its inaugural message at 11:13 a.m. Wednesday, October 12, 1977.
Following another prayer, read in the Quechua language by Alfonso Tulcanazo, and a brief melody, those who were present on that historic occasion at Cajas, an Andean mountain village near Otavalo and about 45 miles north-northeast of the Ecuadorian capital of Quito, heard this announcement:
“Bahá’í Radio of Ecuador, Ecuadorian station — an antenna for the service of the cultural progress and spiritual development of the family. This is a test broadcast of our equipment at 1420 kilocycles, medium wave.”
The test broadcast was beamed with only 50 watts of power, rather than the 1,000 watts to be used when regular transmission was begun on December 12, a date specially chosen for its spiritual and historical significance.
It was on December 12, 1863, that Bahá’u’lláh arrived in the city of Adrianople, from which He was to proclaim His Mission to the world’s secular and ecclesiastical leaders. Thirty-eight years later, also on December 12, Guglielmo Marconi sent the first trans-Atlantic radio signal.
And it was in a letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador dated December 12, 1974, that the Universal House of Justice set in motion the work of establishing the world’s first Bahá’í radio station, predicting that the effort “... may well, in time, be hailed as an historic forward step in proclamation,
[Page 3]
expansion, and deepening through the medium of radio, a medium which the beloved Guardian hoped would be exploited on behalf of the Cause of God...”
Bahá’í Radio went on the air as scheduled on December 12, an event hailed by the Universal House of Justice in this cablegram to all National Spiritual Assemblies:
“Rejoice announce initiation full-time broadcasting first radio station Bahá’í world December 12 in Otavalo, Ecuador. Hail vision labors Assembly community Ecuador in achieving this milestone Bahá’í proclamation teaching deepening. Offering prayers Sacred Threshold Bahá’í Radio Ecuador will fulfill its promise as landmark Cause and service progress peoples Latin America.”
At the present time, everything that is being broadcast on Bahá’í Radio is produced and recorded at the Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum Teaching Institute in Otavalo, which is equipped with two separate studios. But when completed, the building at Cajas will house full control, studio, production, and transmission facilities and equipment.
The origins of Bahá’í Radio date to early 1973 when the National Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador leased the facilities of Radio Turismo, a small, low-power, shortwave radio station near Otavalo for about five hours of Bahá’í programming each day.
“Only three Bahá’ís work regularly with the station,” said a report in Bahá’í News of September 1973, “but already, with what might be considered customary Bahá’í optimism, the believers of Ecuador are projecting their preliminary enterprise into the future, and to the world at large, where they envisage someday operating a powerful international production and broadcasting complex.
“This fledgling communications venture was predicated by the growing need to deepen a community of Bahá’ís that has multiplied itself enormously in a mere handful of years. It would probably not be an exaggeration to say that the achievements of this pioneering effort will be watched closely by many National Spiritual Assemblies to determine whether it is time for others also to turn another corner in the use of media for Bahá’í proclamation and deepening.”
The rapid growth of the Faith in Ecuador, coupled with a relatively high number of radios per capita there, made the country an ideal choice as the site for the first Bahá’í radio station. According to the United Nations Statistical Yearbook for 1971, there were at that time almost two million radios in Ecuador, or about one for every two people. On the other hand, there were only about 150,000 television sets, and those were confined almost exclusively to large urban areas. Although Ecuador had 25 daily newspapers in 1971, their combined circulation was only 250,000 copies. So if one wishes to reach Ecuadorians on a large scale, radio is the obvious medium of communication.
Ecuador is the second smallest republic in South America. Its 104,510 square miles of territory (about the size of Colorado) is larger only than Guyana (34,740 square miles). The broad, immense spine of the Andes mountains cuts across the country on its journey to the continent’s southernmost extremity. The famed Mount Chimborazo, whose snow-capped peak towers some 20,574 feet above sea level, is Ecuador’s tallest. Thirty still-active volcanoes are strewn along the nation’s mountain corridor.
Most of Ecuador’s Indian Bahá’ís live in the Andean highlands, and are descended from Indian empires thousands of years old. East of the Andes region is the forested Oriente, which
| ‘In the future programs of indirect teaching, including children’s classes and cultural presentations, will be aired.’ |
contains more than half of Ecuador’s land mass. This vast, mineral-rich expanse of rain and tropical forest conceals the headwaters of the Amazon River. To the west of the Andes corridor are the coastal lowlands, where many of the Bahá’ís of African descent reside. The people of the coastal region are employed in making Ecuador the world’s principal producer and exporter of bananas.
More than 60 per cent of the country’s four and one-half million people are Indians. About 30 percent are of mixed Indian and Spanish ancestry, a handful are black, and not more than 15 per cent are white. The nation’s official language is Spanish; however, most of the Indian peoples use Quechua as well, and it is estimated that at least 20 per cent of the population speaks Quechua exclusively. In the forest regions east of the Andes, the Jibaro language is spoken by the predominantly Indian population of the tropical forest.
“The impressive advances in the teaching work (in Ecuador) soon required that more effective deepening instruments be developed to keep pace with the quickening tempo of enrollments,” Bahá’í News reported in September 1973. “There were simply an insufficient number of deepened believers to travel from village to village and region to region training and inspiring the growing multitude of new adherents. Confronted with this pressing need to deepen new Bahá’ís, the National Spiritual Assembly chose to pursue its historic action of leasing the first radio station for Bahá’í teaching and consolidation.”
The first Bahá’í program was aired starting at 5:30 a.m. on March 1, 1973. Its name was En Horas de Amanecer, or The Dawning. The program announced the new Day of God and spoke of the need to live a life of justice and service to others. It assured the audience that God, the Creator, had not forsaken humanity.
“The teaching done on the radio is both direct and indirect,” Continental Counsellor Raul Pavón of Ecuador said at that time. “The programs of direct teaching include adaptations of Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, The Divine Art of Living, and The New Garden, as well as adaptations of introductory pamphlets about the Bahá’í Faith and compilations and notes from The Dawn-Breakers.
“For the most part,” he said, “the programs are bi-lingual; they are broadcast in Quechua and Spanish. In the near future programs of indirect teaching, including children’s classes and cultural presentations, will be aired. Cultural programming being prepared (in 1973) will give the friends a view of their country and the world, describing the make-up of the family of man, complemented by historical notes from a Bahá’í perspective.”
Even after the Bahá’ís had decided to operate their own radio station in Ecuador, getting it on the air was no easy matter. The request for a broadcast frequency twice was denied by the government, but the persistence of the National Spiritual Assembly’s representative for the purpose, Sra. Isabel de Calderón, finally resulted in a letter issued July 5, 1977, by the office of the President of the Republic, National Secretary of Public Information, stating that “the frequency requested by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís may be granted for a radio station to be installed and operated in Cajas.”
On July 19, the Institute of Telecommunications notified the National Assembly that the frequency was reserved for its use and stipulated conditions to be met prior to the legalization of the frequency.
Counsellor Pavón volunteered to assume responsibility for construction, but the antenna presented a rather severe problem. Finally, after overcoming several local technical problems, the antenna was raised, one day before the station beamed its test broadcast.
Counsellor Pavón had ended his 1973 report by saying: “The friends are convinced of the effectiveness of this method of teaching the Faith and believe that the ideal thing would be to have a Bahá’í radio station, located possibly in Otavalo, 20 miles from the equator, which would broadcast the Message of Bahá’u’lláh to the four corners of Ecuador, America, and the world.” With Bahá’í Radio now on the air, the friends in Ecuador have taken a giant step toward reaching that ultimate goal.
The antenna for Bahá’í Radio of Ecuador near Cajas is shown here during the process of erection.
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Tears, cheers accompany first historic message
•
The mountain pass is 3,102 meters high. The place is Cajas, Ecuador. The earth is very damp, black and cold. There are few dwelling places in the area, but it has a natural beauty; one can look down to the green valleys and see the picturesque farms, or look up toward heaven and see many majestic mountain peaks that surround the area. Beautiful white clouds whirl around the peaks, often giving the illusion of dancing snowflakes in the sun. Counsellor Raul Pavón and a number of workers who live in the area have arrived early in the morning and already are busily at work when consultant/engineer Dean Stephens, station manager Kamram Mansuri and Auxiliary Board member Charles Hornby, outwardly calm but undoubtedly nervous and excited, arrive. Immediately, all are busy checking out every detail — the antenna, recording devices, etc. The morning is beautiful; a lovely sun is peeping through floating white clouds. It is now between 10 and 10:30 a.m., and one sees coming over the hillcrest a number of the happy indigenous friends and their children — campesinos, pioneers, and city-dwellers, all in a spiritual and festive mood. As they approach there are shouts of “Alláh’u’Abhá” and “Finally, the day has arrived!” A car and jeep filled with Bahá’ís arrive with a lovely birthday cake for the event. A miniature antenna is placed on the cake, resembling the real “Maypole-looking” antenna that is attracting a great deal of attention. The minutes tick by: 10:15... 10:30... 10:45 a.m. Personal radios and recorders are placed in position, and cameras are checked and re-checked for readiness. It seems that the minutes are becoming like hours. Finally, someone calls loudly from the building: “We go on at 11:10!” A loud tone comes from the radio — no voice. What does it mean? Again there is a call, saying: “In three minutes!” Counsellor Pavón responds: “We’ve waited three years; I guess we can wait three more minutes.” It is exactly 11:13. A voice is heard: “O my God! O my God! Unite the hearts of Thy servants, and reveal to them Thy great Purpose...” A prayer, revealed by Bahá’u’lláh and recited by the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador, Señorita Teresa Jara N., in Spanish. Everyone stands with head bowed in reverence. Another prayer is read, in the Quechua language, by Alfonso Tulcanazo. Heads are still bowed, tears are rolling down cheeks. More prayers, followed by a brief melody. Then, for the first time in Bahá’í history, one hears the announcement over the air: “Bahá’í Radio of Ecuador, Ecuadorian Station — an antenna for the service of the cultural progress and spiritual development of the family. This is a test broadcast of our equipment at 1420 kilocycles, medium wave.” The announcement is in Spanish. Similar announcements will be given alternately in Spanish and Quechua. The Greatest Name of God is now being sung in the Quechua language; the melody lingers. The program continues to tumultuous applause as the lively Quechua music, beautifully played, begins. Everyone is dancing with joy — adults, children, even the workers. One can see cars driving past on the Pan American Highway and people passing the site on foot pausing to see what all the happiness is about. Dean Stephens...is jumping around like a proud new father — and at the same time reminds one of a happy mother who has just given birth! Everyone is embracing happily. Expressions of gratitude and congratulations are being showered over...the entire radio staff for making the radio station a reality.
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A Very Special Gift[edit]
The Hand of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum tells how an inexpensive ring was transformed into a $100,000 donation to India’s House of Worship
(Reprinted from the Nineteen Day Feast newsletter of the Bahá’ís of Singapore.—Ed.)
When I was invited by the Universal House of Justice to go and see this design (of the House of Worship in India), before I left Haifa, frankly I said, “Oh Lord, have mercy on me! What is it going to be like?” Because being an architect’s daughter I knew what a terrifically difficult problem it is to design a circular nine-sided building. And then when I saw this beautiful model I was deeply impressed, and I think that it will be a wonderful thing and very, very much loved in India.
There is one thing that Mr. Ṣahbá (the architect) did not mention; perhaps it did not occur to him. The lotus has not only an association with Buddhism and Hinduism, but the lotus, par excellence, is the symbol of the Manifestation of God. The lotus is probably the most perfect flower in the world. It is symmetrical, it is exquisitely beautiful. And how does it grow? It grows in a swamp. It comes out of mud and raises its head from the slime absolutely clean and perfect.
Now this is what the Manifestation of God is in the world. He comes out of the slime of this planet. He comes from the worst place on the planet. He appears amongst the worst people on the planet, so that no one can say that we made Him. They say that only God can bring forth such a Being from such an environment. This is perhaps the greatest symbolism of the lotus, and I think that it is so beautiful that we who are followers of Bahá’u’lláh should have this design in this part of the world where it is so deeply associated with two of the world’s great religions — Buddhism and Hinduism.
I would like to tell you very briefly a touching story. In Panama, where the most recent Bahá’í Temple, the one for Latin America, was built and dedicated — and, as you know, I was present — I had received, forwarded to me in Africa, a small ivory ring that had been made by a Bahá’í who was in prison in Mozambique. He sent one of these rings to each member of the House of Justice and one of them to me in Africa. And when I had an opportunity, during that conference at the time of the dedication, to speak to the friends, suddenly and impetuously I said, “You know, friends, I think it would be lovely if we were to send a little nest egg from the dedication of this Temple for the future Bahá’í Temple, the next one that will be built.” And I offered the ring for sale.
There was a young man there who was a jeweler and lived in Hawaii. He was not a wealthy man, but happened to have secured in the course of his profession a very large emerald. Suddenly it came over him — “I will offer the emerald for the ring!” Now the moment that he made the suggestion, he was horrified. I have heard this from the people who were seated next to him, and from his wife, who came to Haifa recently as pilgrims.
He said, “I am not a wealthy man, and this stone is worth at least $25,000 or $30,000. How can I offer this? Well,” he decided, “now it is finished. I was moved to do it; I can’t go back on my word.” So after a tremendous amount of involved story, the secretary of the National Assembly of Panama went to Hawaii. She took charge of the emerald, which was so valuable that no one could insure it, and she had to carry it on her person, and its owner had in the meantime had it set in a huge gold setting. She thought, “This thing must go eventually to Haifa at the time of the election of the Universal House of Justice,” and she came to Haifa and sat down in the tea room and said to me, “Rúḥíyyih Khánum, you don’t know what I have been through with this stone. For heaven’s sake, let me put it in your hands now.”
[Page 7]
So she gave me this beautiful emerald which I had never seen in the gold setting, and I called the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran who were there to help elect the House of Justice, to vote for its members, and I said, “Look, I am going to entrust this to you, to your Assembly. Take it back to Persia. Whoever bids highest, they can have it, and then the money is to be given to the Universal House of Justice, and this is to be the first contribution for the future Mashriqu’l-Adhkár to be erected during the next Plan,” and it is this Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of India that will have that money. The money has been resting for about seven years with the House of Justice.
Now the ring, which was worth perhaps two rupees (about 25 cents) at most — let us be generous and say five rupees — that ring a Bahá’í paid $100,000 for, and that was the nest egg from the Panama Temple to the Indian Temple, and that is now in the hands of the Universal House of Justice.
Now friends, there are people here in this room of all kinds of means. Some of the friends are very poor, and there is nothing the matter with being poor. At one time Bahá’u’lláh was so poor He had only one shirt, and He had to stay in His room while they washed that shirt, and when it was dry He could put it on and come out of His room. So there is nothing wrong with being poor.
Some of the friends have a little more money, some of them are pioneers, but there are friends here who have difficulty in teaching the Faith. They come from Persia, they come from Arabia. It is very hard for them to open their mouths and proclaim the Message of Bahá’u’lláh. We know that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that the Temple is a silent teacher. Every time we have erected a House of Worship to Bahá’u’lláh, it has taught the Faith more than any of us could ever do.
Following the All-Asia Bahá’í Women’s Conference at New Delhi and the laying of the cornerstone for the Mother Temple of the Indian Subcontinent, the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum spoke to more than 300 Bahá’ís December 18 in Sydney, Australia. She said we are in a time of “acute necessity for Bahá’ís to arise and serve,” adding that a spirit of love and unity is essential in the Bahá’í community to attract others to the Cause of God. Rúḥíyyih Khánum said the most important issue in the Bahá’í world is the question of how we treat each other in our Bahá’í communities.
This beautiful Temple that we have just seen will proclaim His
Faith in Asia as none of the Bahá’ís, National Assemblies, Counsellors, Board members, anybody can do, because it will speak with the Voice of God silently to the people. So I invite you all — and I am going to ask my dear Bahá’í brother who has such a good voice and is so clearly understood in both Persian and English, to please take charge of this part of the meeting — I invite you, friends, to make contributions to this new enterprise that we are blessed by seeing at the beginning ourselves, and tomorrow we will be present at the laying of the cornerstone, but tomorrow’s events soon will be over and we will not be together again. So I don’t know what method He has in mind, but there is a method by which you will be able to contribute.
Guyana[edit]
Bahá’í youth from Great Britain find teaching in South America thrilling, rewarding, productive...
(The following account of a three-week teaching trip last July by eight youth from the United Kingdom to Guyana, a country of some 800,000 people on the north central coast of South America, was written by one of the youth, Shohreh Youseffian.—Ed.)
Our incredible journey to Guyana had an exciting and blessed start!
Plans had been made for eight youth to make a teaching trip to South America and the West Indies from the United Kingdom. The group was to be split in two; one group of three boys was to leave first, with our group of five girls to follow shortly afterward. A cable was sent to the Universal House of Justice, and a reply received assuring us of “... fervent prayers outstanding success their devoted efforts. Will lovingly remember each one of them Holy Shrine. The Universal House of Justice.”
The boys’ team left for Guyana on July 11th. Two weeks later, about three days before our team was to leave, we received an urgent cable from Guyana to change our plan of going to the West Indies first, and instead proceed directly to Guyana where in about 10 days of teaching there had been some 100 declarations and two Local Spiritual Assemblies had been formed. Guyana was on fire!
Our team arrived in Guyana on July 28. On the plane we met a group of believers from Trinidad who were going to Guyana for an international Bahá’í Youth Camp, the fifth of its kind in that country.
At the airport we were greeted and welcomed by the wonderful smiling faces of the Guyanese youth and by Auxiliary Board member Edward Widmer. The youth camp turned out to be a tremendous success and a truly wonderful experience. There were Bahá’ís from more than 10 countries, and the joy and happiness emanating from the gathering of these friends filled every soul.
At the camp many youth offered to accompany the traveling teachers, so a few days after it ended three teams were formed. They were made up of the teachers from the United Kingdom, some of the youth from Guyana, some pioneers in Guyana and a traveling teacher from the U.S., Tom Seale.
Guyana already had achieved its Assembly goals for the Five Year Plan and had set for itself the goal of forming 19 additional Local Assemblies. In three weeks the three groups were to help form six of these new Assemblies, and in so doing to open a new area of the country to the Faith. This plan of opening the Berbis area of Guyana to the Faith was formulated from suggestions made by the Hand of the Cause Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir on a previous visit to Guyana.
The three teams were sent along different points on the Berbis coast all the way to the border with Surinam. The next three weeks were filled with excitement, joy, disappointments, happiness, difficulties and, ultimately, glorious success.
The thrill of seeing the marvelous people of Guyana hungrily accept the precious Message of Bahá’u’lláh outweighed any setbacks we encountered. We can never really thank enough the Guyanese youth who were with us for their never-ending patience and the magnificent help they gave us so that we could cope with a climate with which we were unfamiliar and with the never-ending hordes of bloodthirsty mosquitoes!
The girls’ teaching team from the United Kingdom. Standing left to right are Fahimeh Yazdi, Shohreh Youseffian, Vida Yazdi, Ruhy Mustafanejad. Kneeling is Mitra Sabeti.
Members of the boys’ teaching team from the United Kingdom, Nabil Hussein (left), Moin Tayebi (right) and Brian O’Toole (second from right), plan strategy with two assistants to the Auxiliary Board in Guyana.
[Page 9]
Each group had been assigned two villages to teach in. The first week or so was to be spent teaching and helping to form the Assemblies, and the other days before we moved to the next village were to be devoted to deepening the new believers. So the days were spent getting to know the villagers, teaching them, holding children’s classes, and making preparations for a film that we showed almost every evening. These meetings also included informal talks, slide shows, and music, and were nearly always attended by 100 or more people. After the program we would explain how the villagers could join the Faith, and encourage questions. It was, to those of us who came from the United Kingdom, a moving and almost unbelievable sight to see people literally rushing to us after the programs, eagerly wanting to become Bahá’ís!
The children’s classes also were a great success. Every day at the appointed hour the children of the village would gather at the home where we were staying, and were taught songs, verses from the Writings, and prayers. Nothing can describe the happiness we felt as we heard those children sing the songs or say the prayers that they had learned, or when they woke us up at 5 in the morning with a chorus of “Bahá’u’lláh is getting us ready for that great day”...!
Best of all, many were the times when the children’s parents would come to us, wanting to learn more about this Faith that their children were so excited about. Quite often the parents would accept the Faith immediately, and the children would ask us if they too could declare, and then proudly announce to the rest of the villagers that they were a Bahá’í family.
How the light of Bahá’u’lláh shone! The never-ending number of people who came up to us in the streets, who came knocking at our door, wanting to hear more, asking for literature, wanting to declare was a source of constant joy to us, and a sign of the power of Bahá’u’lláh. To see the new believers excitedly and immediately teaching the Faith, to see how eagerly they wanted to deepen themselves, to see their devotion and willingness to serve, to see the members of the newly-formed Local Assemblies taking on their responsibilities with enthusiasm and holding their first Nineteen Day Feast—these were like a never-ending stream of bountiful visions.
Needless to say, by the end of the three weeks our goals were achieved, plus one extra Local Spiritual Assembly. There had been some 750 declarations, and more than 14,000 pamphlets and hundreds of books had been given out. It was a truly marvelous end to our teaching experience.
After our return to one of the towns (Annandale) that has a high concentration of wonderful Bahá’í youth, two of the boys—Nabil Hussein and Brian O’Toole—and three of the girls—Vida Yazdi, Fahimeh Yazdi and Ruhy Mustafanejad—left for England. Ruhy hopes later to return to Guyana as a pioneer.
It was arranged that the three of us who remained in Guyana—Mitra Sabeti, Shohreh Youseffian and Moin Tayebi—would travel with some of the youth from that country on another 10-day teaching trip. We went to the west bank of the Demarara River and had the bounty of helping to form two more Local Spiritual Assemblies. By the time the planned teaching trip was over, there were 10 new Assemblies and around 800 declarations, nearly a 40 per cent increase in the Bahá’í population in Guyana!
We cannot end this account of teaching in Guyana without mentioning something about the Bahá’ís in that country. All the teachers agreed that they had never been on a project that was so well organized, and here our thanks go especially to the National Spiritual Assembly of Guyana and its National Teaching Committee, and to the Auxiliary Board.
We cannot thank the people of Guyana enough for the love and the hospitality that was showered upon us. The devotion and sincerity of the youth who accompanied us was truly exemplary and heart-warming. We look forward to returning, and Moin and I also are trying to find jobs in Guyana so that we might pioneer there too.
Guyana is an exciting country in which to teach for it is becoming ablaze with the fire of the Message of Bahá’u’lláh. The community there has an exciting and challenging time ahead, for not only do the new believers have to be deepened, but the spark that has been kindled in Guyana must blaze forth with such intensity that it will envelop the whole country.
Bahá’í youth from Guyana, the United Kingdom and the U.S. gather before starting their three-week teaching campaign in Guyana. In the back row center is Auxiliary Board member Edward Widmer from Guyana.
Assistants to the Auxiliary Board members are introduced during the international Bahá’í Youth Camp in Guyana.
‘Spatzo’[edit]
In a Sicilian prison, a Sinto gypsy finds new meaning in the Faith
(The following report from Mrs. Agnese Boerio, a Bahá’í pioneer to Elba, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, concerning her meetings with a Sinto gypsy, Vittorio Mayer Pasquale, known as “Spatzo” (Sparrow), at the island prison was forwarded to Bahá’í News by its correspondent in Italy, Hazel E. Holmlund. — Ed.)
“After many months of writing to a Sinto gypsy, a prisoner in Fort St. Giacomo, I was at last given permission to visit him.
“During our talks and by letter we always spoke about the Faith. This was in accordance with the Five Year Plan of the Universal House of Justice which, along with other goals for the Italian Bahá’í community, assigned that of ‘extending activities among the gypsies.’
“Spatzo wrote: ‘Dearest Agnese, the new year opens like a blessing from God, a stupendous omen of joy and peace for all our days.
- “ ‘I see the birds. I listen to the brook.
- “ ‘I gather the light, the light of the sun
- “ ‘And I hold it warm within my hands...’
“In a later letter, after having read Paris Talks by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, he wrote:
- “ ‘AWARENESS
- “ ‘Not one instant of my life
- “ ‘Shall be wasted again.
- “ ‘I want to spend it all in loving...
- “ ‘I want to extend my love, formed in silence,
- “ ‘Even to the most neglected things of the earth.
- “ ‘I want to love man without limitation
- “ ‘Yes, mankind, because I know what it means
- “ ‘Not to be loved.’
“In yet another letter Spatzo wrote: ‘Reality is always simple but men have complicated it. I believe that my distant Indian origins help me to absorb immediately the spiritual reality.
“ ‘Gypsies are different from other peoples because of their language, dress and physical characteristics. They originated in India from whence they emigrated at different times and for various reasons.
“ ‘The gypsies have been a persecuted people. More than a half-million of them died in Nazi concentration camps, and no one asked that justice be done for them.
“ ‘The Children of the Wind know how to forgive. They have accepted with serenity every hurricane that has crashed upon their path in the name of God.
“ ‘We Sinti want to remain what we are — free men, responsible for our actions. And that is why we accept the truth of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, because we are people of all ages, social conditions, races and nationalities, and we strive toward a world free from violence and warfare, from political, racial, religious or economic troubles, from hunger and poverty, corruption and crime.
“ ‘Do you know that we Sinti have much in common with Bahá’ís? And to think that no one ever taught us anything. I find that very strange...It seems to me that this is a religion that I have always known. I don’t know how to explain...I believe that my Sinto brethren are walking on the right path, in the heart of the Bahá’ís...excuse my way of expressing it. Your words have brought solace to my heart, a prisoner’s heart...May God be with you always. May He keep you healthy and strong for His Glory. Spatzo.’
Mrs. Agnese Boerio, Bahá’í pioneer to the Italian island of Elba in the Mediterranean, with the Sinto gypsy Vittorio Mayer Pasquale, nicknamed “Spatzo” (Sparrow), outside Fort St. Giacomo in which Spatzo is a prisoner.
“Spatzo has not yet declared himself a Bahá’í, but he taught the Faith to another prisoner, Giovanni Zeni, not a gypsy, who accepted the Faith and thus became the first person to do so while in an Italian prison. Other declarations in Italian prisons have followed (and in several other Italian communities Bahá’ís have begun contacting the gypsies and teaching activities have been started).
“Spatzo, unless something unforeseen happens, must remain in prison for some years yet. If anyone would like to write to him, his address is:
“Vittorio Mayer Pasquale, Forte S. Giacomo, I 57036 Porto Azzurro (Li), Isola d’Elba, Italy.”
Mrs. Holmlund has appended the following note from another of the prisoners at Fort St. Giacomo, Bernardo Custodino, who has accepted the Faith:
“I spend my time, sad and deep in thought. My parents are dead. I have no one, but I try to keep my spirits up. I am a true Bahá’í since May 1976, and I am so happy and contented to be one because I have understood so many beautiful things...I am sad, yes, but I have so much faith in the Bahá’í Faith. I sometimes receive letters from Bahá’í friends and I thank them all.”
Sr. Custodino’s mailing address is the same as that for Sr. Pasquale.
Return to Mornington Island[edit]
(This second report of teaching at the Aboriginal Reserve on Mornington Island, Australia, is reprinted from the Australian Bahá’í Bulletin for December 1977.—Ed.)
We set out on a sunny September day from Moorabbin in our six-seater Cessna. Mahvash Master had briefed us, and came with Aub and Greta Lake to see us off. Aub and Greta were on their way south to Tasmania, and we were heading north — to Mornington Island!
With happy hearts we took off, and soon the 500 Remover of Difficulties started. This was to continue each day after we’d taken off until our arrival on the island.
We picked up Barry Bennett from Shepparton — he was to visit the Bahá’ís of Cairns — and Nellie Birchall joined us there, making a team of five to Mornington Island. The others were Iradj Master, Sue and Peter Hiscock, and myself (Helen Perkins).
When we arrived at Mornington Island some members of the team went to visit Fanny and Larry Lanley (Bahá’ís who live on Mornington) and family, and returned later to tell us that a corroboree (celebration) had been arranged in our honor. We then split into teams and went on a “getting to know you” walk. Soon some beautiful souls had embraced the Faith.
That evening, while meeting the people and visiting Bahá’ís (the ones who had declared during the previous team’s visit) many more declared. Some asked, “May I join too?” Some of the friends thought I was Mahvash and immediately embraced me. Mahvash certainly is loved very much by the people of Mornington Island!
We later went to the corroboree, holding hands with lots of children and singing Bahá’í songs; soon people were coming out of the shadows, joining us and singing with us. As we sang “We are the people of Bahá,” looking behind us we found that there was quite a multitude, all laughing and singing with us. We felt like the Pied Piper of Hamelin!
At the corroboree there were about 150 people as the night wore on. We were officially welcomed by Larry Lanley, the island’s chairman, and afterward dear Fanny gave a moving talk about how she’d met the Bahá’ís in Melbourne and how she’d become a Bahá’í.
At the end of the corroboree we were asked to join the circle of elders. The preacher, who had been chatting with Iradj all evening, asked Iradj to say a prayer. He chanted “Is there any Remover of Difficulties,” and then led the 150 souls line by line in saying it in English. A prayer for unity also was said, and we all sang together, “Blessed Is the Spot.” The preacher then said a lovely prayer especially for us and the success of our visit.
The next day we visited quite a few people and many more asked to join the Faith. All understood the Name of Bahá’u’lláh, and all understood what the Faith stands for. All learned to say “Alláh-u-Abhá.” Our new Bahá’í brothers and sisters from the previous day would see us and shout, “Alláh-u-Abhá—We are one, eh?”
We invited many people to view the film we had arranged for that evening — The Green Light Expedition. While the projectionist was getting organized a beautiful thing happened. Iradj was sitting on some steps leading to the verandah of the old schoolhouse and about 60 or so children started climbing all over him, just like bees around a honey pot. It was quite fantastic! Then Iradj started saying “Bahá’u’lláh,” and at the top of their voices 60 children screamed “Bahá’u’lláh,” then shouted “Alláh-u-Abhá,” then “the Glory of God has come,” and so on. Iradj asked them to call to me, which they did, and I went over and “conducted” them in singing Bahá’í songs. There like “a thorn amongst the roses” sat Iradj, with children still clinging to him. It seemed that the whole island was singing the praises of Bahá’u’lláh!
Unfortunately, the bulb in the projector broke and so we saw only one reel of the film, but the friends were intensely interested in their South American brothers and sisters and were fascinated by Amatu’l Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum in the small portion of the film we were able to see.
Many beautiful things happened on our last day there. I would like to relate a few important events that seemed to put the icing on the cake.
Nellie had gone walking along the beach and met Fanny’s daughter, Catherine. Catherine had been enrolled in the Faith and expressed a desire that her husband should become a Bahá’í. Nellie gave her a card for Horace, her husband, to fill in later. Imagine their happiness when they later met Iradj and Horace further along the beach. Horace had just declared his faith in Bahá’u’lláh!
After a delicious dinner of fish caught by our pilot, Ted Von Nida, we went to say goodbye to our brothers and sisters on Mornington Island. Iradj and I went to the Lanleys where another wonderful event occurred. Iradj and Mahvash were given Aboriginal names. Iradj is “Woonan,” meaning “the tallest oak tree” (the name of Larry Lanley’s father, who was a very important man), and Mahvash is “Wandin,” the tallest water lily, the one from which all the others grow.
After saying our goodbyes to the Lanleys, we met on the road Margaret, who had declared as a Bahá’í during the previous team’s visit. We told her we had come to say goodbye. She placed her hands in ours and with tears in her eyes — trying to say “Alláh-u-Abhá” but forgetting it — she very movingly said, “Bahá’u’lláh.”
We too were crying as we walked back to the mission house to prepare for our homeward journey. After prayerful consultation, dear Sue and Peter Hiscock decided that they would stay at Mornington for a time for much-needed deepening and consolidation.
The contact will need to be kept up. These souls need our love so much — I really feel that whoever goes there will never be quite the same again. I don’t think I will be. —Helen Perkins
Around the World[edit]
Cameroon Republic[edit]
Localities goal near[edit]
Bahá’ís reside in 832 localities in the Cameroon Republic, only 18 short of the 850 called for in the Five Year Plan, according to a report delivered at a National Teaching Conference held September 16-18 in Yaounde.
The conference, at a university campus, was attended by 95 persons including Continental Counsellor Mihdí Samandarí and three Auxiliary Board members.
As to its other goals, the Cameroon Republic has 166 of the 300 Local Spiritual Assemblies called for in the Five Year Plan, 27 of the 50 local endowments assigned, and has built nine local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, including two large ones, and has 11 under construction out of a total of 45 called for in the Plan.
Australia[edit]
Teaching conference held[edit]
More than 200 of the friends in Australia gathered in the garden city of Adelaide in December for a National Teaching Conference that the Australian National Goals Committee says will lead to “the successful completion of the remaining goals of the Five Year Plan.”
The conference received the exciting news from the Universal House of Justice via the National Spiritual Assembly that the number of delegates to its National Convention has been raised from 76 to 95, and that delegates will henceforth be elected on a regional rather than a local basis.
During the conference a Persian carpet, made and donated for auction by a Bahá’í, raised $500. The money was contributed to the Fund and the carpet given to the National Spiritual Assembly.
Continental Counsellor Dr. Peter Khan and other speakers reviewed the present state of the goals in Australia, discussed teaching methods, firesides and pioneering, and reviewed the Tasmanian teaching campaign.
Soviet Union[edit]
Bahá’í books exhibited[edit]
Bahá’í books published in Germany and the United Kingdom were exhibited at the first Moscow Book Fair last fall.
Bahá’í Verlag, the Publishing Trust of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany, participated in the fair through a joint effort with the German Publishers’ Association. Bahá’í Verlag received a medal commemorating its exhibition of nine Bahá’í books.
George Ronald Publishers of Great Britain presented four Bahá’í titles at the fair: Muḥammad and the Course of Islam; The Glad Tidings of Bahá’u’lláh; The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh and Christ and Bahá’u’lláh.
Its participation was arranged and managed by Colet’s of London, a sales agent for a group of British publishers.
Thailand[edit]
Officials hear of Faith[edit]
Five Thai believers accompanied by Continental Counsellor Khudáraḥm Paymán had the unexpected opportunity to discuss the Faith with top provincial government officials while on a teaching trip to Samut Pragan, a resort area 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Bangkok.
The believers were teaching the Faith on a beach when they noticed a meeting in progress attended by 75 people in a building across the street. They asked officials for permission to sing and speak about the Faith.
This was denied, but the friends were permitted to approach the officials during a half-hour lunch break. During this time Mr. Payman and two of the believers gave pamphlets to more than 50 of those in attendance, seven of whom signed cards asking for more information.
Samoa[edit]
Leone, American Samoa, was the scene of this weekend institute, conducted by the Bahá’í Regional Teaching Committee of American Samoa at the home of U.S. pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Frank Trump. Suhayl ‘Alá’í, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Australasia, is kneeling, second from the right.
Portugal[edit]
Covilhã Assembly formed[edit]
Portugal has won another victory in its Five Year Plan goals. On December 11 the first Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Covilhã was elected.
The election was held high up on the “Serra de Estrella” (Mountain of the Star) in a former sanatorium that now houses refugees from Angola and Mozambique. Since June 1977 more than 50 of these refugees have embraced the Faith.
Assisting in the election were representatives of the three Bahá’í institutions: Counsellor Anneliese Bopp on behalf of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Europe; Hilda Rodrigues for the National Spiritual Assembly of Portugal; and Auxiliary Board member Ana Costa.
Before the election, Counsellor Bopp told the children stories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and shared refreshments with them.
Seychelles[edit]
Silver Jubilee set[edit]
The Bahá’ís of the Seychelles, faced with building local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in three locations, have decided to provide the labor themselves to lower the construction cost.
Land has been donated in Port Glaud and Anse Boileau, Mahe; and in Praslin for the buildings.
The Seychelles are to build nine local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds during the Five Year Plan.
South Africa[edit]
Teaching ban rescinded[edit]
An order prohibiting teaching the Faith in the Enkeldoorn area of South Africa was rescinded after a representative from the Local Spiritual Assembly in Unyetu and an Auxiliary Board member approached the area Headman to ask his Jury to have a hearing on the ban.
The Headman called for representatives from the churches in the area to come and discuss the matter with the Bahá’ís.
He first allowed the Bahá’ís to present their views, then asked for the views of the church representatives. None of them had anything against the Faith being taught in the Enkeldoorn area.
The Headman said he is not against any religion as long as its members follow the proper official channels when handling its affairs.
He then announced to the representatives that the Bahá’ís would be allowed to teach in the area. The Headman also promised an early answer to the Bahá’í request for land on which to build a local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds.
Puerto Rico[edit]
Radio campaign success[edit]
Every person in Puerto Rico had an opportunity to hear about the Faith the week of September 12-18 when 1,000 spot announcements were broadcast on most of the island’s 50 AM radio stations.
The National Spiritual Assembly sponsored the campaign, hoping to place the name of Bahá’u’lláh and the purpose of the Faith in the homes of the island’s three million residents.
Funds were budgeted to purchase air time on every AM station in Puerto Rico, although many of the stations either gave free time for the spots or offered substantial discounts.
The Radio and Television Committee of Puerto Rico was responsible for preparing a series of 30-second proclamation spots that featured a well-known Puerto Rican singer and a professional announcer, both Bahá’ís.
Fifty press kits also were prepared. They contained a brochure entitled “La Nueva Era de Dios” (The New Era of God) and a fact sheet with international and domestic data on the Faith.
The spot announcements were personally placed by Bahá’ís at virtually all 50 AM radio stations.
Follow-up programs are being distributed to interested Bahá’í communities and Regional Teaching Committees.
Italy[edit]
Florence hosts conference[edit]
Despite a heavy snowfall that closed roads to the north, preventing some of the friends from attending, 100 Bahá’ís met for the Italian National Teaching Conference in Florence, site of the first Convention in 1953 of the Italian-Swiss National Spiritual Assembly.
Those at the conference were delighted to learn that Italy is close to winning its Five Year Plan goals, and probably will be one of the first communities in Europe to do so.
Bahá’ís who participated in a recent teaching campaign in Sicily reported at the conference that up to 1,000 people in Sicily seem ready soon to embrace the Cause.
Togo[edit]
Teaching trip productive[edit]
More than 450 new believers have been added to the Faith, 35 localities have been opened, and eight Local Spiritual Assemblies formed thanks largely to five Bahá’ís who spent their vacation time teaching, often on foot, in the Dapaon, Bassar, Tabligbo, Niamtougou and Amlame regions of Togo.
The friends spent 10 days prior to the teaching trip at an institute in Amlame that was organized by Thelma Khelghati, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Western Africa.
The National Spiritual Assembly of Togo has warmly congratulated the five believers: Daliwa Djara, from Koka; Togbe Kossi, from Gboto-Assigamé; Kedang Kadjina, from Lama-Kara; Akakpo Kassegne, from Sika-Kondji, and Yao Tengue, from Lomé.
Brazil[edit]
Flags of the United Nations in the form of the word ‘Bahá’í’ decorate the speakers’ table at a United Nations Day conference hosted by the Bahá’ís of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Seated at the table are, from left to right: Rangvald Taetz, chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Porto Alegre; Mas’úd Khamsí, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for South America; Mrs. Nylza Taetz, coordinator of the meeting; and Professora Alda Cardoso Kremer, Deputado Dervy Furtado, Professor Maria Josepha P. Motta, and journalist Ana Amelia Lemos, non-Bahá’ís who took part in the program.
Papua/New Guinea[edit]
About 50 believers including 12 pioneers met for a National Teaching Conference at the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Lae, Papua/New Guinea, November 26-27.
Rhodesia[edit]
Conference fulfills goal[edit]
The Bahá’ís of Rhodesia fulfilled a goal of the Five Year Plan by holding the country’s fourth National Teaching Conference October 22-23 at Bulawayo. The 82 believers present represented 18 communities.
The National Teaching Committee reported on the progress of the National Spiritual Assembly’s Six-Month Program that began at Riḍván 1977.
It was reported that since the program began five Local Spiritual Assemblies had been formed and 30 localities opened to the Faith. Twenty-two believers had been deepened at an institute. Two Local Assemblies had undertaken extension teaching, and one community reported holding regular early morning prayers.
Shidan Fat’hé-Aazam asked four believers to sit on a table, then asked two of the friends to lift it. When they could not, he asked everyone to help. The table was easily lifted.
“That is what must be done with our
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Bahá’í work,” he said. “If we all work at winning the goals, they can easily be accomplished.”
Argentina[edit]
Books in Braille donated[edit]
Braille transcriptions of two Bahá’í booklets — “The Message of Bahá’u’lláh,” by J.E. Esslemont, and a selection of Bahá’í prayers — have been donated by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust of Argentina to the Argentine Library for the Blind.
The two titles are the first Spanish-language literature in Braille. They were originally transcribed by the Bahá’í Service for the Blind, a committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States.
The Publishing Trust of Argentina is investigating methods of producing additional materials for the blind in that country.
“So far, the response to our inquiries has been enthusiastic,” they report. “Schools for the blind have requested Bahá’í literature.”
The director of the Argentinian Library for the Blind said the institution would gratefully accept further donations of Bahá’í books in Braille, and also asked about the possibility of acquiring tape-recorded books about the Faith.
Benin[edit]
Bahá’ís from Cotonou and Porto-Novo, Benin (West Africa) gathered at the home of National Spiritual Assembly members Mr. and Mrs. Danogan Chancuoin in Porto-Novo on November 12 to celebrate the anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh. The filmstrip “Arise!” was shown to an appreciative audience, and Mr. Chancuoin spoke about the principles of the Faith to more than 50 persons.
Intensive teaching campaign launched[edit]
The National Spiritual Assembly of Benin (West Africa) has begun a six-week intensive teaching campaign in three of the country’s six Provinces.
The goals are to establish 12 new Local Spiritual Assemblies, open 30 localities, and enroll 600 new believers while saturating the regions with the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
The campaign was launched at a nine-day teaching institute December 23-31 at Porto-Novo to prepare six teachers, three of whom are youth.
The institute was opened with a message from the Universal House of Justice read by Mrs. Thelma Khelghati, a Continental Counsellor for West Africa, assuring the believers in Benin of its prayers at the Holy Shrines for success in their teaching efforts.
Periods of personal prayer and meditation were held each dawn and afternoon, and the evenings were filled with songs, dancing and games. Jean Idrissou of Parakou was awarded a copy of The Dawn-Breakers for his achievement in memorizing the Tablet of Aḥmad during the institute.
Five members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Benin attended several sessions of the teaching institute, as did Auxiliary Board member Frederick Hodonou.
United Kingdom[edit]
Church attacks Faith[edit]
The Free Church of Scotland, in its monthly magazine, has attacked the Bahá’í Faith, and particularly the community of Western Isles.
The attack came after the Local Spiritual Assembly in the Western Isles gave clergymen and others in the Outer Hebrides a magazine called Communication that contained an article on the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and the local spread of the Faith.
The response to the Communication article, carried in the Free Church’s magazine, said Christ is the only Messenger of God, and denounced the idea that eternal truths underlie the religions of the world.
“These religions have been man’s greatest crimes and they represent not truth but that process of the apostate human mind which changed the Glory of God into a lie,” said the writer.
News of the attack was printed in several independent newspapers, including the Stornoway Gazette of the Western Isles, and the Aberdeen Press and Journal, one of the most widely-read newspapers in Scotland.
A week later, the Gazette published a longer item setting forth the Bahá’í standpoint clearly and without animosity.
The Press and Journal published a letter from the Western Isles Assembly stating the Bahá’í view on the matters raised and correcting the impression that the Faith is merely an isolated group in the Hebrides.
Meanwhile, in Petersborough, a clergyman who is a friend of some of the local believers and who has received Bahá’í support in some of his own projects, invited the friends to participate in an International Festival of Peace in the Petersborough Cathedral, which happened to coincide with the anniversary of the Birth of the Báb.
For the first time, scriptures of other religions were read in the Cathedral. Marina Bridle, one of the Peterborough Bahá’ís, read from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s discourses in Paris:
“I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts of your heart on love and unity. When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love...If you desire with all your heart friendship with every race on earth, your thought, spiritual and positive, will
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spread...Do not despair! Work steadily. Sincerity and love will conquer hate. How many seemingly impossible events are coming to pass in these days! ...”
Fiji[edit]
Hand of Cause speaker[edit]
The Hand of the Cause H. Collis Featherstone was the featured speaker at a buffet luncheon attended by more than 40 distinguished guests on November 9 in Suva, Fiji.
The guests included ministers of state, senior civil servants, diplomats, high judicial officers, and representatives of the media, social services and education in Fiji.
Following lunch, Mr. Featherstone spoke about the independent and global nature of the Faith, the limitless capacity and diversity of its Teachings, and its central theme—unity.
The Hand of the Cause explained that the purpose of the luncheon meeting was not to proselytize but to inform. He quoted from Gleanings: “If ye be aware of a certain truth ... of which others are deprived, share it with them in a language of utmost kindliness and good will.”
Each guest was given a copy of the National Spiritual Assembly’s newly-produced Proclamation Portfolio, available at the luncheon in both English and Fijian. Several guests sought out the portfolio for themselves, receiving it warmly and with thanks.
The National Assembly said that because the proclamation was attended “by guests who represented a complete cross-section of Fijian society at its highest levels of influence, administration and decision-making, the event was the most significant of its kind ever to take place in Fiji.”
Spain[edit]
Historic island opened[edit]
Gomera, the island in the Canaries off the coast of Spain from which Christopher Columbus began his historic voyage to the New World in 1492, was opened to the Faith in December.
For two weeks before his declaration, the new Bahá’í on Gomera gave almost daily firesides. Since then, he has helped plan teacher training institutes.
Nigeria[edit]
Teaching momentum rises[edit]
Teaching momentum in the Etche–Ikwerre district of Rivers State, Nigeria, continues to build, with 14 villages opened to the Faith between January and September 1977.
Eleven of these villages now have Local Spiritual Assemblies. Bahá’í Centers are being built in six of them.
Teaching in the district began two years ago when Jehu Somiari, a Bahá’í from Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, was transferred by his employer to the village of Abara-Etche and was able to establish a Bahá’í Group there.
Eighteen months later a Bahá’í pioneer arrived at Port Harcourt, enabling Bahá’í teachers to make regular visits to the area.
Paraguay[edit]
Bahá’í programs aired[edit]
For the past year, in Caacupé, Paraguay, a 20-minute radio program about the Faith has been broadcast each Saturday night on Radio ZP 28.
Although the manager of the station, Adelberto Morales, is not a Bahá’í, he appreciates and is friendly toward the Faith. His wife and two children are Bahá’ís.
Three years ago, Mr. Morales and his family attended a Bahá’í public meeting and were given a copy of Some Answered Questions. In January 1977 Mr. Morales encountered the Faith for a second time when 20 Peruvian Bahá’í youth stopped in Caacupé to teach while en route to Bahia, Brazil, for the International Teaching Conference.
Unaware that Mr. Morales was familiar with the Faith, they approached him for a radio interview. Not only were they given 10 minutes on the air, they were warmly received by the Morales family, and were shown the well-thumbed copy of Some Answered Questions.
After the Bahía Conference, Bahá’ís again stopped in Caacupé. When they visited Mr. Morales, he offered them the permanent weekly program time.
Thanks to his generosity, the Message of Bahá’u’lláh has been spread throughout central Paraguay, several Bahá’ís have learned announcing techniques and technical aspects of radio, and many people have become Bahá’ís after listening to the weekly radio program.
Peruvian Bahá’í youth with Adelberto Morales (center, with book), a radio station manager in Caacupé, Paraguay, who gave them a weekly time slot for Bahá’í programming.
India[edit]
These children are students at a nursery school operated by Bahá’í pioneer R.C. Gupta in one of the four buildings that comprise the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds at Jaigaon, Bhutan, in India. The new Bahá’í Center is only a short distance from Phuntsholing, one of the principal towns in the state of Bhutan.
Last June the first Bahá’í regional institute was held in the district, in the town of Ozuzu, with 18 believers from eight villages attending. The institute was followed by monthly deepenings.
Children’s classes soon will begin in villages with Local Spiritual Assemblies.
Barbados/Windward[edit]
Counsellor, committee meet[edit]
Rowland Estall, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors, met recently with the National Teaching Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of Barbados and the Windward Islands, sharing concern over its unfilled national goals of the Five Year Plan.
After receiving an overview of teaching plans developed for each island, Mr. Estall visited local communities, encouraging the friends to teach, and offered a list of suggestions that would allow every Bahá’í to participate in some way in winning the goals.
The list began by stressing something every Bahá’í can do — pray. It also included suggestions about firesides, public meetings, proclamations, traveling teaching, and teaching with music.
Twenty-one Local Spiritual Assemblies remain to be formed in Barbados and the Windward Islands by the end of the Five Year Plan.
Gilbert Is./Tuvalu[edit]
Bahá’ís help in epidemic[edit]
The Bahá’ís of the Gilbert Islands and Tuvalu were able to offer services during a short-lived cholera epidemic that began in September.
The Bahá’ís relayed messages throughout the area by utilizing the radio equipment on the Bahá’í-owned catamaran Erena-Roe. The Erena-Roe also stood ready to transport patients from outlying islands to the central hospital.
A Bahá’í served as secretary for the Cholera Committee during its existence.
El Salvador[edit]
Native believers active[edit]
Native believers in El Salvador are teaching more actively, holding Feasts more often, and are more aware of the Bahá’í electoral process, its institutions and spiritual concepts thanks to a series of monthly deepening conferences planned by the National Spiritual Assembly.
The National Assembly divided the country into four areas and asked the Teaching Committee in each of them to choose about eight believers to attend the three and one-half day monthly deepenings at the New Garden.
The believers are met the first evening of the deepening by a National Assembly member who orients them to the weekend’s activities. Teachers include a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors, Auxiliary Board members, National Spiritual Assembly members, and Teaching Committee members.
Bangladesh[edit]
Teaching conference held[edit]
More than 200 believers attended the fourth National Teaching Conference in Bangladesh on October 28-30 at the district Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Jessore.
Sessions were held on Bahá’í Life, the Bahá’í Fund and Bahá’í History.
During the conference, delegations called on two government officials in the area and presented Bahá’í literature, which was well-received.
Hawaii[edit]
Seals & Crofts featured[edit]
Following a concert given by Bahá’í recording artists Seals & Crofts in Honolulu, Hawaii, on September 17, a fireside was held at the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds.
Of the 40 non-Bahá’ís who attended, two declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh.
