The Bahá’í Centenary 1844-1944/Bahá’í Teaching in Latin America
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BAHAI TEACHING IN LATIN AMERICA TO 1940
A STATEMENT BY LOULIE A. MATHEWS
Q ELL do I remember the day and the hour that my husband announced that we might visit China, India and the Islands of the South Seas. I could scarcely believe my cars! To journey through the Arabian Nights on a magic carpet. That night I unfolded ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Tablet and read again the transforming words: “Be thou humble, be thou submissive and some day thou wilt become ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's lion and roar across the seven seas."
We sailed from San Francisco towards the lands where the sun is rising as our sun sets. Wonderful Bahá’í experiences we had and thus emboldened we wrote Shoghi Effendi upon our return and asked him if there was a special mission we could undertake. A country, perhaps, that would be helpful for us to visit. While waiting for a reply we talked of various lands to which we might be called, but never thought of the continent at our doors. It was a great surprise when the Guardian wrote that Central and South America and the West lndies must be surveyed. The destiny of the Americas was in the making. We should serve the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh by such a journey.
It was early in the Autumn of 1935 that we started on a long trek that covered the countries designated by the Guardian. Travel by air was, in that day, reserved for aviators, the earth was still the medium of travel for common mortals. There were stretches of country that had no means of communication except by decrepit motors. The wild lakes of Chile connected by small islands were navigated by old fashioned side wheelers. They cast you up on one of the islands and departed leaving you for an indefinite period. as there were no time tables and no regular schedules. You remained on the island until the shrill blast of an incoming steamer announced itself. Then ensued a
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fierce scramble to reach the wharf before the steamer moved on. I remember one short cut that led under three successive water-falls without a pause to undo the damage. Sometimes the boat, proud and independent, would have begun to move out from the shore, when we dashed up. Then, with tooting and churning of water beneath the big paddle, it would back up so that we could be pulled and pushed on board.
At the head of the largest lake is the town,
of Bariloche. Here a brand new train service had been just opened. Each Sunday a train left for Buenos Aires where it arrived some time Thursday. It was considered a miracle of rapid transit. And was the occasion for a special festival. Young girl: carrying bright colored silks pretended to polish the spotless engine. Children sold bunchm of wild flowers to those favored beings traveling on the magic road.
Leaving the Argentine for Brazil the cities of Bahia and Belam can be reached only by water, no road exists to connect them with Rio de janeiro. In all the vast continent we knew only one Bahá’í, Leonora Holsapple. We spoke neither Spanish nor Portuguese. An entrenched religion barred ouropath. A new adaptation was required as we moved from one country to the other. It was like no other voyage. It was set apart. We realized that a great spiritual drama was about to be enacted and the land must needs be accurately remembered.
Upon our return, Shoghi Effendi inaugurated the work of sending pioneers to these countries. We scarcely realized the scope and meaning of the undertaking. We took one step at a time, guided by the Guardian. until the Convention of 1939 when Shoghi Effendi sent to America a strong appeal for settlement of the Faith in Latin America. His book on "The Advent of Divine Justice"
195 THE BAHA’I
opened our eyes to the gravity of the undertaking. Believers young and old pressed forward to share in the settling of Latin America.
The Bahá’ís of the second century will want to know who made these early journeys so I have affixed a list known to me. Visitor indicates one who stayed less than six months; feac/xr or pioneer indicates those who remained longer.
MEXICO: City of Mexico was first visited by Mr. and Mrs. Frankland of California in 1912 at the suggestion of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Mark Toby went there in 1919. Mathews in 1939. Early in 1937 Beatrice Irwin became a resident teacher and later that same year Frances Stewart brought into the Faith the first Latin American Assembly. Orcella Rexford spent a winter teaching on the Mexican border.
YUCATAN once an independent country, now part of Mexico, was visited by us in 1939. The newspaper "El Yucatan” championed the Cause and printed articles on the Bahá’í principles.
GUATEMALA: Guatemala City had Gerrard Sluter as pionea in 1939.
E1. SALVADOR: City of San Salvador was settled by our youngest pioneer, John Eichenauer, Jr., who was not quite eighteen when he went there. Clarence Iverson soon followed and worked with him.
HONDURAS: City of Telucigalpa had as its earliest teacher. Antonio Roca of Milwaukee, in 1939.
NICARAGUA: Mathew Kaszab arrived here in 1939 and taught in the cities of Managua, Cortino, Granada and in the mines of Bluefields. His untimely death in 1943 was due to the hardships he had endured.
CosTA RIcA: Amelia Ford and Gayle Woolson settled in San Jose’ in 1939. Roy C. Wilhelm spent the year of 1896 in Costa Rica.
THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE: Louise Caswell and Cora Oliver went out as the first pioneers in 1939.
Sour" AMI:IucA
The first journey to South America was made by Martha L. Root in 1921. That same year Leonora Holsapple left her home in California and settled permanently in
CENTENARY
Bahia. Loulie and Edward Mathews journeyed throughout South America in 1935 and again in 1937. Nellie and Stuart W. French were there in 1936. Frances Stewart taught in 1937 and again in 1939.
BOLIVIA: La Paz had no early pioneer. Sra. Cravioto, wife of the Mexican ambassador, who had embraced the faith in Mexico City, lived there for one year. She could not teach publicly, but interested her friends in the Faith.
COLOMBIA: City of Bogota had no early pioneer. Mrs. W. D. McMillan lived for awhile in the El Canada Mines at Pasto.
ECUADOR: Quito has had John Stearns of Jamestown, N. Y., since 1959.
PERU: City of Lima. Here the first resident teachers were Mrs. Joel Stebbins and Isabel Dodge in 1936. Sra. E. R. dc Garcia Rosell, a well known writer and lecturer. opened her home for their meetings. Iris Wigington, married to a Peruvian, interested many people at Huanta, Peru in the early days.
CHILE: City of Santiago. Frances Stewart taught in 1937 and 1939. Otto and Ruth Maier lived here for a year in 1938 and the de Burmuihts of Puerto Varas sur, taught a large group between the years of 1935 and 1939.
ARGENTINA: City of Buenos Aires. Frances Stewart gathered a large group that became an Assembly in 1938. Here May Maxwell died in March 1940. The teachers, pioneers, groups and Assemblies of South America, Central America, the West Indies, united with the friends in North America for a memorial service on April 26th at 8 o’cloclt. This marked the first unified action of the Americas. Under Maria Casati and Frances Stewart the leaders of the Patagonia Indians received the Message. The Hon. Ernin Arslan, who had been one of the leaders of the Young Turk's revolution in 1908 that freed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, assisted the growing Assembly. though not himself a Bahá’í.
PARAGUAY: Our pioneer teacher was Sra. Maria Casati of Formosa. whose untimely death in January, 1940 was greatly lamented.
URUGUAY: City of Montevideo had Wilfrid Barton, who arrived in 1939.
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BAHA’l TEACHING IN LATIN AMERICA
BRAzn.: Resident pioneer, Leonora Holsapple. Mr. and Mrs. Roy Worley were stationed at Santos in 1939. Miss Eve Nicklin spent some months in Bahia in 1937. In the early days our literature was distributed in South America through the courtesy of Charles O’Hanion.
BRrrISH GUIANA: Georgetown was visited by Dudley and Elsa Blakeley in 1936.
DUTCH GUIANA: Taught by Miss Holsapple in 1927.
VENEZUELA: City of Caracas visited by Mr. and Mrs. Blakeley in 1936. Our first pioneers were the Emeric Salas of Canada and Priscilla Rhoacles of New York, March, 1939.
THE ISLANDs
PUERTO RICO: Visited by William de Forge in 1938. Pioneers, Katharine Disdier and Rouhieh Jones in the Spring of 1940.
CUBA: Havana visited by Mr. and Mrs. Ward Calhoon in 1938; also by Philip Marengella, who returned with his wife the
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following year. They became our first pioneers.
HAITI: Mr. and Mrs. Louis G. Gregory spent six months here in 1934. Our first pioneers were Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell of Chicago. _
JAMAICA: An English believer, Mrs. Connie Langdon-Davies, spent the winter here in 1938, sending constant news of her progress in teaching to the lnter-America Committee. Our first pioneers were Mr. and Mrs. John Shaw of San Francisco in the Autumn of 1939.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: William de Forge visited here in 1938 and Margaret Lentz became our resident teacher in 1939.
TRINIDAD: Visited by the Blakeleys in 1937 and by the Mathews in 1935 and 1937.
CURAcAo: Miss Holsapple taught here in 1927.
BERMUDA and BAHAMAS: Visited by the Mathews in 1935.
BARBADos: Visited by Wilfrid Barton on his way to South America.
BAHA’I TEACHING IN LATIN AMERICA, 1940-1944
TO SUMMARIZE the wonderful growth of the Faith in Latin America during these three years is a difficult task. So much is due to the splendid foundation work done before by those intrepid pioneers who either went to Latin America to reside permanently or traveled throughout the Republics sparing no effort to awaken the people and building a permanent base upon which to rear a superstructure of surpassing glory.
By 1941 there were already three local Spiritual Assemblies, those of Mexico City, Buenos Aires and San Jose’, Costa Rica. Much valuable publicity had been secured especially in Costa Rica and Chile; traveling teachers were addressing public meetings in most of the Republics and some radio work also had been done. During that year, from Convention time to Convention time, a remarkable growth took place and by the Convention of 1942 beside the local Spiritual Assemblies already mentioned there were added to the list those of Montevideo. Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Port-au-Prince. Havana, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, San Salvador and Puebla. Mexico. During the past year, while two local Assemblies were dissolved because of changes of residence. Guatemala City, Santiago, Chile, and Bahia, Brazil were added to the list while in Ecuador, Panama. Mexico and Argentina there are groups lacking only one or two members to reach the required nine to form a Spiritual Assembly.
The question of literature has been a most anxious one as translations can only be made by those who understand the Faith and have become accustomed to its unique phraseology. Of French books there were almost none to supply the need of Haiti as the abundant supply reposing in France was unavailable. However little by little a limited library in Spanish and French has been provided with other additions in proc 198
ess. Portuguese translations are to be had in Brazil. .
One of the most outstanding accomplishments of the recent period has been the work done with children in Havana where the classes are constantly increasing and where the children are memorizing the Words and the Prayers and are sparkling with enthusiasm and love for the Faith. Many Youth Groups throughout Latin America have participated in the annual celebration of Bahá’í Youth Day in cooperation with the National Youth Committee of North America.
Radio has played an important part in introducing the Faith, notably in Buenos Aires where brief quotations for some time formed part of a regular program, but especially in San Salvador and Quito, Ecuador. In this latter city a season of regular broadcasts sponsored by our resident pioneer teacher has presented Bahá’í Readings in connection with classical musical programs offered by the Symphony Orchestra of Quito.
A Spanish presentation of the history and teachings of the Faith made by one of our pioneers was graciously received by a select group of members and friends of the University of Chile at Santiago and the Press of that city has been most cooperative. The Alma Tim magazine of San Jose, Costa Rica, has repeatedly published lengthy articles with rich illustrations and Central America generally has been very well publicized. The Costa Rican Government has legally recognized the Faith and granted a charter to the Local Assemblies of which there are two in that country.
The lnter-America Committee has issued monthly bulletins to all pioneers, Assemblies and groups, contributing in this way to the unification of the two continents and advancing the teaching work as much as possible.
BAHA’l TEACHING
Too much cannot be said in appreciation of the services of our pioneers and also of the local believers who have arisen so sincerely and with so much enthusiasm to further the spread of the Faith. Our teachers have encountered many difficulties not the least of which was the acquisition of the language, for to teach and speak eloquently in so short a time is a task which could only have been accomplished with the assistance of the Hosts of the Supreme Concourse.
At the present writing and in order to
IN LATIN AMERICA
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fulfill the requirements set by the Guardian for the Seven Year Plan, which is now drawing to an end. there remains still some very important work to be done. As we estimate the growth and awakening of Latin America, however, we appreciate that the steps there have been more rapid than was our progress in the early years of the Faith in North America and we raise our hearts in prayerful gratitude for what has already been attained, rejoicing at the same time in the glorious promise of the future.
