Transcript:US Bahá’í Newsreel/Volume 17/No 3 (Spring 2008)
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Mhm. An ancient african proverb teaches that no man, woman or family is an island that it takes an entire village to raise a child today. We find communities plagued by alienation and crime. Families feel a sense of hopelessness and seek safety for themselves and their Children. Even schoolyards and classrooms can no longer provide safe harbor. Imagine a neighborhood where people say hello, where neighbors trust each other, where Children play safely outside, where family life is value. Cultural diversity is seen as a benefit and where service to the community is seen as a virtue. So I have like white and black people and chinese people living on the same block with me and I like that if you had community in your neighborhood, you would see the understanding that compassion, the empathy. Um the kindness um you know, reaching out to others, um just truly wanting to make your neighborhood a great place to live. If you go around acting respectful to people, most likely they'll catch on to it and they'll act respectful to people too. Building a thriving community that reflects, this takes more than just imagination. It requires a common interest in the well being of every person and calls for a community building process based on the principles of unity and justice. Most americans remain steadfast in the hope that we can rebuild our communities for ba highs. This hope comes from a belief in the behind teachings according to Baha'i Allah, each and every human being was created in and with that nobility, every one of us has the power to affect significant social and spiritual change in the world. We can begin in our own neighborhoods. The Baha'i faith allows, it gives you a framework for all that to happen. I mean, it's founded on equality of men and women, founded of equality of races. It's founded on spiritual and religious tolerance. It's founded on diversity, accepting all people's differences, but at the same time, it has again, that unifying principle that we're all one people on one earth, one country, one, you know, one world is what it boils down to and and we're all part of God's creation Today. The highs are focused on that framework, a framework that reawakens the sense of nobility that is inherent in each one of us. It is an experience behinds want to share with friends, family coworkers, and neighbors. A systematic process of learning is occurring in cities and towns across the United States. To help the highs meet these goals. That process is called the training institute sharing these teachings and goals with others is what Baha'is refer to as teaching. Teaching is not, I know more than you do and I'm gonna help you see what my ideas are giving the faith to someone else. You're uncovering the gift within themselves. This newsreel will introduce you to the Baha'i community of savannah Georgia. This is a story of how a group of individuals came together and transformed a neighborhood into a village, A village built on trust and a commitment to creating a haven for families and Children, a village that celebrates human diversity and holds service as a core value Yeah, the weekend of november 10th 2007 was a special one for the Baha'i community of Savannah Georgia. That weekend more than 30 Children were registered as Baha'is by their parents, six adults joined the Baha'i community at the same time. All of these new beehives live in one of Savannah's most challenging neighborhoods, all within a mile radius of the Baha'i Unity Center for years, Savannah's Baha'i Unity Center offered activities that engage men, women, Children and youth. A vibrant neighborhood life was taking shape 1-based on spirituality and service Well, In the fall of 2007, Savannah, Baha'i has decided to start sharing Baha'i Lola's message of unity more directly with their neighbors. The hope that more people would want to become behinds and add their strength to meeting the aims of the Baha'i faith And then came the breakthrough those 36 new people embracing Baha'i Allah's teachings in one weekend, it was an exciting moment following years of community building efforts made by many beehives. However, Savanna Baha'i say they have not yet reached a pinnacle of success, building a sustainable community life in their eyes will take commitment and dedication for years to come. We've had great couple of weeks, but any sincere evaluation yield that we are standing on a leg with not enough support. The story starts in 2001 when the Baha'is of Savannah decided to make a home on Waters Avenue. Savannah is well known for its genteel historic districts, its parks and squares and beautifully restored homes During the 1950s and 60s, the gentrification of neighborhoods was in full swing under the guise of creating low-income housing for racially mixed communities, although some new housing was built. Much of the old victorian charm remains in the Waters Avenue district Today, the neighborhood population is predominantly african american, some neighborhoods are more important than others not saying the other ones, you know are not in need, but this this neighborhood in particular need some some seeds to be grown. The Baha'i is always thought of their sinner as a neighborhood center. Not only a place for the Baha'is themselves, it was a place for anyone of any background to feel comfortable and accepted from the time we bought it, it was a neighborhood center, It wasn't for the Baha'is, it was for us to offer whatever we could to the neighborhood that was our purpose of, of having a center, but we did consciously set out to say we're here and we're here for the long haul. This is our community now and how can we serve this community and how can we involve the community and serving itself over time the Baha'i center became a point of unity for the neighborhood and a bond of trust grew between the Baha'is and their neighbors. You see the bis in the community, not just in the building, you know, like they don't feel like the neighborhood is a threat to them, but they can't leave the building and go out to the community, you know, like and interact with the community as well, you know, because if you don't interact with them, then they're not going to feel that you're being sincere to what you're trying to show and teach them, you know, just at the baja center, it's a lot of love and a lot of understanding for one another and it doesn't matter at the Baha'i Center on the Baha'i faith, you know what color your skin is or what side of town, south east west of north that you live in. You know, it's just the fact that they're out to reach out to one another. When the doors of the unity center opened to the public, the creativity of individual behinds was released in savannah, Baha'i highs there felt inspired to create new initiatives in the neighborhood and each new initiative led to another among them, a men's study circle took shape. Baha'i Xray, Rudolph and Mike O'Neill teamed up and invited their friends, 14 men joined, all sharing a common interest in spiritual matters and improving the neighborhood. The group focused their study on the Baha'I writings in a book called rui book. One reflections on the life of the spirit. The material was agreeable to the participants, most of whom were not the highs. When I came here, you know, it was like, okay, I'm just going because you know me and Ray's friend and then I'm going to check it out to meet a group of gods of all denominations, gods of different races and the thing about it, it just struck me that heck of nine man's in a circle and we're able to discuss, were able to pray together, were able to cry together and we did some crying, you know, And right then in my heart I knew what I wanted. I knew that my place was here. The men's study circle took on the name one of us. We wanted to show the youth of the neighborhood that if you did service and studied from the writings and socialized with decent people that you could become one of us and that you didn't have to go down the road of violence and, and death and drugs and all that. The one of us men began carrying out service projects. They took kids to baseball games, visited the elderly in nursing homes and served at a soup kitchen. And then came a truly unifying idea, something called movies on the wall. We happen to have a vacant lot that we own across the street from the center. When you show the movie on the wall, the old folks coming the seniors, the young people coming, the grandchildren come out. You've got all of these people watching these movies. They're all cheering at the same time for the hero or the heroine and you know, they're all laughing at the same time. The fate of young people is a concern shared by most adults in the Waters Avenue neighborhood. But if you don't have the young, the next generation that's coming up to be our leaders, then they just get brushed aside. That's why a lot of them end up on the corner not doing nothing positive with their life. When you talk to community people and say uh we're here to help the youth and the junior youth. They understand what you're talking about because they see on the, on the newspaper every sunday that more of them may have been killed that weekend, several Baha'is have created activities for neighborhood Children. two Baha'i women started an after school program providing homework help and then a long standing by high sponsored public event became a portal for consistent Children's activities. We've had race unity picnics for about 10 years. We've had as many as 1100 people at our race unity picnic. And it's a huge event and the community looked itself in the mirror and said, how many people have entered the Baha'i faith as a result of the racial anti picnic and the answer is none. Finally this year was decided that we wouldn't do it if it wasn't tied to the, to the core activities if it wasn't tied to the plane the race unity picnic was held at a park near the Baha'i center and became a venue for families to sign up for a summer virtues camp, 60 Children attended the virtues camp in June we turned this race shooting picnic which we have been doing for years with little or no discernible results into a portal to a Children's class to a junior youth activity. Families were then invited to enroll their Children in ongoing activities at the Baha'i Center. Do you feel about your team's active service? How did you feel everybody knows everybody. Junior youth groups are for teens 11 to 14 years of age, a critical age when Children experience new levels of independence face peer pressure and make tough choices. These groups help young teens foster a spiritual identity, a sense of nobility, self expression and decision making skills. 13 behinds, adults and older teens have been trained to work with junior youth. They went through a program offered by the RUI Training Institute called Junior Youth animator training. The adults and older teens are not simply teachers imparting knowledge and rules rather they are known as animators animating are bringing to life the gifts already inherent in each and every one of these kids starting a junior youth group wasn't easy learning to work together was a process for the teens and the adults alike. But in just a matter of weeks transformation was visible on both sides. When the kids first came to the center, they were like, I don't want to do this. We know all this. I'm, I am true for this, this and that and you know, completely intimidating For the first three Fridays, I dreaded going like, I don't wanna go, I don't want to go. You know, and literally, I think after the third friday I could not wait to go. He was a young man who came up to me and he was one of the roughest out of the bunch. You know, he always had that straight face on his face. You know, like I really don't wanna do this, but I'm here Then one Sunday he come up to me and said, misty, can I talk to you? I don't want to do bad things anymore. I want to live a good life. You know, I want to be happy. I want to be able to go somewhere and not be scared to walk down my street. You know, I'm just glad that they made this building here for like on this side of town. It's like a unique place for me to speak my thoughts in my head because I'd be kind of nervous sometimes I'd be in school and other places and I feel like, I don't feel, I feel fine when I've been here talking in front of everybody and looking at everybody's faces, smiling faces, but what they teaching, you don't really be hard, you can really understand it what they're talking about and all that. The respect they have for you, not trying to force you to do, type do things and learn things. They just, they're just different from different people. I just love coming up. Community service is an essential component of all junior youth groups. The teens devise their own plans, thereby becoming conscious contributors to their own neighborhoods. During one recent service project, the junior youth made gifts and delivered them to the neighbors after each service project. They reflect on what they've learned from the experience. Right, okay. Whatever team wants to answer this one question to go ahead sweetheart, how did you feel about the visit? We are grateful for their present. We felt good about ourselves, You felt good about yourself. That's a good thing to feel. And then the last question is, what did you get out of it? And every one of them said respect, they felt respected by the people in the neighborhood. They weren't just the hood, a kid running down the street anymore. They were somebody who was actually doing something to help the neighborhood become better and that's what they got out of it. If you go around acting respectful to people, most likely they'll catch on to it and they'll act respectful to people too. A study circle for men, devotional gatherings, Movies on the wall after school homework help, a junior youth group, Children's classes, a vibrant community life was developing. However Baha'i community itself was not growing in number, it had been like a year or so that these kids were coming to the center, every, every friday, faithfully, every friday nonstop and we never once talked to their parents and not just a social visit, but really that more of that direct teaching is, you know, we're behind and this is what the Baha'i faith is and this is what we believe. The high is divided into teaching teams. They visited every house in a four block radius of the Baha'i center and every family of a child attending Baha'i activities. I think all the teams that went out and had a very positive response. It was insane how fast and oh yeah, y'all are, you know, y'all are the truth right there, y'all are, y'all are something special. So then we came back that evening, everybody was really excited. Most parents were favorable to the idea of registering their Children as the highs Natalie baker was one of them. Every sunday Natalie attends another church in the neighborhood, but she dropped her son off at the Baha'i center first. I'm a single parent, I'm a blessing a parent, I don't complain about that, it's nothing negative about it. My son and myself experience an awesome change and the way I think in the way he thinks about loving one another and so as as a mother, not only just a mother, but as a single parent, you know, the Baha'I faith, I can't say it enough is really there for my son. You know, they show so much love and so much to carry and that's what I need. I can't, like they say it takes a village to raise a child and this is, I mean, I'll start crying again, the more I talk about this is me, my son's village, I could not possibly do this by myself, must have a firmer foundation. That firmer foundation in my mind is more friends, doing more teaching. There's no way around it. And I mean direct teaching one on one to an individual. I'm talking about going out eyeball to eyeball, teaching somebody about the cause And we already have, as I was telling you, a group of 15 year olds are starting their book one immediately and they've already been named the leaders, we call them leaders because these kids are not social projects. These kids are the next Condrey of a T. C. Secretary, Ls a chairman's counselors, auxiliary board members. That's how we have to see and expect raise the bar, expect big things from him
