Conferences bear fruit in understanding and action
A roundup of latest reports, photos and videos from “world conferences” around Aotearoa.
In the photo galleries that follow, click on any image for an enlarged “slideshow” view, with detailed captions for some photos. In slideshow view, hovering your cursor over a photo reveals its full caption.
Canterbury — 14-15 May
Auckland: eastern suburbs sector — 14-15 May
A highly diverse group of about 70 souls met in a loving atmosphere at the Bahá’í Centre in Glen Innes. Among the participants were a number of Chinese speakers who had sessions in their own language.
Slideshow of conference scenes:
Auckland: Avondale / Owairaka / Wesley sector — 14-15 May
This conference, held at Green Bay High School, yielded immediate fruits, as described by one of the junior youth programme team:
“One of the outcomes from our conference is that the older junior youth want to go back to their intermediate school and talk to the students about the programme to start a new group in the neighbourhood. They’ve also decided they want to do another service project. Listening to their sharing I couldn’t help but reflect on the way the text guided them to make these plans. Something that stood out for me from their reflections was that they gained a greater understanding of the need to have unity in their community and that we must have a vision for this.
“As the conference went on and they got to lessons 4 and 5, I could start to see them realising that the junior youth programme and service were key components of this unified community they were beginning to envision. I can see they now have a greater understanding of the role the junior programme has in the neighbourhood, which I think is why they are so keen to help start another group and go back to their old school.”
Another participant commented that 90 percent were youth and young adults who are friends of the Faith. More than 50 people participated in total.
A third participant commented: “It was a beautiful effort enjoyed by everyone! And, of course, the yummy Persian food was gorgeous, as usual!”
Far North: Moerewa — 14-15 May
Held at Taumatamakuku, Moerewa, Far North. The following video gives a wonderful overview of the lively atmosphere of the occasion.
Wairarapa — 6-8 May — learning a waiata
The Wairarapa conference was reported in last week’s article. Another joyful item from the event is the video below of learning a waiata.
During the session on “Building Vibrant communities” everyone joined together at the end to learn/practise the waiata, which had been developed at one of the Ruhi intensives the year before. It is a musical setting of this quotation from Baha’u’llah:
E HOA MĀ!
Kaua e whakarēre nā te ātaahua mutungakore mō te ātaahua e mate, kaua hoki e whakarite i ō mahara atawhai ki tēnei ao matemate, ao puehu noa.
O FRIENDS!
Abandon not the everlasting beauty for a beauty that must die, and set not your affections on this mortal world of dust.
Tremendous energy was felt in the room as the voices echoed through the kura (school) hall, and everyone was learning to move in harmony.
