Yaounde Regional Conference

Yaounde Regional Conference - November 29-30

Yaounde - the capital of Cameroon - is one amongst 41 cities around the world selected by the Universal House of Justice, at this mid-point of the Five Year Plan, "to celebrate the feats already achieved during the Plan [as well] as to deliberate on its current exigencies". Here's an excerpt from the report on this conference: "Some 1,200 participants gathered at the Cameroon National Bahá’í Center for the Yaounde regional conference, 29-30 November. In addition to the hundreds who had come from across Cameroon, there were 90 from Chad, 45 from Congo, 18 from Equatorial Guinea, 20 from Gabon, and 10 from Sao Tome and Principe. A high percentage of those attending were youth, ages 12 to 22." Please click here to see more pictures and read the rest of the report, and others.

On the row with Sahar's parents, Kamran and Fariba Frooghi, my mom and dad are sitting right after them. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Sahar says that the lady in green is the wife of the Fon of Baba! Behind, the man with a baby is Ibrahim Nyambi. He was an ABM in Ndop for a long time and had once served at the BWC.Towards the back, the lady in purple looking back is dear Auntie Lucy from Bamenda.

So many familiar faces! I can see Mr. Chongwain wearing a Bamenda tribal cap, with Jackson from Yaounde sitting right next to him on the left.

The Persian lady looking back is Auntie Manal Gillett.

Baha'is from Mamfe, SW Province in Cameroon standing in front of the National Center

Baha'is from Gabon

The Buea choir performed

Baha'is from Chad participate in a workshop

Developments in Fako - good and sad news

It is good to start with the sad and then soothe with the good.

May 4, 2008

The Baha'i world in general, and the Baha'is of Cameroon in particular, lost a wonderful and rare gem, Dr. Mehdi Samandari. He and his wife, Aunt Ursula, were knights of Baha'u'llah. I am not going to write too much about him because I do not think I would do justice to describing the kind of person he was. I'd just say that no one who spent more than 30 minutes with him ever forgot him. He was full of love and kindness for everyone and his heart was so big. He took everyone in. I have never met anyone who was more focused on teach, teach, teach the Cause. Bukwango, in Buea, where he lived, will be strange without him.

I have known him ever since I was a Baha'i and cannot imagine not having his love and support all the time. When I turned 21, I was fortunate to serve with him on the LSA, and he was so loving in guiding me on that path. He always served us tea and peanut sandwiches before every meeting and always had fresh fruit too. And mind you...he served us himself, even at that elderly age when he walked with his cane and took more time to perform tasks. Still he insisted on serving us, with a big, loving smile in his eyes. His mind too was very astute even then. I'm talking about 1999 to 2001. He was already in his mid 80s. I could go on and on...

There are so many beautiful tributes that the friends have written, which all go to show how much he touched the hearts of so many. Here is one from a Cameroonian friend, Steve, who really captures the same sentiments that many of us Cameroonians have. Thanks for sharing this, Steve.

"Dear Fariba, I am soo humbled to even be writing this email. I can't but admire the sacrifice you all out there in Cameroon and particularly the friends in Buea in helping our Dear Grand Father Dr. Mehdi Samandari ascend to the realms on high. I personally cannot stop the flash backs I am having when I think of my priceless times with Dr. I count myself very lucky to have known a human being of his class. I will for eternity cherish the fact that my Faith in Baha'u'llah was made strong by both Dr and his Beloved wife Ursula. The Tea, the dinners, the trips, the gardening, the prayers, the singing, the jokes, the advice, the readings, the drawings, the calligraphy's, the walks to the Baha'i Center in Great Soppo Buea, The conferences in Limbe, Douala, etc. The numerous 19 Day Feast at their residence in Buea....and the list goes on.......What a man.....Papa..Samandari...bye bye ya...I know ...someday we shall meet again....go wait for us all your pekin them.

Let us all say prayers for the progress of his wonderful soul as he goes up to join the Concourse on High and to join dear Auntie Ursula, his beloved wife. We will miss you, dearest Dr. Samandari.

Burial will take place in Buea at 4pm (Cameroon time) on Saturday, May 10. It would be nice to have a moment of silence for him at that time.

Now to the good news....and one that would bring joy to Dr. Samandari's heart...Buea and Limbe are the main cities of the Fako sub-division and the Fako Cluster is an A cluster. Dr. S. lived in Buea.

Results of the 12th Cycle of Intensive Programmes of Growth in the Fako Cluster - 11 Feb.- 11 May, 2008

This cycle of IPG lasted 3 months and wrought great results for the friends who participated. A teaching project was organized for Great Soppo, Buea, and New Town, Limbe. The end result was 24 new believers!!! Ya Baha'u'l-Abha!! Out of these 24 declarations, 14 were registered during the expansion phase and 10 during the consolidation phase. The goal was 30 and they recorded 24, isn't that amazing? 7 teaching teams participated and reached out to 196 out of the 300 targeted souls. The cluster had 5 home visits, raised their core activities to 17 s.c, 28 c.c, 10 j.y.groups, and 9 d.v. I am so proud of the cluster!

They also took note of the lessons learned during the process. First and foremost, that Anna's presentation is very effective in teaching the Faith directly. That they achieved more when there was unity and a team spirit amongst the friends; that home visits were great in sharing deepening themes; that core activities were better sustained if the team reached out and invited more people to participate; that they needed to focus on the core activities that they could sustain; and that they obtained faster results when more friends took part in the sequence of courses.

Hooray for Fako!!! They continue to beseech our prayers and support.

The Power of Ruhi

Oh I love recounting good news!!! And this is definitely one of them.

FYI, this is a Baha'i-related account, if you are a picky reader!!:-)

What shall I caption this? How about: "Enrollments on the Rise in Cameroon"

Well, I have heard several accounts and I would like to quote my dear brother, Sahba Frooghi, who shared some of the information with me. Sahar also encouraged me to write about it.

In several of the clusters in Cameroon, particularly the priority A-level clusters, the Baha'i friends have launched Intensive Programs of Growth (IPGs) over the last few years. Until recently, results have been slow in coming. But in the last 11th and 12th cycles of expansion and consolidation, the friends have seen tremendous results. What has changed?

What has changed is the way the friends are applying the lessons and skills acquired through the Institute Process!! More specifically, the use of Direct Teaching with the aid of Anna's Presentation from Ruhi Book 6.
[For those friends who might not be familiar with what Anna's Presentation is: it is a systematic and well thought-out way of presenting the Baha'i Faith to non-Baha'is put together by the Ruhi Institute, and is contained in Ruhi Book 6].

Well, back to my story...the friends in Cameroon have been realizing incredible results using this visual aid. In the last cycle, number of enrollments - Fako: 14; Douala: 25 and Yaounde: 28. While in the current cycle, with only 1 1/2 weeks gone, Kumba and Kombone have seen 62 declarations and Fako 9.

What's more, the friends who enroll are not left to themselves but are lovingly guided and nurtured through the core activities until they themselves start taking ownership of the Cause. An example is a Bafut man who lives in Great Soppo, Buea. [Notice the man is from my tribe:-) ]. After enrolling, he soon bacame a member of the LSA, and then turned around and taught the Faith to his two Bafut friends, a husband and wife...and what do you know?...they also declared! Auntie Fariba Frooghi mentioned in an email that some people said that they had heard of the Baha'i Faith before, but that nobody had come and talked to them about it quite that way before. Isn't that amazing?

Of course, besides teaching, the friends are diligently carrying on with all the core activities. Like Dan Reimer, our Arkansas ABM had told us, core activities are only a means to an end - to a more effective way of teaching. They are important in keeping these new human resources nurtured and strenghtened in the Faith. Also, the institutions in Cameroon do everything to facilitate the process. They even invited friends from Central African Republic, which is a country with some very advanced clusters, to come and share their learning experiences with them. Wonderful.

I will tell you why I am so touched by this story. People like Sahar, Dibo, Sahba, Claudine, Gustaff, Steven, David... and all my wonderful friends with whom we taught the Faith in Cameroon back in the day will understand. Back then, when we were teenagers and youth, we taught the Faith in Cameroon. We went to villages and towns. We gave it our very best; but we were not always systematic. There wasn't always a follow-through plan for the people who became interested. But it's worth mentioning, and Sahar will have me add :-), how enriching those teaching trips were. And yes, they were lots and lots of fun, especially when I think of us English-speaking Baha'is learning to speak a few good phrases in French so that we could introduce the Faith to French-speaking non-Baha'is. The interesting part came when the questions started coming...fast! After struggling for a while and getting nowhere, we will say, "wait", while we dashed to pull over one of our friends who could speak better French to come over and help us. We learned a lot from the people we met; had some great adventures and challenges, and built real bonds amongst ourselves. OK...let me get back on track....

Now the Universal House of Justice has given us the Ruhi Institute and the steps and approaches to utilize. Like many communities, it has taken Cameroon a while to get to where it is now, and it is still growing. But the community has trusted in the guidance of the House, and is now seeing the results. It is so moving as to bring me to tears of happiness. Finally, we are beginning to get it!!!!

Post Script!! A special tribute to my mother. She was made a Cluster Institute Coordinator for her cluster in Douala and she entered full swing into her role; embracing it with all her heart as she does everything else in her life. I am so proud of her!!!

Need Inspiration? Here's where to look...

The Bahá’í Faith in Cameroon is growing in leaps and bounds!!!!

Need Inspiration? Here’s where to look ~
I have been planning for some time now to write something about the growth of our Faith – the Bahá’í Faith – in my home country, Cameroon. So much has been going on there, especially duing the Five Year Plans, so many good things, that I often have a strong feeling of nostalgia and wish I were there partaking of these great successes. The Bahá’í community is small when compared to the other two main religious groups in the country - Christians and Muslims. There are only some 40,000 Bahá’ís on paper, and yet this band of friends is a group of very determined and hardworking Bahá’ís who throw in their lot for the growth of the Faith in that country. Their achievements are remarkable indeed, and I won’t go into all the growth in the institute process that the friends are currently realizing. I just wanted to concentrate on a number of recent successes, the more obvious and arduous ones, such as the building of houses of worship and centers of activity.

A National Bahá’í Center has been the dream – the wish – of the Bahá’í friends and administration for a long time. I remember talks of it when I was a Bahá’í in my late teens and we thought it would never come to pass in our lifetimes. The community, however, made its plans and prepared for the inevitable task of moving our National Center from its old (and increasingly unaccommodating) location in Limbe to a bigger and more all-encompassing location in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon. We were soon receiving the first of many bulletins, “From Dream to Reality”, a well-written bulletin that detailed news of the progress towards the building of the National Center. Since October of 2006, it's been a little over a year; with the devoted efforts of the friends, the wisdom and experience of the National Spiritual Assembly, the support of the local assemblies, and the love and support of the international Bahá’í community, this dream has now been realized. As you’ll see from the pictures, a plaque is already designed to grace the entrance to the building and inauguration is planned for November 23rd of this year. This is indeed a dream come to reality.

I have included pictures of the National Convention that held in Limbe at the former National Center, with all its greenery and beauty. See all the friends gathered there!!! I tell you, the Limbe Center will always hold great memories for many of us who grew up to witness many a great national, local and regional event held there.

Limbe too has built a beautiful Bahá’í Center of Learning. It is incredible. I cannot tell you, who is not of that part of the world, what a sacrifice, what concerted effort, is needed to undertake and complete such mighty projects. I am so proud of the Bahá’í community.

In Buea, there's the Buea Information Center. I remember when that piece of land was first acquired. Buea, because of its mountain and historic volcanic eruptions, has a rocky terrain. At that time, the land was full of stones, rocks, big and small. We spent weeks manually gathering the rocks on the property. I have to find that picture and upload it as well. Then I was at the university of Buea, that is some 7 years ago, with Sahar, Martha, Simon, and many of the other friends. Today, that piece of land is transformed to a beautiful, beautiful center where activities are held almost every day, and non-Bahá’ís come and go frequently. I can tell you, it tugs at my heart’s strings just to think about it.

I’ll write something below some of the picture just to give you an idea of what they are. But I thought that this little prologue will help you understand why these buildings and these people mean so much. I wish I could…I’d have uploaded so much more. By the way, I have to thank my dearest friend, Sahar, for a good number of these pictures. Her family sends them to her and so I benefit!!!:-) Her brother, Sahba, has a more elaborate coverage of these events at his website http://buea.blogspot.com.

Buea Information center - Naw-ruz (Baha'i New Year)

The pre-youth and youth act skits as part of the program.

The youth choir ~ [Mona Frooghi and Dibo Teku] are amongst those in the front row.
You can learn more about Buea Baha'i singers and the activities in Cameroon from Sahba Frooghi's website at www.myspace.com/bahaisingers

The new National Center in Yaounde ~

Construction in progress

The roadside fence.

A completed view- Front door.

A side view Limbe ~
During the convention this past April at the former National Center in Limbe
Delegates to the Convention

Ah, our women.
All the friends who came for the convention

There's a youth (and my good friend), Alain Djoulde, coordinating a portion of the program.
Adults performed as well!! Mr. Akuri and Pa Awoh.
The youth sang tooA group song

The new Baha'i Center of Learning in Limbe~

My spiritual parents~

I thought I'd add some pictures of some of our great Baha'i pioneers to Cameroon. Through the sacrifices of these wonderful souls, who left their home towns in Iran and the United States to come and settle in Cameroon to teach the Faith, e.g. the consistent Baha'i children and youth classes, were very instrumental in my building a solid spiritual foundation from very early on. This same people thought us to carry on the teaching work, that the future of our Faith in Cameroon lay in our hands.

Dear Auntie Fariba and Uncle Kamran Frooghi have been in Cameroon for almost 30 years now. I attended children's classes with their daughter, Sahar. When we grew up, we, in turn, taught moral instruction classes which their younger children and my younger siblings attended. They are a gem to our home community. Uncle Kamran is a constructor and has been invaluable behind the construction of several Baha'i infrastructure in Cameroon. He is indeed a man of the people and has been given a traditional name in every locality he's lived in, because he interacts so closely with the indigenes. Auntie Manal [extreme left] and her dear husband, Uncle David Gillett, have been in Cameroon too for about just as long. Auntie Manal came once a week to our home, when I was very young, to teach moral instruction and virtue classes to the children in our neighborhood. We always had candy when we behaved well. Unfortunately, I don't have Uncle David in these pictures.
Manal Gillett, Sima Bushrui, and Fariba Frooghi.
Auntie Sima and Uncle Niaz Bushrui ~

Another wonderful Baha'i couple. Niaz Bushrui is a treasure. He was a member of the Continental Board of Counselors in Africa and inspired many, many friends in the Faith. A very humble, intelligent and kind person, he often made me weep when he addressed the friends and spurred us on before an intensive teaching trip. In fact, I composed a Baha'i song once after being "set on fire" by one of his addresses. We sang that song at many Baha'i events [I'm not bragging!!:-) ] He was also very good at telling Baha'i jokes. Now Niaz B. is a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Cameroon. Dr. Mehdi Samandari ~

Ah, a veritable gem. He and his late wife, Ursula, are knights of Baha'u'llah. He is also the son of late Hand of the Cause, Tarazullah Samandari. I was privilegded to serve on my first LSA with him and I learned many, many things from him during my 3-year stay in Buea, S.Western Cameroon. Below, he's holding, Naseem, Dibo & Gabby Teku's baby, during a celebration of the Birth of the Bab at his home. The following two pictures (below this one) are at the same celebration in his home in Bukwango, Buea.

John & Malaknaz Johnson ~ Niaz (in the center) is their son.

This is another amazing couple. They are the spiritual parents of many of the youth in Limbe, including Aaron. Malak is the most warm, selfless, and giving person you ever saw. John is a very gentle person and very knowledgeable. It was always a bounty spending time with them. They are now pioneering in Botswana. Niaz is studying here in the U.S.

Paysans ~

I couldn't resist adding in this picture, taken just this last month, at an african friend's wedding. The groom is at the bottom extreme right corner. He's Nigerian though, and I don't know him personally, but it is just good to look at this picture and see the faces of so many Cameroonian Baha'i friends.
Some things I miss. I'm including these pictures because they remind me of how we the Baha'i youth would get together to have some really good times. This activity occurred after I'd left though; my sister, Claudine, is in the pictures.