Camps, Campaigns and Service Reinvigorate the Friends Across Ontario
Amidst an ongoing pandemic and what often feels like the rising tide of a sea of uncertainties, one constant remains: a growing longing for joy, peace, and prosperity for all. As friends in Ontario continue to adjust to the evolving recommendations in a given locality, they are in essence, drawing on “characteristic creativity and determination […]
Travelling the Bethany Galaxy
Do you ever wonder why we are so attracted to outer space and all the unknowns of the galaxy? And what that has to do with service?
Building Strength in Cobourg & Lindsay
With less than two cycles remaining of the current One Year Plan, dynamic intergenerational teams are surging forward in two Ontario clusters determined to establish an intensive program of growth before Riḍván 2022. They are aware of the remainder of this period of special potency and an extension on the time needed to establish as […]
A Vibrant Festival in the Victoria Hills Neighbourhood Kick-starts Fall Activities
Written by Maryam Ahrari, Emily Glabush & Núr Elmasri Summer has come and gone in a flurry, and we are not only reflecting on our learnings but sustaining a trail of neighbourhood activities which have continued into the fall here in Victoria Hills, Kitchener. One event that contributed greatly to the energy and spirit of […]
Fostering True and Lasting Friendships in Kipps Lane
Written by Carmelia Taheri & Emma Persaud Stepping into London’s Kipps Lane neighbourhood in the evenings, any onlooker can see youth coaching volleyball, children running around in the park accompanied by their parents, and junior youth playing basketball with their animators. With approximately 30 thousand inhabitants, it’s a lively and vibrant community. The first community-building […]
“Together We Shine” ROBSI Summer Camp Dedicated to ‘Abdu’l-Baha
Written by Heather Harvey In late July, almost 60 participants gathered for a three-day online ROBSI camp experience inspired by the life and writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. For the last 35 years ROBSI (Rideau-Ottawa Bahá’í Schools Initiative) has run week-long residential camps in wilderness settings inspired by the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith. Due to the […]
“I joined because you knocked on my door!” Reflections on Youth Service
Mena and Jonaya are both 17 and have been serving in the Chester Le pocket in the Upper Don Mills neighbourhood of Toronto for the past six years. They shared the following reflections on their service this summer, the conversations it has led to in their respective families, the way their understanding of their neighbourhood […]
“I want to feel that too”: Youth in Kitchener Reflect on the Power of Prayer
Written by Emily Glabush A small nucleus of friends in the neighbourhood of Mooregate, Kitchener, have been making efforts to sustain core activities since February 2021. The restrictions of the pandemic, as in many places, resulted in the loss of many connections with friends. In the spring of 2021, after having an in-person teaching campaign […]
Beautifying the Neighbourhood Unity Centre in Sudbury with LiveLoveLouder
Written by: Rebecca Hamilton-Bachiu & Chandyn Bachiu The team in the Sudbury-Manitoulin Cluster entered the summer of 2020 with audacious goals to advance the community building process and were curious about the possibility of collaborating with likeminded organizations. The Universal House of Justice describes how “initiatives of this kind emerge organically out of the junior […]
“Hardwired to Make Efforts”: Reflections on Youth Service
Since the initial youth conferences held in 2013, many cohorts of youth have reflected on the idea that “in selfless service to society is the possibility for both personal growth and enhancing capacity to contribute to social progress.”[1] At the outset of the One Year Plan, a growing number of youth, along with friends of […]
The Institute Inspires Expanding Conversations in Upper Don Mills
The Upper Don Mills neighbourhood, along Don Mills Rd and Finch Ave in Toronto, has been home to neighbourhood activities since 2006, during the first institute campaigns in Toronto. The work has concentrated in four smaller pockets since then, and as the process of growth strengthens, new pockets along these streets have opened to the […]
“I hope you don’t think this was easy!”: Adventures in Sharing Learning
seeing the way that a “development in culture finds expression in the quality of their interactions.”
Navigating Crisis and Victory: Studying Book 4 in Rowntree
The isolation caused by the pandemic can lead to feelings of frustration, even despair, among youth. In Rowntree, a neighbourhood in the northwest part of Toronto, one youth found resolve by recognizing a confirmation from Baha’u’llah. Rowntree was opened up with the junior youth spiritual empowerment program in 2012 when some 80 junior youth registered […]
“They’re a Group of Youth at the Vanguard”: Working with Groups in Greenboro
In Ontario, several centres of intense activity have been making incredible strides towards their goals, witnessing the “swelling tide, whereby the capacity, confidence and accumulated experience of most communities are rising.” [1] Many friends and teams across the region are engaged in setting audacious plans for the summer. In the Greenboro-Heatherington neighbourhood of Ottawa, one […]
Service Week in St. James Town
In the fall of 2020, the team in Toronto’s densely-populated neighbourhood of St. James Town was thinking about how their efforts to draw new youth into the community-building process could continue. Winter was looming, and restrictions around the pandemic were likely to increase. They were conscious of the need to weave together a pattern of […]
Believing is Seeing: Reflecting on Prayer and Service
“There is no time to lose. There is no room left for vacillation…Such an opportunity is irreplaceable. Let the doubter arise and himself verify the truth of such assertions. To try, to persevere, is to insure ultimate and complete victory.” – Shoghi Effendi [1] By Subrina Bhullar My children’s class participants are almost junior youth […]
“A True Rallying Point”: A New Neighbourhood Centre in Sudbury
In early November 2020, through support from the region, the friends in Sudbury were able to lease a neighbourhood centre, at the exact midpoint between the Flour Mill and Louis Street focus neighbourhoods, just a kilometer apart. Having their own space became a necessity after the summer and fall cycles of intense activity when, despite […]
Sudbury youth can’t stop – won’t stop – teaching
Submitted by Farzan Hosseini SUDBURY: The youth gathering from a year ago has continued to inspire youth in Sudbury, no matter how much time has passed. One of the youth who attended the gathering was so touched by the Creative Word that, to this day, he cannot stop guiding people to the Blessed Beauty at every […]