In Service to the Common Good

Bahá’í Youth


in Their Own Words






Bahá’í Youth
in Their Own Words
Preface
Early in 2005, the National Spiritual Assembly asked a task force of volunteers
to continue the narrative about Bahá’ís and social action, begun in
2004 and published as In Service to the Common Good: The American
Bahá’í Community’s Commitment to Social Change.
Composed mainly of young adults, the task force focused on Bahá’í
youth: their concerns; their views on the world and their place in it; and the
role they are playing, or preparing to play, in promoting social change in the
United States. The volunteers investigated these issues through interviews,
an online survey, and research in the literature on youth.
What the task force found was a pattern of commitment to service.
Whether singly or as part of organized initiatives, young Bahá’ís are learning
to offer their insight, energy and dedication to the communities in which
they live.
Moreover, adults and Bahá’í institutions support them in a variety of
ways, including through the creation of programs designed to develop
youths’ capacities, whether they are members of the Bahá’í Faith or of the
community at large.
As in last year’s report, the information and stories that follow are a
small sample of a larger reality. What could not be told here is the story of
the thousands of young Bahá’ís who, heeding the guidance of their teachings
and of the institutions of their Faith, are preparing themselves through study
and action for the larger role they will play in our nation’s future.
“The foundation of all their accomplishments,” writes the Universal House
of Justice, the Bahá’í Faith’s highest governing body, “is their study of the
teachings, the spiritualization of their lives, and the forming of their characters
in accordance with the standards of Bahá’u’lláh….” Specifically, the House of
Justice says, “It is the obligation of a Bahá’í to educate his children; likewise
it is the duty of the children to acquire knowledge of the arts and sciences and
to learn a trade or a profession whereby they, in turn, can earn their living and
support their families. This, for a Bahá’í youth, is in itself a service to God….”
It is often said that America’s youth are its future. It is equally true that
young people even now enrich our lives as they prepare to assume in full
measure the responsibilities implicit in their high destiny. We commend
these glimpses of their stories to your attention, in the hope that you will
share our optimism and excitement about our common future.
THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE
BAHÁ’ÍS OF THE UNITED STATES
December 2005
2 In Service to the Common Good
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
In Service to the
Common Good:
Bahá’í Youth in
Their Own Words . . . . . . . . 3
Profile: Orien Aid . . . . . . . 12
Snapshots of Service:
KWSP and the
Ark Project . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Media Training Pilot . . . 17
Umoja Souljahs . . . . . . . 18
When asked to choose from a list of goals
for their lives in the future, nine out of ten
young Bahá’ís say “doing service.”1 They
say they want to “make a difference in the
world,” and to dedicate themselves to
education, good health, having strong
friendships and a “close relationship with
God.” Nearly 60 percent of those responding
said they have done or plan to do a
year of service, a program for young people
administered in the United States by agencies
of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Bahá’ís of the United States, and one which
operates domestically and internationally.
“Helping others” is a big part of the
definition of service to these young people,
and the world seems to call for their involvement
in many different areas. One group
of youth produced a list of concerns about
society that included “poverty, racism,
environmental destruction, extremes of
wealth and poverty, religious fanaticism,
closed-mindedness, war, terrorism and the
need for world peace, AIDS and other
diseases, and putting into action the
equality of men and women.”
Bahá’í youth see in these concerns a
summons to action and a framework for
their preparation for service: More than 60
percent say they hope to choose, or have
already chosen, a field of study that fits
with their Bahá’í beliefs.
Why are young Bahá’ís so adamant
about service? Partly it is because young
people tend to be concerned about others,
and about society and its challenges: In his
2001 study, Real Teens, George Barna, a
well-known Christian researcher, found
that 62 percent of his respondents listed
“how much the church is involved in helping
poor and disadvantaged people” as an
important feature of the congregation
they would choose after leaving home.
This involvement serves as a good practical
measure of the “heart” of the congregation,
Barna says, and of the community that
develops within it.
Service—At the Core of Bahá’í Teachings
Service is also part of the basic teachings of
the Bahá’í Faith. Bahá’í youth consistently
reference passages on this subject that
can be found in the Bahá’í writings: “Be
anxiously concerned with the needs of
the age ye live in, and center your deliberations
on its exigencies and requirements,”
is one example. “All effort and exertion
put forth by man from the fullness of his
heart is worship,” says ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, son
of Bahá’u’lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith,
“if it is prompted by the highest motives
and the will to do service to humanity.
This is worship: to serve mankind and to
minister to the needs of the people. Service
is prayer.” “Service to humanity is service
to God.” “Undoubtedly,” the Universal
House of Justice tells Bahá’í youth, “it is
within your power to contribute significantly
to shaping the societies of the coming
century; youth can move the world.”
Such statements, reinforced by their own
observations, have created a sense among
many young Bahá’ís that constructive change
in society is not only necessary but possible:
Bahá’í Youth in Their Own Words 3
The 2005
Research Project
For nine months, between
March and December 2005,
Bahá’í youth and young adults
talked with their peers regarding
their thoughts and feelings
about the world they live in
and their place in it. They did
this using a survey they created
and administered to people
aged fifteen to twenty-two via
the Internet and over the
phone, and which garnered
responses from more than
1,000 young Bahá’ís; and they
interviewed a number of young
people associated with organized
programs of service and
development.
In Service to the Common Good:
Bahá’í Youth in Their Own Words
“…is there any deed in the world that would be nobler than service to the common good?”
~ ’Abdu’l-Bahá
4 In Service to the Common Good
More than two-thirds of respondents say
they feel “very well prepared for the
uncertainties and challenges to come;”
nine out of ten have adopted the goal of
“making a difference in the
world,” and three-quarters
of them say it is true or
absolutely true that “one
person can make a difference
in the world.”
A Matter of Identity
Young Bahá’ís identify with their
faith, which impels them toward
service. Three-quarters of survey
respondents were raised in Bahá’í
families, although 14 percent of
them say their “parents are/were
Bahá’ís but I feel like I discovered
the faith on my own.” Some 84
percent of respondents say they “love
being a Bahá’í,” 86 percent say they are
“excited about the future of the faith,”
64 percent say their “friends know about
the Bahá’í Faith because I’ve told them
about it,” and 77 percent indicate “the
Bahá’í Faith is one of the most important
things in my life.” “During a typical day I
pray,” report nearly two-thirds of respondents;
82 percent say their “religious beliefs have
helped me to form my personal identity.”
A twenty-one year old expresses her
understanding of service this way: “Freeing
myself from as many thoughts and desires
of my own (as I can), having love for my
fellow men, pure intention, and humility
as one servant of God and being able to
offer myself for humanity.”
Another youth attests: “ ‘For unto whomsoever
much is given, of him shall be much
required.’ This quotation explains why I
choose to act in the ways I do. I know that
I have been given many opportunities for a
reason and it is my task to translate those
opportunities into actions that will allow me
to serve humanity. I used to think that service
consisted of doing something outside of
myself that was beneficial to
the life of another. . . I have
expanded my understanding
to include the attitude with
which I engage in everyday
activities. . . My service right
now is to strive for excellence
in my academics. This does not exclude
me from performing concrete or physical
service, but it allows me to be ‘okay’ with
not doing the same sort of services that I am
accustomed to. . . because the academic
skills that I am acquiring will enable me
to be of more useful and knowledgeable
service in the future.”
Twenty-three year old Anisa writes,
“The faith inspires me to serve and if it
wasn’t for the faith I don’t know if I would
do it at all. But deep down, when I think
about me and who I am, I do it because
it makes me different and for the better.”
Finally, a 21 year-old muses about
his own path, saying “I found my life was
constantly finding service opportunities;
they were right in front of me and taking the
step was all I had to do. The decision was
an easy one, too, since I was surrounded
by my friends who were encouraging me
to serve. . . It was then I realized that. . . the
service to humanity I committed myself to
was the juice that fueled my life.”
Organized Action
About half of those surveyed say they
“organize to take action on issues of social
justice that concern me most” and 45 percent
report they are “very involved in charity or
service projects.” The program profiles that
come later in this booklet offer stories of
Three quarters of
respondents agree
that “one person can
make a difference in
the world.”
“The service
to humanity
I committed
myself to was
the juice that
fueled my life.”
just a few of those organized initiatives,
which range from discussion and networking
conferences for young adults to international
service programs which have been formalized
with not-for-profit status. Let us look, however,
at what these young people are learning
through the process of organizing to address
their concerns, and what kinds of support
they receive—or do not receive—from the
adults and local Bahá’í communities in which
they live.
No Boundaries
“The world is contracting into a neighborhood.
America, willingly or unwillingly, must
face and grapple with this new situation,”
wrote Shoghi Effendi, then head of the
Bahá’í community, in
1939. Writing to the
Bahá’ís of the United
States three years
earlier, he foresaw
that “A mechanism
of world inter-communication
will be devised,
embracing the whole
planet, freed from
national hindrances
and restrictions, and functioning with marvelous
swiftness and perfect regularity.”
Contemporary literature has expanded
on these themes, in light of what has been
learned in the intervening decades. New
York Times columnist and author Thomas
L. Friedman, for example, in his latest book
The World Is Flat, advances the view that
boundaries which once separated people
have been erased by new technologies for
managing communication and work flow, and
suggests that, by using these technologies,
shared goals can be accomplished in ways
scarcely imagined in even the recent past.
Friedman quotes Carly Fiorina, former head
of Hewlett Packard, as saying the future of
collaboration and communication will be
“digital, mobile, personal and virtual.”
Other writers have noted that the current
generation of youth is unlike any previous
one in terms of their technological savvy,
their saturation in media of all kinds, and
their multi-tasking abilities (CBS News, 2004;
Lyons-Cavazos, 2004). They were the first
generation to grow up with hundreds of
cable channels (notable among them, MTV),
computers in the home, cell phones and the
Internet. They are accustomed to fast-paced
media and communication, and their ability
to use the tools at their disposal, often
simultaneously, makes them “totally pluggedin
citizens of a worldwide community.”

(CBS News, 2004)
Bahá’í youth
are using these technologies
to pursue
their goals of service.
One such venture is
Insights, a two-yearold
initiative created
by two friends in their
early 20’s to help their
peers to find community,
seek advice and share experiences about
major life choices—career, family, sexuality,
their place in an increasingly complex global
society, etc.—and explore the application of
the Bahá’í Faith’s principles to all these issues.
The gatherings bring together 100 or
more young people at a time, but Insights
was “hiding in plain sight,” in the words of
one participant, possibly because there is
neither infrastructure nor advertising for
Insights conferences. Young people find
out about Insights events through word
of mouth, email, an increasingly effective
website and instant messaging. These technologies
are also employed in sustaining a
Bahá’í Youth in Their Own Words 5
Nearly half of
Bahá’í youth say
they organize to
take action on
social issues,
and 45% report
they are “very
involved in
charity or service
projects.”
“virtual” community of interest between
events.
Orien Aid is another of the programs
profiled below. While on vacation from
Maxwell International Bahá’í School in British
Columbia, a 19 year-old student visited a
classmate in Rwanda. He saw a need for
volunteers to help with building a clinic;
his approach to meeting that need led to
the formation of Orien Aid in January, 2004
with a group of fellow graduates
from the Maxwell School. The
first group of volunteers, who
came from seven countries in
three continents, were in college
or had recently begun careers.
Through email and cell phone,
they were able to come together
to meet a shared goal.
The other initiatives profiled
in the pages below likewise draw on a
pool of young people who are scattered
throughout the world and who rely on
technology and certain guiding principles
to create communities of interest and carry
out their service.
Consultation is the backbone of the
groups described in the pages that follow.
Bahá’í youth use consultation to choose
topics for Insights workshops, to carry out
daily debriefings during overseas service
projects and to inform their decisions in
every other aspect of their service. Consultation
ensures participants’ safety and their
programs’ success.
Indeed, in many areas of their lives,
young Bahá’ís reach out to others in their
efforts to find answers: Nearly three-quarters
of survey respondents say they have “meaningful
conversations with my parents,” while
almost half say they “have needed a mentor
in my life,” 56 percent that they “will likely
rely on Bahá’í mentors along the way” and
51 percent that “it is easy to find a Bahá’í
mentor if you need one.”
Collective learning and capacity building
lie at the heart of the organized activity of
many Bahá’í youth. Orien Aid, for instance,
6 In Service to the Common Good
Guiding Principles
For many young Bahá’ís, it is not so much what they do, as how they do it. In Service to the Common Good:
The American Bahá’í Community’s Commitment to Social Change (2004) describes five guiding principles that
shape the emerging, worldwide pattern of Bahá’í development. Each of the programs identified in the current
review shows the application of one or more of these principles.
Consultation: “A process of collective decision making and action, devoid of adversarial posturing while
dispassionate and democratic in spirit, is an indispensable feature of every Bahá’í undertaking.”
Participatory Learning: “Promoting collective learning and organizational capacity-building ensures the
sustainability of projects.”
Organic Growth: “Successful social initiatives best begin with simple actions at the local community level
that gradually grow in complexity.”
Moral Development: “Creating moral awareness and moral responsibility is a prerequisite to enlightened
and just action.”
Unity, Equality and Justice: “True social advancement is made possible when every member of society
can trust that they are protected by standards and assured of benefits that apply equally to all. The realization
of justice is dependent upon participation by all social actors.”
In Service to the Common Good (2004)
One reason
consultation is
so important is
because so much
of what Bahá’í
youth do is their
own initiative;
no one tells them
to take action.
has made a five-year commitment to its
partners in Rwanda to achieve sustainability.
Orien’s model is based on working hand in
hand with local residents, rather than simply
doing good works and “giving hand-outs,”
as one participant calls the work of some
other groups he observed in the field.
Organic growth, for
these programs, means
seeing an opportunity
and, through consultation,
following its lead.
The Karen Wallace
Service Project began
slowly: “Every year we go
to Asia because we lived
there when the kids were little,” says one
participant. “This year (2005) was our fourth
trip…(On) the first trip we did some teaching
at the school and some physical maintenance
work. From there it began to develop. My
kids were telling other kids about it (and)
they wanted to take it beyond what they did
last year. That’s how the dance workshop
came up. The schools in Yasothon (Thailand)
all know about us now, and we’re requested
to do more there than we can during our twomonth
stay. We’ve met the governor and so
many amazing things have come out of it.”
Moral development is reflected in
the words of a 13 year-old Umoja Souljah:
“The Umoja Souljahs is a great group for
young black males to get in touch with
their ancestors and learn more about them
and to better themselves. And once they get
inside they’ll say, ‘Well, I didn’t know this
was happening,’ and they’ll start opening
their minds more and then they’ll think
about what they are doing the next time
they are going to get in trouble.”
Her own moral development can be
heard when this young volunteer speaks:
“How do you try to tell someone about
nutrition when they haven’t eaten for the
past two days? How do you teach someone
about trust when ten years ago, their neighbor
killed their entire family? How do you
teach children’s classes with no crayons, no
paper, no Internet, no resources? You have to
rethink everything from an entirely different
perspective and not make
assumptions from our
luxurious lives back home.
It’s a humbling experience,
and you find that everyone
you came to ‘teach’ is
teaching you.”
Finally, young Bahá’ís’
concern for unity, equality
and justice is integral to the contribution
they hope to make. Their approach to every
situation includes questions like: What issue
will we address? Which of my friends can I
involve? What do the local people have to
say? How can we ensure a diverse group of
participants and perspectives? Are the views
of women taken into account, and do they
differ from those of men in this situation?
“The biggest test and struggle for the
group was unity within the group,” writes
one youth. “People, people, people. That
is the only real challenge I think I have ever
faced when it comes to service,” writes
another. Both volunteers knew that unity
was important not just for the group itself,
but for the quality of the service they
offered to others.
Some of the youth interviewed are also
aware of the downside of growing up in the
comparatively privileged environment of the
United States. One young woman worries
whether there is a latent “cultural imperialism”
in her service and reminds herself to
listen, to learn, and not to assume she has
the answers to complex local problems.
“Just because we are from the West or even
Bahá’í Youth in Their Own Words 7
“They’ll start
opening their
minds more, and
then they’ll think
about what they
are doing the next
time they are going
to get in trouble.”
Bahá’ís,” she says,
“does not make us
an authority on every
aspect of life.”
Support Networks
Most young Bahá’ís
have been part of
local Bahá’í communities,
which are
composed of local
administrative institutions
called Local Spiritual Assemblies,2
of adults, family and friends. How are
they supported by these many “others”
in their lives?
Although survey respondents say there
are times when levels of support, respect
and understanding could be higher, they
say they generally feel supported. Indeed,
more than two thirds of respondents say they
are “very well prepared for the uncertainties
or challenges to come” in their lives. Some
49 percent of respondents say they consider
themselves leaders, and 63 percent say they
want to be leaders some day.
Their parents may have been one
source for this confidence: 53 percent of
respondents say their parents have “had
the greatest influence on me,” compared
with 21 percent who attribute greatest
influence to friends and 20 percent to
teachers. Among the general population,
Barna found that 78 percent of teens he
surveyed said their parents had “a lot”
of influence on them, followed by friends
(51 percent) and teachers (34 percent).
Bahá’í administrative institutions have
a responsibility to foster a sense of optimism
and confidence among young people,
and they appear to be doing so with some
success. When asked whether they feel
“encouraged by the Bahá’í administration,”
58 percent
responded “true”
or “absolutely true.”
In the same vein,
60 percent say youth
are supported by
local Assemblies
in their individual
initiatives and 67
percent say they
feel they have what
they need to be
active in the Bahá’í community.
Nearly half (46 percent) say they are
“very active” in the Bahá’í community and
that the community “supports most anything
youth want to do” (63 percent). More than
half (56 percent) say their “participation in
the Bahá’í community makes a difference.”
At the same time, anecdotal reports
reveal areas for improvement. One young
organizer tells of going to a Local Spiritual
Assembly for advice. “Their response was,
like, ‘hand over your membership list and
your papers and step back. We’ll take it
from here.’ But that wasn’t my vision at all;
I was trying to create something that could
bring help to places nobody else can go.”
Fortunately for this project, its organizers
used the Assembly’s feedback to clarify their
objectives and streamline their methods.
When asked to say whether the statement
“At one time or another I have been
asked my opinion by an institution of the
Faith” is true or not, though 46 percent of
respondents say it is true or absolutely true,
another 28 percent say it is untrue, not at
all true, or “doesn’t apply to me.”
This percentage would seem to corroborate
the story told by the secretary of one
local assembly, who said when a group of
young Bahá’ís were asked to plan a community
activity, the assembly dismissed the
8 In Service to the Common Good
More than a
quarter of
respondents
say they have
not been asked
for an opinion
by Bahá’í
institutions.
resulting plan out of hand as “inappropriate”
after seeing the details, and especially the
youths’ choices in music. The secretary said
she regretted very much the dampening
effect this rejection had had on the youth.
What can adults do to support and
encourage youth more effectively?
Taking a cue from this last observation,
one solution might be to seek out and be
respectful of youths’ opinions and act on
their suggestions.
In her 1999 study A Tribe Apart,
Patricia Hersch concludes, after working
with a group of suburban Virginia teens
for six years, that the most important thing
adults in that community needed to do
was listen: “Listen
to the kids. Hear
what their lives are
like, what matters to
them, how things are
going in their world.
Listen and bring
adult wisdom to
the discussion.”
The world of
youth is different
from the adult world;
it needs to be taken on its own terms. This
should come as no surprise, since each
generational cohort experiences a “gap”
separating them from adults. Commenting
on teen music and culture, one writer noted,
“Every generation needs a private language
that people over 30 can’t translate.”3 And
as one of the teens in Hersch’s study put
it, “Kids don’t think the way adults think
they think.”
It is hard for today’s adults to understand
the world their children inhabit. Life
is much more complex than it once was.
Whereas communism and the atomic bomb
were among the major threats concerning
earlier generations, youth today have had
to come to terms with much more personal
and individual threats of danger and violence,
following the rise in school violence
and the proliferation of terrorism. The
demystification of celebrities and leaders
in all spheres has led to a heightened
awareness of issues of personal freedom
and privacy, as well as a keen sense of,
and aversion to hypocrisy. The advances in
communications and a proliferation of talk
and “reality” shows, in which ordinary people
can be “stars,” have helped to amplify
age-old American habits of individualism,
self-expression and self-promotion.
(American Demographics, 2001)
Young people may seem incomprehensible
to adults because of adults’ own
opinions of them. Barna found that 65-84
percent of teens think adults consider them
lazy, rude, sloppy and dishonest, while fewer
adults, in teens’ view, see their positive
attributes: friendly (63 percent), intelligent
(58 percent), trustworthy (36 percent),
hardworking (29 percent)
and spiritual (21 percent).
In contrast, Bahá’í
youth feel adults view
them positively: intelligent
and friendly (96 percent),
trustworthy (88 percent),
spiritual and interested
in making America a
better place (87 percent),
hardworking (86 percent). Most Bahá’í
youth disagree that adults see them as
dishonest (92 percent), rude (91 percent),
sloppy (83 percent) or lazy (80 percent).
Although adults love their children,
they seem to value their judgment less.
Teens say their parents have the greatest
influence on them and are the main sources
“Listen to the
kids. Hear what
their lives are
like, what matters
to them, how
things are going
in their world.
Listen and bring
adult wisdom to
the discussion.”
Bahá’í Youth in Their Own Words 9
Actively involved in charity
and service projects
Active in the
Bahá'í community
Tell friends about the faith
Pray daily
Beliefs shape my identity
One person can make
a difference
46%
45%
64%
64%
82%
74%
Bahá'í Youth
in their lives of “peace, trust,
power and safety,” Barna writes.
Teens also told Barna their parents
“were not as supportive as
they’d like regarding reactions
to the quality of the teens’ decision
making.” Hersch found that
“whatever behavior is common
to a group of kids feels normal
to them, whether it be doing
drugs or doing homework.
Whether the adult world sees
the lifestyle as positive or negative is not
the standard the kids are using.”
The experience of a Bahá’í mother who
accompanied her son and other volunteers
on an international project, points to a
different approach: “My role was to center
them, to ground them sometimes,
not tell them what to do. During
our daily consultations, when we
would review what had happened
the day before and plan our activities,
I would ask them questions
about the implications of what
they were deciding, about what
was likely to happen as a result
of a decision we were considering.”
Through a process of consultation that
brought in adult perspectives, this group,
like others interviewed, developed a learning
style that improved the quality of their
decision making, thereby contributing to
their effectiveness, safety and unity.
Hersch indicts the adults she studied
for concentrating on trying to control their
youth instead of channeling teens’ energies
into activities appropriate to their development.
“…it is easier to cancel events than
to figure out creative new ways of avoiding
dangers….What (teens) yearn for is to grow
and learn alongside each other with time
to socialize and space to adjust to their
rapidly changing selves….What students
don’t get…are enough real-life coping
skills….There are few popular age appropriate
events….Boys and girls want to be
together at this age, but society fails to
create enough safe developmental social
opportunities that catch on.”
Carol E. Lytch, in Choosing Church, her
study of Christian youth ministries, takes up a
similar theme. She says churches that attract
teens “get beyond the superficial solutions
to youth ministry and address teens’ deep
needs to belong, to believe, and to be
competent….Teens were attracted to high
goals, standards of excellence, demands
worthy of their attention and energy, and
rites of passage marking steps toward
adulthood.”
Or, as one young Bahá’í puts it, “Don’t
give (young Bahá’ís) two millions things to
do just because they have all this energy.”
These observations ring true within the
Bahá’í community as well. For many years,
young Bahá’ís around the country participated
in “Youth Workshops,” an activity
that focused on team building, performance
art and consciousness raising. When asked,
however, whether Youth Workshop has “had
a significant impact on my life,” 31 percent
said the statement was true or absolutely
true, while nearly one-third of respondents
said it “doesn’t apply to me” and 18 percent
10 In Service to the Common Good
Churches that
attract teens
“address teens’
deep needs to
belong, to
believe, and to
be competent”
said it was untrue or not at all true for
them. This type of youth program might
well be reaching the end of its life cycle.
Currently, many local Bahá’í groups
seek to involve their younger members
in the three “core activities” of devotional
gatherings, children’s classes and study
groups for adults and youth. Forty-one
percent of survey respondents say they
are “involved as much as
possible” in these core
activities, compared with
46 percent who say they are
very active in the community
overall; 8 percent say the
statement does not apply to
them, and 14 percent say the
statement is untrue for them.
In the context of organized service
programs, the skill sets developed through
the core activities are used by young volunteers
to meet a wide range of needs. Orien
Aid expects volunteers to have finished
the “Ruhi”
sequence of
courses, which
cover topics ranging
from Bahá’í
history and teachings
to children’s
education and
group problem
solving. Youth
involved in the Ark Project were called
upon, during their visits to the Yasothon
orphanage, to arrange a series of recreation
and instruction activities; their work
at home with Bahá'í children’s classes helped
prepare them to meet these needs. Insights
encourages participants to offer workshops
on topics that interest them, and to arrange
creative devotional periods throughout
their conferences.
The study group activity includes a
service component designed to encourage
participants to engage in activities that
reflect what they have learned through study.
Service, as shown above, is a powerful tool
for engaging youth; the core activities, as
well as programs that apply the same skills
in varied settings, may well be effective ways
to promote that sense of belief, belonging
and burgeoning competence
young people seek.
“Now Is the Time
for Service”
One young woman, reflecting
on her service, writes: “My inspiration
to serve is the principle
of the oneness of humanity
promoted by the Bahá’í writings. I believe
that everything I strive to do should be
toward the physical manifestation of this
spiritual principle.”
It is in the writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
that we find these words: “Now is the
time for service, and for servitude unto the
Lord….Therefore must the friends of God
engender that tenderness which cometh
from Heaven, and bestow love in the spirit
upon all humankind. With every soul must
they deal according to the Divine counselings
and admonitions; to all must they
show forth kindness and good faith; to
all must they wish well. They must sacrifice
themselves for their friends, and wish
good fortune to their foes. They must
comfort the ill-natured, and treat their
oppressors with loving-kindness. They
must be as refreshing water to the thirsty,
and to the sick, a swift remedy, a healing
balm to those in pain and a solace to
every burdened heart.”
Bahá’í Youth in Their Own Words 11
What Can Adults Do
to Help Their Youth?
• Listen and consult:
the world of youth is
different from the adult
world, full of complexities
and tensions, and it needs
to be understood on its
own terms
• Concentrate on the
positive qualities in
young people
• Find creative activities that
are appropriate for each
age and stage of youths’
development, and that
are worthy of youths’
attention and energy
• Surrender the instinct to
control things; instead,
bring mature wisdom to
the situation to reduce
risks and allow young
people to develop
competencies
• Encourage and support
service programs of all
kinds; they help youth
cultivate their talents
and capacities
• Pray for young people
by name, every day.
“Don’t give
them two million
things to do
just because
they have all
this energy.”
“Orien Aid is really just about youth serving others,” says Samir Toloui, 21, one of the
organization’s founders. “Everything else is really only details of how youth can be connected
to an opportunity to share what they can do. We have an organization now, and a board
of directors, and we do fundraisers and plan trips, but mostly we want to help young people
like ourselves find ways of serving.”
Sam, as he prefers to be called, says the idea for Orien Aid came about after he had
been to the Maxwell International Bahá’í School in western Canada. “Everyone there was
from different countries, so you got an idea how interesting
people are, about some of the challenges they
face back home,” he says. “You got to appreciate the
differences in people, in their backgrounds, and you
got to make friends with them.”
One of those friends was Lua Anderson, a young
woman whose Canadian parents had been living for
several years in Rwanda, where they had started a
non-profit foundation. During a school vacation, Sam,
then 19, went to Rwanda to visit and fell in love with the
people and the place. Some time later, Lua’s father, Chris, sent an email to a number of
people, including Sam, asking if they could come to Rwanda and help build community
centers, teach classes in nutrition and hygiene and help construct a clinic in a rural area
outside Kigali, Rwanda’s capital.
Sam discussed the opportunity with a few friends; they decided to form a small group
and make a trip. “We started planning in January 2004,” recalls Steve Failows, one of those
Sam recruited early on, “and things just fell into place. By June, ten people went.”
Orien Aid was under way.
Part of the planning involved training. Orien worked with a firm
that specializes in development curricula to create easy-to-deliver
classes with a village perspective. The volunteers’ preparation
also included physical conditioning and familiarization with local
culture. Bahá’í participants were expected to have completed a
sequence of courses about the Bahá’í Faith, consultation, community
service and children’s education; these courses, in Orien’s
view, get volunteers ready, both practically and spiritually, for the tasks
they will do in the field.
“A lot of our friends thought we were crazy to go there,” Sam says. “There were
signs everywhere of the genocide but none of us really appreciated how big it was until
we got there. And we found these wonderful people, so sweet and open and loving, and
we fell in love with them. That’s why we go back. Orien made a five-year commitment to
Rwanda because we saw and heard of so many other organizations that go there once,
Orien Aid was founded
in 2003, and was incorporated
in the US as
a 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization in 2005.
Orien Aid was “created
to provide humanitarian
aid and socio-economic
development around
the world. We specialize
is finding, empowering,
and training youth to
get out there and change
the world.”
Program operations
include a five-year commitment,
in association
with the Joan Anderson
Memorial Foundation,
a Canadian NGO, in
Rwanda, and community
development projects in
Costa Rica.
More information
is available at
www.orienaid.org
PROFILE: Orien Aid
12 In Service to the Common Good
“The people are so wonderful, you want to do your best”
“We
wanted to
build relationships,
and we have.
That’s what keeps
us going back.”
give out a bunch of stuff to people and then leave. We didn’t
want to do that. We wanted to build relationships, and we
have. It’s those relationships, I’d say, and what we learn from
them, that keeps us all going back.”
Makini Boothe, a volunteer for Orien’s second summer
(2005) of operations in Rwanda, echoes Sam’s sentiments: “We
made a commitment to the people there, and every day we were
there was a fulfillment of our responsibility. If it was hard for me to get to
a place, driving in an old van for a couple of hours, I’d be inspired by the fact that it was
equally, if not more difficult for some who walked half a day to get
there. Everyone is so wonderful and their spirit encourages you to
want to put forth your best. Even if you’re tired or sick, you still know
you have to go and do what you’ve promised to do.”
For Makini, the work in Rwanda is about empowerment, which
she sees as an inherently spiritual process. “Many of my friends jokingly
ask me where I’m going next, insisting that they want to go next time.
They want to do what I do,” she says, “and wonder how it is that I
find opportunities—or even have the courage—to go to a place where
I literally don’t know a single person. When I tell them it’s because of
my religion, their response is always ‘Oh…religion.’ They want to get
involved in the material part of it—getting clean water into a village
or building a community center—but there’s this whole spiritual aspect that’s often more
difficult to recognize. But this is the most important part, because that’s where our energy
and commitment come from, and that’s what will keep the projects going after we leave.”
Orien’s volunteers have the freedom to pursue other opportunities that interest them.
Last year, for example, a group of youths who didn’t want to go to Rwanda, partly because
none of them spoke French, decided to accept an invitation to go to Costa Rica. The Spanishspeaking
group included Sam’s sister, Anisa. “She started asking me if Orien could do
something there,” Sam recalls, “and I’m like ‘Sure, why not? Just figure it out and do it.’”
So she did. In June 2005, nine volunteers trekked eight hours by bus and another three
on foot to the native Guaymí village of Progreso. “We stayed in raised houses and ate
beans and rice every day for every meal,” Anisa relates. “The family we were staying with
had started a school at their home, so some of the members of the group helped teach
those classes… Besides the classes there was a lot of work to be done: chopping wood,
building suspension bridges, helping restore and rebuild the community center, building
chairs and desks for another nearby school…The people of Progreso were all loving,
soft-spoken and have a wonderful culture of their own.”
Youths from Canada, the U.S., India, Iran, Japan, Singapore and Jamaica participated
in Orien’s 2005 projects in Rwanda and Costa Rica. By relying on the Bahá’í practice of
Bahá’í Youth in Their Own Words 13
“There’s
a whole spiritual
aspect that’s more
difficult to recognize…
that’s where our energy
and commitment
come from.”
consultation they learned to use their diversity as an advantage and make decisions as
a team.
Sometimes the volunteers incurred risks. Sam’s mother, Roya Toloui, had supported
Orien Aid from the beginning and in 2005 went to Rwanda. “I didn’t go as a
chaperone,” she says. “I went because the program and the service opportunity
interested me. I found that the young people were very special, they worked really
well together even when they disagreed about some things, but sometimes they
didn’t know their limits; they didn’t see the next steps, or the implications of what
they wanted to do.”
Roya tells a story that illustrates how youth and adults can support each other.
The group had committed to visit a remote village. The day of the trip, however,
their van broke down and some of the volunteers were not feeling well, but
there was no way to get word to the villagers and to those
who were walking a great distance to greet the visitors.
The group consulted about what to do.
Getting to the village would involve a long, tiring trip, but
some wanted to go anyway. “I was concerned that we were
stretching our resources too thin and I voiced my concern,”
Roya says. The group asked the opinion of an adult Rwandan.
“He is a wonderful man,” Roya says, “but he was very zealous.
He said, ‘If Bahá’u’lláh or ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were here, they would
go!’, and so of course the youth all felt moved to go, whatever the
risks. I obeyed the majority vote.”
The group set out, but one participant developed full-blown malaria—high fever,
vomiting—by the time they reached a remote village along their route. There was no
ready transportation back to Kigali and no clinic.
The travelers decided to split up. Making what provision they could for their sick
friend, some went on to their destination, and others waited with the sufferer, eventually
returning to the capital where they found a doctor and got treatment. “They learned
that actions and decisions have real consequences, and that plans don’t always work,”
Roya says. “They had to learn it themselves. Still, I saw they took some comfort having
someone present who had a little more experience.”
Orien Aid plans to continue to build for sustainability in Rwanda and possibly in
Costa Rica. The organization is committed to building trust with the local people by
returning to fulfill the commitments made. Orien also sponsors a young Rwandan’s
English studies in neighboring Uganda, where the schools are better and cheaper;
Orien hopes to sponsor additional students in time.
Orien is constantly searching for youth who want to serve. “We don’t have programs
yet for all the things youth can do,” says Sam Toloui. “If all the Bahá’í youth learn from
each other, spend more time creating positive energy, teaching, serving, and being a
positive influence on their friends—especially younger pre-teens—the world can change.”
14 In Service to the Common Good
Six of the Things
Orien Aid Does Well
• Erase boundaries using
technology and personal
communication
• Use consultation to
learn from even difficult
situations
• Recognize organization
limits and reach out to
others for resources—
training materials,
funding, advice
• Combine unique
strengths of both
youth and adults
• Emphasize sustainability
and trustworthiness
• Keep alert for new
opportunities; meet
them with initiative
“They learned
that actions and
decisions have
real consequences.
They had to learn it
themselves.”
Bahá’í Youth in Their Own Words 15
“She wanted to make an impact, and eradicate the stigma.”
Dale and Evan Ryan, sister and brother, have
traveled to Asia with their family many times;
they used to live there as
children. Starting in 2001,
their visits began to take on
another purpose: service.
As their mother
Maryanne tells the story,
“We let the Bahá’í community
know of our trips so we could be of
service while we were there.” The more
the family was in contact with local Bahá’í
communities—especially in Thailand—the
more the scope of their service grew.
Then, as Dale and Evan spoke with their
friends back in the U.S., interest in service in
Thailand increased. “That’s how the dance
workshop came up,” Maryanne recalls. In
2001, three youth traveled to Thailand. In
2002, the Ark Project was born, and has since
become a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
The volunteers were asked by a local
Bahá’í if they would perform at an AIDS
orphanage in the town of Yasothon. The
visit was not planned, but the group agreed
to go. “When we got there, one little boy
ran right up to Dale,” Maryanne relates. “He
had a fever, and was HIV-positive. She held
him for two hours that day.”
“Dale was really motivated to start
the project. There’s a big stigma there about
AIDS. She wanted to make more of an impact,
and eradicate the stigma. Now a lot of Thai
youth are going to the orphanage. She prayed
for this boy every night after coming back
to the States.” As of this writing, Dale is
volunteering for a year in Thailand.
In 2004, a group of eight—Dale and
Evan Ryan, and six of their friends—got
together and worked on a set of basic dances
to perform in Thailand. When they arrived in
one town, they learned that drugs were a big
problem there. The dance workshop showcased
their “drug dance,”
about the damaging effects
of substance abuse; local
children and youth watched
and learned the dance.
The project continues
and grows. Ten volunteers
went to Thailand and Japan during the
summer of 2005, under the auspices of
what is now known as the Karen Wallace
Service Project (KWSP), named in honor of
a Massachusetts Bahá’í and friend of the
Ryans who passed away in 2002.
Beyond their service overseas, some
of the volunteers are active at home. One
started a diversity club in her high school;
another is promoting mandatory drug testing
for athletes in his school.
This sort of organic growth creates its
own structure as it evolves. “We coordinated
a meeting at an annual youth conference in
2005. We met seven times altogether…and
there was a lot of dialogue, mostly over the
Internet, email and instant messaging. This
year’s ten youth were from our area (in New
Jersey), as well as Boston, Philadelphia,
Delaware, and Hoboken.”
In order to see long-lasting success, the
project has required support. Bahá’ís in the
youths’ home regions have helped with
strategy and preparation meetings, while
parents also support their own children
directly. Bahá’í institutions in the United States
and Thailand have helped with direction,
advice and logistical support. With this combination—
individual ideas and energy, and
the impetus lent by collective resources—
this project has connected with many individuals
around the world.
“One little boy had
a fever and was
HIV-positive…she held
him for two hours
that day.”
Five of the Things
KWSP and the Ark
Projects Do Well
• Be flexible enough to
follow new opportunities
as they arise
• Observe and listen in
order to identify those
new service needs
• Build a region-wide community
using technology
• Harmonize the contributions
of youth and adults
• Join passion, compassion
and commitment to
both international and
domestic goals
SNAPSHOT: KWSP/Ark Project
16 In Service to the Common Good
Insights, a virtual community for young
adults, is a different kind of service program:
rather than one group of people serving
others in some fashion, Insights participants
all serve each other.
Insights sponsors several conferences
a year. It is building a networked community
of interest via email, cell phone,
the Web and word of mouth.
A growing group of friends
and the coordinators of the
three national Bahá’í schools
worked together to bring more
than 100 participants to three conferences
in 2005.
Topics are chosen by young people
to meet their own needs, providing a way
to talk about hard challenges they face:
choosing a career, starting a marriage, having
children, arranging finances. Conferences are
loosely scheduled. Participants get to know
each other, relax and start new friendships.
In this way, they get advice from peers
who may have gone through similar experiences.
The conferences provide a structured
way for young adults to consult on how to
apply Bahá’í principles to life decisions.
Nevin Jenkins, one of the organizers,
explains Insights’ approach to prayerful
meditation during conferences. “We use
DVDs and PowerPoint presentations, incorporating
different styles—hip-hop, or multiple
languages. We encourage one person to take
on hosting devotions.” More than this,
however, the organizers recognize a need
to connect with God, even in the middle
of discussion. Nevin continues, “We don’t
just have devotions at the beginning of a
talk. We try to instill a devotional theme
into the whole conference. Sometimes we
stop and pray in the middle of a talk. Why
shouldn’t we draw on the power of the word
of God?”
Chiazor Igboechi, who attended the
first Insights conference, in 2004 at Louhelen
Bahá’í School in Michigan, recalls, “I’m
reminded how wonderful it is to be a Bahá’í
when I’m surrounded by 100 other Bahá’ís
who are warm, loving, and
sincere. Discovering that such
a religion existed, that it produced
such marvelous people,
was a very big part of why I
became a Bahá’í at the first
conference I attended.”
Dr. Rick Johnson, co-director of
Louhelen, believes that Insights has a lot of
potential. “It provides an opportunity for
young people,” he explains, “from teenagers
to individuals who are beginning to engage
career and family, to consider challenges
they face as they transition away from family,
or away from their college environment.”
One of the challenges faced by this
continuing project is finding a way to keep
participants connected after they leave a
conference. A virtual community is the organizers’
answer, but how that will work is still
evolving. Virginia Patterson-Nicely, originally
a participant, saw a need for consistent
administrative support to continue the effort,
so she volunteered. “I created a database
of young adults who filled out a questionnaire
at conferences. It contains personal
info, what they do for a living, and what they
can offer to Insights.”
“As word gets out,” Dr. Johnson says,
“we will see the numbers of participants
grow substantially. There’s a hunger among
young people, many of whom feel uprooted
from their homes and peer groups, to
experience community.”
“We try to instill
a devotional theme
into the whole
conference.”
Four of the Things
Insights Does Well
• Identify a need and meet
it, letting participants’
experience shape the
program
• Help people network and
share perspectives using
a mix of technology and
personal interaction
• Use devotional time
creatively
• Extend the community
virtually after the
conference ends
SNAPSHOT: Insights
“There’s a hunger among young people to experience community.”
Bahá’í Youth in Their Own Words 17
If a group of youth make a film about their
community, might they think differently
about that place? What if
those young people are
Navajo, already studying
spiritual development and
Navajo culture?
The Native American
Bahá’í Institute (NABI) in
Houck, Arizona, is asking questions like
these, exploring new possibilities for its
own role in the local community.
Activities for youth and elders such
as rug-weaving, the Moccasin Game, study
of Navajo language and spiritual development,
are already underway there. NABI staff
also visit reservation residents frequently,
carrying news and ideas to extended families
in their home compounds.
Starting in April, 2005, plans were
developed for an exciting pilot project: train
youth to film interviews with two renowned
Navajo artists—Chester Kahn, a sculptor,
painter and jewelry designer; and Knifewing
Segura, a police officer and kick-boxer turned
musician. For two weeks, the young people
researched and filmed the interviews, then
edited them into a feature that was shown
at a community gathering.
It was a learning experience. One
young man said, “You can spectate all you
want, but unless you check it out yourself,
you don’t know the whole story, you see?”
A young woman said, “Before this I might
have gone to the library. We had to go out
there and find answers. You all forced me
to do something I didn’t want to do, but I
liked doing it.” A staff member suggested,
“It took courage to do that.” “Yes, it did,”
the young woman agreed.
Craig Rothman, a project planner and
member of the National Spiritual
Assembly’s Media Services
Department, sees the program
as experiential education.
“If you can teach
youth something through
their own experience, they
retain the knowledge more
deeply than they are likely to do in a study
group,” he says. “Video was one tool. It
could have been anything, as long as it
involved the youths’ experience. They had
to learn to research, consult together, work
as a team. They saw their community as a
resource and a place that had a lot to offer
them. In the end, they produced a film
with heart, humanity and humor, and they
became stronger people.”
“I liked the parts best where we
would talk,” a participant says. “We talked
a lot! We had to decide what parts to put in,
and how to edit them.” Other participants
nodded in agreement when one said, “I
liked it when I got to use the camera. We
spoke with these people who I thought
would be different because they’re famous.
But first you learn about them and then
you get to interview them.”
The response to the film’s screening
was enthusiastic: The Chapter President,
a post similar to that of mayor, said he
planned to show the film to the Chapter
Council so they could see the positive things
young people are doing. Parents and grandparents
expressed —some tearfully—their
pride in the youths’ accomplishment.
Planning for more projects like this
one is underway.
“I liked it when I got to use the camera.”
“You can spectate all
you want, but unless
you check it out
yourself, you don’t
know the whole story”
Four of the Things
Media Training Pilot
Did Well
• Set a standard of
excellence
• Emphasized hands-on
learning
• Showed the community
as an asset for research
and learning
• Showed the youth as
asset to the community
SNAPSHOT: Media Training Pilot
18 In Service to the Common Good
Four of the Things
Umoja Souljahs
Do Well
• Emphasize participatory
learning
• Use consultation and
discussion to draw
lessons from hard topics
• Focus on creating a
constructive future
• Create a sense of
community and identity
Umoja, in Swahili, means unity. Souljah is
a play on the words soul and Jah—Swahili
for God. Put together, the
Umoja Souljahs are finding
ways of consecrating their
souls for God, in unity. For
nearly ten years, the Bahá’í
Unity Center in Decatur,
Georgia, has been home
to this group, oriented
to meeting the needs of
young black men of any
faith background, who live
in the neighborhood.
The basic needs of the
young men who live here
reflect the realities of life in a hard
environment: how to deal with the police,
for instance. One of the group’s founders
tells of being confronted by a police officer,
who told him to leave the restaurant
where he was having dinner. The young
man respectfully insisted on his right to
be there. Seeing that the officer was not
budging, however, he left peaceably, and
later wrote a letter about the incident to
the mayor and the chief of police. Within
days, a letter came back from the mayor
with apologies for the officer’s actions. The
young man says he tells this story to show
there are alternatives, and that sometimes
taking the peaceful route can produce a
greater effect.
Sharing stories like this, and others
drawn from African American history, lies
at the heart of the program, together with
the seven Kwanzaa principles and recreation
in the gym at the Bahá’í Unity Center. The
aim, according to Anthony Outler, the
group’s coordinator, is to help the young
men and boys answer two questions:
What does it mean to be a black man in
this society? Who are you,
given the experience of
black people in America?
Chris Inman, currently
studying accounting in
college, recalls, “It was
one of the greatest things
that ever happened to me.
As a kid in the inner city,
there aren’t too many influential
black males around.
The Unity Center was the
main place we could go,
especially Friday nights, to
play basketball. After that, we had this big
discussion on different topics—strong topics
that were crucial for my life.”
“Most of the guys, we still keep in
contact. They were some of my best friends
and we are still strong. We are still the same
type of people.”
Lawrence Ivory, 13, says, “I’ve learned
about the past, about slavery, and about
the Negro. I’ve learned some of the quotes
that Malcolm X was saying about slave
history. I’ve learned how to think critically,
and many more things.”
What’s next? “Our dream is to turn
this into a school for young black men,”
says Anthony Outler. “When we look at
the number of black men incarcerated,
disenfranchised, or involved with drugs,
the numbers are staggering. Many people
have marches or empowerment programs,
but they can only take the black community
so far. They don’t have the teachings of
Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’u’lláh says we should be
‘a defender of the victim of oppression.’ ”
The Seven
Kwanzaa Principles
1. Umoja (Unity)
2. Kujichagulia
(Self Determination)
3. Ujima (Collective
Work & Responsibility)
4. Ujamaa (Cooperative
Economics)
5. Nia (Purpose)
6. Kuumba (Creativity)
7. Imani (Faith)
SNAPSHOT: Umoja Souljahs
“We had this big discussion on different topics, strong topics
that were crucial for my life.”
References
Barna, G. (2001). Real Teens. Ventura, California; Regal Books.
CBS News (2004). The Echo Boomers. 60 Minutes.
Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/01/60minutes/main646890.shtml.
Friedman, T.L. (2005). The World Is Flat. New York, New York; Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Getting Inside Generation Y (2001). American Demographics. Media Central, Inc.
Retrieved from http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_2001_Sept_1/ai_78426787.
Hersch, P. (1999). A Tribe Apart. New York, New York; Random House.
In Service to the Common Good (2004). Wilmette, Illinois; The National Spiritual Assembly
of the Bahá’ís of the United States/Office of Development Research
Lyons-Cavazos, M. (2004). Echo Boomers Flex Their “Muscle” with Success of Napster:
What does the success of Napster say about this generation of youth? Cheskin, Inc.
Retrieved from http://www.cheskin.com/p/ar.asp?mlid=7&arid=20&art=1.
Lytch, C.E. (2004). Choosing Church. Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press.
End Notes
1 Statistics are drawn from the 2005 survey of Bahá'í youth, which 1,029 young people completed
online or over the phone. All statistics cited refer to this set of respondents. Several
of the questions were formatted on a 1-to-10 scale; particular attention was paid to what are
termed the "upper" and "lower" boxes, comprising the three highest and lowest choices.
2 Local Spiritual Assemblies are elected each year from among all Bahá’ís 21 years of age or
older living in the locality. These volunteers—there is no clergy in the Bahá’í Faith—administer
the affairs of the local Bahá’í community.
3 John Weir, “Hot Sound”, from Rolling Stone, 8/97; quoted in Barna, 27.
Copyright © 2005 National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. All rights reserved.
Drawing by: Henry Becton Warren
Bahá’í National Center
1233 Central Street
Evanston, IL 60201-1611
USA
www.bahaiyouth.org
www.us.bahai.org
1-800-22-UNITE