Johannesburg

The story of this city.

On Wednesday the 21st of July I will say my farewells to Johannesburg as I venture off South to a place called Port Elizabeth. PE will be my home for the next 6 months, a wonderful family names the Fudu's have accepted to take me in while I endeavour to serve their community to the best of my abilities. Capacity building is a term that I am going to use often and one that I will explain now. The purpose of my work here in South Africa is to help build the capacity of the community through sustainable activities. What I mean by this is I want to help foster the growth of the community spiritually but in a way where once I'm gone those involved will be able to stand on their own two feet. My role will be that of an accompanier and an instigator. So what are these activities I speak of? Well wherever you are in the world these same activities exist if there is a Baha'is Community. They are Children's classes, Junior Youth Groups, Study circles and Devotional meetings. Each activity plays an active role in raising the spiritual awareness and capacity of a community and helps the individuals develop personally and guides them through a path of service. My focus is on the children and junior youth and for the sake of the kids I left in Sydney I hope I can be of assistance here.

So the journey in PE is yet to be uncovered but I would like to sum up my experiences here in Joburg outside of the World Cup.

Now, after 2 months in Joburg what have I done?

I have been fortunate enough to be living with Sadaf who is the Institute Coordinator (she does all the admin stuff for the above mentioned Baha'i activities). Part of her job was to go around and visit different classes to see how things are going and to encourage the groups. Of course I followed her everywhere and I don't regret it at all. The wonderful thing about Study Circles is they bring together people from such diverse backgrounds and you get to learn so much from their experiences and understandings. I have met some really wonderful people who, through their own journeys, have challenged me to think about concepts that have always been so familiar to me in completely different lights. The thoughts and discussions have moved me to rehabilitate my own understandings on things and to refine the way I perceive certain things. It's amazing the things we take for granted in our lives. I have very much taken for granted my upbringing in a Baha'i family and the freedoms and opportunities that upbringing gave me. I have met people who have become Baha'is but for fear of their parents retributions are unable to openly share their Faith and to hear directly from one of these people their absolute regret in not having been raised as a Baha'i I truly realised how fortunate I am. It's really interesting how it's always harder to teach the ones who are closest to you. I find it so easy to go to the house of a complete stranger, knock on their door and invite them to the Baha'i activities but it has always been so difficult for me to do the same to some of my closest friends. I guess one of the reasons is that you'd be shattered if they rejected it.

Anyways.. As well as study circles I was also able to attend a children's class and Junior Youth Group held in an area called Alexandria. This was a wonderful experience because the children took me back to Vanuatu where I served at the Baha'i school in 2008. The purity and innocence of children is universal. The way a child reacts to praise is the same in every country. The look of joy in a child's eyes is common amongst all children. The pride a child feels when they've achieved something can be mirrored in every child on this earth. There is something so uplifting about the education of children, as much as it shouldn't be about yourself you can't help but feeling fulfilled, energised and refreshed after every class. In the following photos you will see a glimpse of the time I was able to spend with these kids. You should also take note that the children were the photographers and unlike Australia you don't need special permission to take photos of the kids and put them online :)

Every Friday night, a wonderful guy named Farzom opens his home (bachelor pad) to a deepening/devotional. In the deepening each fortnight someone is asked to talk about their journey finding the Baha'i Faith whether they be from a Baha'i family or not. I was fortunate enough to attend 2 of these deepenings and here talks from 2 very different but equally wonderful people about their own spiritual journey. Sometimes as they would talk you would be hearing your own story and other times you would be amazed at the struggles that people go through on this path. If anyone is inspired by this *hint hint Campbelltown community* it is a great way to bring people together to talk about the Faith in a more personal yet informal setting.

Farzom's bachelor pad


There you have a very brief summary of some of the more spiritually uplifting things I've been doing, not to say that the World Cup doesn't life spirits (as long as your team wins). I will be in touch once again when my adventures in Port Elizabeth are under way.