Intensity

This is a story of something inexplicable in word... therefore bear me for such pointless attempt!!

I have songs for every moment in my life and songs for places, even for pleople... I just hear to a song and it reminds me of a place where I've been, or a situation, or some friends....

Well, the point is that I don't have a song for my relatives... I don't need one to remember me of my dad or mom or my sister or brothers... I never had the need of one... before!

I was on the bus with the kids and the group leaders and one of the memebers of my team, my friend. It's wasen't sunset yet... which is usually the time I think about the people I love the most and say a prayer for all of them... I was listening to the radio and suddenly a song (wich wasen't something I would relate to my brothers & sister for any special reason... so, well, I think it was the song, but am not sure 100%) made me think about them... the feeling was so intense, so strong that tears urged to my eyes... have you ever experinced something like that?? I can't explain... it was harrowing... something like the feeling I would never see them again, or have the good time I used to have with them back again, or like our lives were about to take very different and opposite faraway path... only I wasen't thinking at such things, nor I believe it possible... though, it was painfull and sweet... I can't help explaining better...

I miss my brothers and my sister!

Deaf & blind, the world goes on

This challenge, so severe and insistent, and yet so glorious, faces no doubt primarily the individual believer on whom, in the last resort, depends the fate of the entire community. He it is who constitutes the warp and woof on which the quality and pattern of the whole fabric must depend. He it is who acts as one of the countless links in the mighty chain that now girdles the globe. He it is who serves as one of the multitude of bricks which support the structure and insure the stability of the administrative edifice now being raised in every part of the world. Without his support, at once whole-hearted, continuous and 131 generous, every measure adopted, and every plan formulated, by the body which acts as the national representative of the community to which he belongs, is foredoomed to failure. The World Center of the Faith itself is paralyzed if such a support on the part of the rank and file of the community is denied it. The Author of the Divine Plan Himself is impeded in His purpose if the proper instruments for the execution of His design are lacking. The sustaining strength of Bahá'u'lláh Himself, the Founder of the Faith, will be withheld from every and each individual who fails in the long run to arise and play his part.
(Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith, p. 130)


ARSONISTS IN IRAN TARGET BAHA'I HOMES, VEHICLESNEW YORK, 28 July 2008 (BWNS) --

Acts of arson targeting homes and vehicles are the latest violent tactics directed against the Baha'is of Iran."In the early hours of the morning of 18 July, the house of the Shaaker family in Kerman went up in flames, only weeks after their car had been torched and in the wake of a series of threatening phone calls," said Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations."As would be expected in the light of the mistreatment Baha'is in Iran are routinely receiving, the officials who investigated the fire either ignored or dismissed obvious signs of suspicious activity, including a muffled explosion, simply saying that it was the result of an electrical problem," she said.At least a dozen cases of arson that target Baha'is have been reported in Iran in the last 15 months, Ms. Dugal said. She gave the following examples:-
- On 15 July at 1:15 a.m., Molotov cocktails were thrown into the front courtyard of the home of Khusraw Dehghani and his wife, Dr. Huma Agahi, in Vilashahr, only months after anonymous threats directly related to her being a Baha'i forced Dr. Agahi to close her clinic in nearby Najafabad where she had practiced medicine for 28 years.-
- On 25 July, the car of a prominent Baha'i in Rafsanjan, in Kerman province, was torched and destroyed by arsonists on motorbikes. Soheil Naeimi, the owner of the car, and 10 other Baha'i families in the town had received threatening letters from a group calling itself the Anti-Baha'ism Movement of the Youth of Rafsanjan that, among other things, threatened jihad (holy war) against the Baha'is.-
- On 10 June, an outbuilding on the property of the Mr. and Mrs. Mousavi, elderly Baha'is living in the village of Tangriz in Fars province, was destroyed by fire when it was doused with gasoline. The Mousavis, along with their two sons who were sleeping close to the building, narrowly escaped injury when the gasoline tank used to start the fire exploded. The Mousavis believe that the perpetrator thought they were all sleeping in the hut when he set the fire. Mr. Mousavi issued a formal complaint against the person they suspected, but the legal office has declined to pursue the case because the suspect swore on the Qur'an that he was not guilty. Out of respect for the Qur'an, the Mousavis have dropped the charges.-
- On 4 April, the home of a Baha'i was set on fire in Babolsar, in the north of Iran. -
- In February in Shiraz, a 53-year-old businessman was attacked on the street, chained to a tree, doused with gasoline, and assaulted by unknown persons who then attempted to throw lighted matches at him. -
- Also in Shiraz in February, several arson attempts were made against vehicles and a home belonging to Baha'is.-
- On 1 May 2007, arson destroyed the home of 'Abdu'l-Baqi Rouhani in the village of Ivil, in Mazandaran.-
- In Karaj, the burial section of a Baha'i cemetery was set on fire."These latest attacks follow the authorities' attempts to deprive the Iranian Baha'i community of its leadership," Ms. Dugal said, referring to the arrests in March and May this year of the seven members of Iran's national Baha'i coordinating group, all of whom are still locked up in Evin Prison in Tehran without any charges and without access to an attorney or to their families."

As Baha'is worldwide watch with alarm this escalation in violence," she added, "their fears that a sinister plan of persecution is unfolding become increasingly confirmed. Their only hope is that enough voices of protests are raised around the world to compel the government in Iran to put an end to this violence."

life under Union Jack

When do you realize a great change, like moving to another country, eg UK, is occurring in your life?? How do you get the implications of such a choice??

There are events in our life that take place suddenly and don’t give us the chance to realize what’s their meaning and how they will influence the course of the rest of it! They could happened while we are all taken by living other experiences and worried about daily routeen, those events totally unexpected blow up and brush off all else!

So it happened to me!! I wish I could convey easily the feelings and moods, the thoughts and ideas such events steam in, bringing to discover myself better!

But here just some funny reflections on:

You feel like you are in UK if...
- you arrive on the Island by plane or driving under a dark airless tunnel for about 2 hours.

- your first contact with a local inhabitant isn't very friendly (but that's because you arrive in London).

- the first thing you buy is an adaptor...

- you are surrounded by italians most of the time in the City and you still feel home somehow...

- you feel awkward in one's car and would prefer to sit back or close your eyes, rather than jerk everytime a car comes from the opposite direction or you are at a turn or at a round-about!

- you change your clothes 2 to 5 times in the same day, since you got wet because of the rain, then sweaty because of the hot sun, then freezing because of the wind and then wet and hot again.... and after few days you give up wearing a t-shirt and flip-flops no matter how's the weather!!

- the small change in your pocket weigh more than their value all together.

- a book costs as much (or even less) than bread, tomato, chicken meat and cheese!!

- you attend a Cream Tea Party and eat 6 scones with clotted cream and raspberry jam... You don't eat anything else for the rest of the day!

....and the list would go on....

Go fly your kite!!

Today was really a fine day.. one of those in which the sun is shining and everything looks good... nothing could perturbate your smile and difficulties find their way out smoothly, surprises pop up into your life and you feel like a child going out to fly his kite...

something I did indeed!!! Inaki & me organized a workshop on how to build a kite of your own... quite a feat, if you think that none of us had ever done it... we got infos on internet and went yesterday buying the material... we were sooooo lucky to meet a fine gentelman who spent his time giving us advices and teaching us the basis... it was really fun and the man was really sweet with us!! So today we encouraged some reluctant kids to join us in this crazy idea... our first attempt (made of wooden sticks of bamboo, a lot of glue, cord and blue fabric) was miserable, but we got an angel telling us what was missing (a tail with ribbons to keep the balance).. with some wind and luck we finally had our first home made kite flying.... an emotion deep satisfactory and pure happyness... I'll never forget this day!

Thank you Inaki for not giving up and keeping trying!!!

For the instructions about how to build a kite go on: http://www.skratch-pad.com/kites/make.html

For some advice or if you are going to fly your kite... call me!!

Celebrating Martyrdom of the Bab in Torquay

Today is my day off...

and that thanks to the fact that my team is so gorgeous, they say they know it was a special occasion for me and let me go! So I could join some baha'ìs from Exeter and drive with them to Torquay, where the community of the cluster of Devon was meeting.

It was nice to have the feeling of being at home in a strange country with people I actually met for the first time in my life!

But it isn't the first time I have such feeling as it's common to all the experience I had serving the Faith in foreign countries, with people I didn't know and would call friends, brother & sisters from the first time I would look into their eyes... this is because of the great purpouse of our lives we have in common!!

I wasen't among strangers but in my own community among my family members... and this feeling grows as much as we practice it and embrace all the people we come across in our life!

In the teaching of Bahá'u'lláh...

" Do not be satisfied until each one with whom you are concerned is to you as a member of your family. Regard each one either as a father, or as a brother, or as a sister, or as a mother, or as a child. If you can attain to this, your difficulties will vanish, you will know what to do." (Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 91)

:-) I have met other memebers of my family and had some sweet time together, praying and meditating about this Holy Day and recalling the history of that 9th July 1850 , had a gorgeous lunch and nice chatting... I really enjoyed the day!!

For praising God for such a great day would like to share two of the prayers the Bab revealed:

Is there any Remover of difficulties save God? Say: Praised be God! He is God! All are His servants, and all abide by His bidding!
- The Bab

Say: God sufficeth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens or in the earth but God sufficeth. Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent.
- The Bab

Ps: about the Martyrdom of the Bab find more on: http://news.bahai.org/story/644