Summer Schools are usually good, enjoyed by most if not all who attend them. You meet friends and make new ones, learn something about the Faith and have fun.
Above: Some of the participants at the Northern Ireland Summer School 2005 with Mr and Mrs Nakhjavani Below: The Nakhjavanis with the childrem
2005 was something more! For one thing we had the privilege of having the company of Mr and Mrs Ali Nakhjavani for four days and having several sessions taken by either of or both of them, including From Chaos to the Most Great Peace, The Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice, and Amatu’l-Bahá.
Counsellor Shirin Fozdar Foroudi took two sessions on the nature and progress of the Five-Year Plan and the process the Bahá'í community is embarked upon, while Sepideh Taheri, who will be remembered by many NI Bahá'ís from her growing up here, gave lively presentations on medical matters and on Islam.
Pictures from top:
Lorne House
Dr Shirin Fozdar Foroudi, Memebr of the Board of Counsellors for Europe
Mr and Mrs Ali Nakhjavani
Two of our own youth took sessions: Soha Graham on Bahá'í youth and the materialistic society and Colin Palin on technology and ways to use it to help the Faith. Colin also prepared devotionals for every morning of the school using a mixture of computer presentations, music and Bahá'í scripture.
Rita and Viv Bartlett also took sessions. Rita, a member of National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom, spoke on Transformations and who can forget Viv’s interactive session on The Dual Nature of Man? Patrick O’Mara, and Mrs Sundram (a former member of the Board Of Counsellors for Asia, now living in Australia) gave talks at short notice.
Late sessions were taken by Keith Munro, Iain Palin Joe Donnelly, and Rita and Viv Bartlett.
Pictures, from tope left:
Mrs Rita Bartlett, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom
Entertainment at the Persian Cafê
A most important person: Clare Greenberg ran the tuck shop
During the afternoons we had a variety of options including Tai-Chi (led by Lawrence McMinn)and an “active painting” class conducted by Zhenia Mahdi, while Susie Agahi led sessions of singing and there was also a poetry writing session. There was a special programme of children including two group outings and dedicated sessions for the Youth and Junior Youth
In addition to all this the Friends (who came from all over Ireland, from Britain, and from other countries—the fame of our Summer School is spreading!) had a variety of evening entertainments, including a table quiz, poetry, and music. There were also two evenings when entertainment spread over the whole evening: one was a “Persian Café” (many thanks to Kamal Ma’ani and friends) followed by a disco, and the other was our last night extravaganza. We had a wonderful evening of singing, juggling, poetry and short story readings, music and the last appearance of “Cypher” –the NI youth dance group. We also watched an impressive performance by the new dance group “Lights of Unity”, which includes youth from more than just Northern Ireland. They have only been together for two weeks but were very professional, giving two very moving and disturbingly realistic presentations on abuse and on racism, and later entertaining us with a comedy sketch
On the afternoon of the last full day we had fun and fund raising. There was a bouncy castle, clowns and face painting (officially for the children) and you could also have your head or feet massaged, ask to have a poem written about you or buy Bahá'í prayer beads or a handmade encaustic wax Greatest Name or Ringstone symbol.
During the school all the technical/sound equipment was looked after very capably by John Giffin, ably assisted by Colin Palin. Most of the sessions were recorded and thanks to modern technology CDs of the talks were available for purchase before the School was finished (the money going towards the cost of the School).
We must also remember Clare, who was always on hand in the tuck shop with lots of goodies. Though why we were hungry I don’t know, as we were well fed and looked after at Lorne. Thanks must go to the committee who worked so hard to make the School a success (Colette Ma’ani, Anne Munro, Lawrence McMinn, John Giffin) and to our chairman Iain who kept things running with good humour and usually on time.
ECP
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