I have been living in N'djamena now for a little more than 5 months and am sorry to admit that now for the first time, with only one month left to go, I am writing home at last, to send all of you my warmest love and prayers. I think of you all so often here. I wanted to tell you how blessed I feel to think that in Ireland and the United Kingdom the faith has such a firm foundation of unified believers, so full of enthusiasm, with such diverse talents and abundant resources and to know that I am a part of this strong and growing community. One thing that I have realised during my time in Africa is to appreciate how fortunate we are to live in the West, where education is so well developed and material resources are so readily available to us. Here in Chad where all these things are not taken for granted, the Bahá'ís walk a very difficult pathway, one paved with physical hardships and sacrifice.
It is so beautiful to see how spirituality is woven into the lives of the African believers and to feel the radiance of the faith glowing in their hearts and spilling out into this starving country which is in such great need of Bahá'u'lláh's healing message. This Christmas Sarah Pickett and I went with some of the youth (around 19 in all) from the city to study Ruhi book 7 in a smaller town south of N'djamena. Together we squeezed into an ancient hippie-van, in a terrible state of disrepair, to travel overnight, with no roads between the homes we were leaving and our destination which was Bongor. The journey was long and uncomfortable and the van broke down countless times before we arrived (having replaced the entire engine one piece at a time along the way!). We had to walk through an unfamiliar village to the Bahá'í centre where we would stay, carrying all our luggage in the middle of the night, without street lamps or sign posts to guide us.
When we finally arrived hungry and without sleep, we were shown an old shack with a tin roof and dirt floor, of course there was no running water or electricity (though this is usual in the city too). For one week we would sleep on the ground in the dust, wash with a bucket of water collected from the well and eat the same meal of boule (a traditional chadian dish - rice boiled together with flour until dense and sticky) twice everyday. We woke each morning before dawn to pray together and begin our study circle and we would work right through the day in the most wonderful of spirits, all the youth participating and happy to be together to deepen their understanding of the faith.
You see this is the kind of purity of motive and the beautiful simplicity of their love for Bahá'u'lláh! These youth will gladly and in a spirit of real joy make such efforts to walk the straight path of service! I look at the time I spent in Bongor with the youth as one of the happiest of all my experiences in Chad, the hardships seemed not to matter when I was surrounded by such love and while I had such an opportunity to serve the Bahá'ís and learn from them. But what I want to impart to you is the importance of serving the magical and beautiful faith we are so privileged to have discovered. We as Bahá'ís are illumined by the light of understanding God's design for humanity in this age, while so many others are lost in darkness. In the West it is perhaps less apparent, as the need for spirituality is often filled superficially by materialism. Here in Africa the need for religion is plain to see as people have so little material possessions and so they turn their faces towards God as the true source of meaning and joy in their lives. I am talking especially to the youth, who have such precious and unique opportunities to serve the cause of God. We are Bahá'ís! There are so few of us in the world today and yet we must not be discouraged by the irreligion and suffering which is all around us. We are not alone, Bahá'ís all over the world are working in unison to achieve the same goal, putting into practice in our everyday lives the beautiful teachings which Bahá'u'lláh brought, and together we can offer solutions to overcome the problems which exist.
We each have an important part to play in the spreading of this message and every little effort we make will contribute to the bringing about of peace in the world. We must remember not to focus on our little capacities, not to rely on our own tiny selves, but to have faith that we are bearing God's message and that we will be assisted and strengthened when we arise to share it with others. The Universal House of Justice encourage us to serve by holding devotional gatherings, organising and assisting with children's classes and by attending Ruhi study circles or even becoming tutors and offering to help others deepen their understanding of the Bahá'ís teachings. We must remember that these activities are not only for Bahá'ís but for everyone! We as youth can undertake them. We can use the arts to develop them and bring to them the wonderful spirit of unity and the creative energies and enthusiasm that exists among us and this will attract others!
Love from Bryony and Sarah
BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE