Children Class in Southwest!

One of the victories from the collective teaching Campaign in Southwest in August/September 2008 is the start of a children's class. It is located close to betway 8 and West Little York. There are about 10 non-Baha'i children in different age group. The main teacher is driving from Houston and the cluster institute coordinator is training 3 youth from Southwest to eventually take over the class. In addition, the class will eventually become 2 classes due to the gap in ages and human resources will be needed to assist.

In addition, there is a Ruhi Book 1 going on and teachers are talking to the parents and curious on lookers about the Baha'i Faith. One of the vision of the Five Year Plan is to give Baha'i Children classes and we are no longer offering virtue classes since we are in the process of growing our community. Everything is fully disclosed to the parents in what we are about. Actually one parent was not sending her children to the classes but that soon changed when she learnd more about who we were and a trust was built.

The multiplication of children classes can be done all over the cluster but we need YOU to arise and serve in this capacity. For those interested, please contact Samarih Monajjem and it is very easy to do a children class with some training and help!

14 year old girl - incredible story!!!

We heard a nice story at prayers this morning in Haifa about Papua New Guinea. There is a Bahá’í youth there, a 14 year old girl, whose parents are also Bahá’í. This youth has been conducting children’s’ classes for children 12 and under and the receptivity has been great. She decided she wanted to take the Faith to the village where her parents are from and persuaded her parents to go along with this. She also wanted to involve the children she had been teaching so her parents approached the other children’s parents to tell them what their daughter was planning and to get permission for the non-Bahá’í children to participate. Apparently all the parents readily agreed because they were so very impressed with what this 14 year old youth was teaching their children. She had prepared 9 topics which she gave to the children and they each had to prepare something on the topic for presentation in the village. The topics included such things as an introduction to the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh’s life, the Covenant, the laws of the Faith, Life after Death, God and the Manifestations. They also performed some skits and this 14 year old also sewed the costumes for the skits. When they arrived in the village over 100 people including the chief attended the presentation which was very well received. It was said that a survey was later carried out and three things were discovered: that youth are very anxious to share the teachings of the Faith through music and drama, that because of what the 14 year old was doing in terms of the children’s class a tremendous amount of trust had been built up—the society in Papua New Guinea is very family oriented and the families would not have allowed there children to travel to another village with the Bahá’ís unless there was a tremendous amount of trust and confidence. And the third thing was that where there is a great deal of receptivity one can share the message very directly as was indicated by the topics that were covered during the presentation.

Hope we can learn how to do this in Houston, yes in Houston!!!

Junior Youth Group in Montrose area going well!

The Junior Youth Group in Montrose area is going well. Our first service project will involve cleaning the park. We also are looking to do a field trip to a musuem or Imax, or the zoo. They are consulting on what they want to do. In addition, we are incorporating a rap on unity, studying the booked titled "Breezes of Confirmation" which gives them expression and writing skills, service project, learning prayers.

Here is a couple prayers said by the junior youth who are not Baha'is but look forward to all sharing prayers in the group:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO8PFdkqd8Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SK5FrOkZsg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m47Al2txjSs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzuGuyvs-GQ


The children class is also going very well with growing in number to about 10 children. They are learning the songs and prayers as well as enjoying coloring, listening to stories, and playing.

They all wait for us to arrive for class to start. They can't wait until we get there and don't want us to leave!

To start a neighborhood children class, please contact Samarih Monajjem.
To start a neighborhood junior youth group (ages 11 to 15), please contact Quddus Nasseri at 832-236-3575

Children Class and Junior Youth Group Started!

The Ghiyasi family started their neighborhood children class and junior youth group this Saturday, 22 September 07!!!

Video rap on UNITY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ghtve_WVY

They had about 8 non-Baha'i children learning lesson 1 from Ruhi Book 3. It was on unity and they learned the quote: "So powerful is the light of unity it can illuminate the whole world." Nava Ghiyasi did a wonderful job teaching the class. She will need a helper since the children called it the "best class ever" (see picture) and they said they would invite more children for next time.

As for the Junior youth group, Nagin and Quddus had 3 participants: Lawrence and Wendasha who are 12 and Eric who is 11 years old. We stared with a prayer "O God guide me..." The we asked them why they wanted to be part of a junior youth group. Immediately, Lawrence raised his hand and said: "It keeps us out of trouble." We asked him what kind of trouble? And he said: "violence, gang relationship." Another said: "drugs and fights at school."

And then another purpose to get together, one said: "service project." So we asked them, what kind of service project? They said something to help others and help the environment. They decided that they wanted to clean the park and then possibly plant trees and flowers, and visit elderly people.

We also are going to play basketball since the park has a basketball court. They also want to play kickball, soccer, and relay race. They also promised to respect each other and to strive for spiritual and intellectual excellence. We discussed what both of these are and how to improve our spiritual qualities of honesty, truthfulness, respect of others.... We read the following quote to illustrate striving for excellence: "Let each morn better than its eve and each morning better than its yesterday." We promised each other to treat each other with respect and to listen to one another.

Nagin taught them a rap on unity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ghtve_WVY ) and they also want to do a play for the whole community. So we will prepare for that next time and talk more about what we need to clean the park such as trash bags, gloves...

They also came up with a few names for their junior youth group: Praying Group, Spiritual Group, Shining Star. They will think of more names and decide on a name soon!

We ended prayers as they each read prayers on children from the prayer book. They can't wait until next week and so can't the rest of us! We then played basketball and the children played on the swings.

How a family rose to action in their neighborhood

A story on how a family started a children class and Junior Youth Group at the same time:

A family living in the Montrose neighborhood decided to answer the call of the Universal House of Justice to start these two core activities. With the aid of a Cluster Institute Coordinator, they got together, said a few prayers, and went to a park to invite children and middle school age to join classes. As you know, Baha'u'llah arranged for this special occasion: the weather was perfect and therefore many children were out playing.

We arrived at the park and met a woman who only spoke spanish but luckily her daughter translated our wish to start children classes that would teach her kids moral education. The mother was so happy that she said she has 6 children of her own and a few nieces to invite.

We then approached other children, primarily African American, who wondered why we did not start the class today! We also played with the children and the Junior Youth.

The first class will start on 22 September, which will no doubt be a success. This is the result of the Ghiyasi family taking action!

The Five Year Plan calls for multiplication of children classes and Junior Youth groups (11 to 14) in our own neighborhood inviting non-Baha'i children and middle school age to join in classes. For those interested in persuing this path of service, please contact Samarih Monajjem at 832-594-2750 for children classes and Quddus Nasseri at 832-236-3575 for Junior Youth Groups. They can help you get started and support your activities. During this time there are only 3 children classes and 3 Junior Youth Groups. We need to increase this number to 10 sustainable classes each by the end of next year. The goal is to have 20 neighborhood children classes and 20 Junior Youth Groups by the end of the Five Year Plan. We can do it!"

Friendswood "Virtues Class"

Report on the Friendswood "Virtues Class":

We start our class with a prayer. The kids learnedthe song "Oh God Guide Me" but they also enjoy readingprayers from the inter-faith prayer book.

We then read a quote that I try to tie in withwhatever lesson we're covering for that day. The first week we learned the quote: "Truthfulness isthe foundation of all human virtues." Each child hashis/her own notebook into which he/she copies thequote.

Next we read a story from the "Value Tales" collectionwhich correlates with the Bahai quote. So for the"truthfulness" quote, we read the story of the Apachechief Cochise entitled, "The Value of Truth andTrust." The children listen to the story andafterwards we discuss the importance of whatevervirtue we're learning about for that day.

The kids then write in their journals either aboutsomething in their own lives related to our discussionor about what they learned from the story. One student went home and did some research online about Cochise and shared his report with the class the nextweek.

So far we've read: "The Value of Friendship" (JaneAddams), "The Value of Honesty" (Confusious), "TheValue of Believing in Yourself" (Louis Pasteur).

Three weeks ago, we took a "field trip" to the Bahai Center for the Eric Dozier concert. The kids werethrilled and it was a wonderful learning experience.

Two of my students are also learning how to playguitar. In this way we incorporate the arts into ourlessons.I am very grateful to Baha'u'llah for allowing me tohave the opportunity to share the Bahai Faith withchildren.

It is truly a blessing.

By Marie Ghogomu

Good example on how to explain Junior Youth Groups

This is a talented young Baha'i in Australia who explains on TV what a Junior Youth Group is. You can use it when you explain it to parents:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7BNvvs80eQ

Enjoy!

To start a Junior Youth Group, contact Quddus Nasseri at quddus10@gmail.com