sarawakbahai.org

16 July 2008 No Comment

Rh. Surik, Lemanak:- The first teaching conference cum institutional or cluster meeting for Lemanak area was held over the weekend of 23 and 24 November. The event, attended by almost two hundred believers from eight localities along the Lemanak River was the largest regional gathering ever held in many years. From Kuching, a total ten people including representatives of the National Teaching Committees, Sarawak Bahá’í Institute, Bahá’í Office for the Advancement of Women and Centre for the Advancement of Women and Family came as speakers or observers. A report by Mr. Usik Bansan on behalf of the National Teaching Committee indicated that there was a marked degree of enthusiasm among the believers in initiating the three core activities in their respective community in the first three months of 2003. Out of the eight communities represented during the gathering, seven pledged to hold institute courses, six to hold devotional meetings and three to initiate children’s classes.

On 23 November, the conference started at 8 p.m. and was chaired by the Chairman of the Area Teaching Committee Mr. Tunku anak Surik. The welcoming speech was made by the NTC Chairman Mr. Sigom Betek and he spoke on the challenges of being a Bahá’í, the power inherent in the Cause, progress and development of the soul and current global issues and the achievement of the Bahá’í International Community. The representative of SBI Ms. Melia Swithun spoke on the objective of the institute process and how to plan and implement institute activities in the cluster. She also stressed on how to keep proper statistics of institute participants and encouraged all the believers to go through the courses.

The representative of BOAW Ms. Dayang Genam spoke on the three core activities and encouraged the women to participate actively in the institute process in order to assist in achieving the goals of the Five Year Plan. She elaborated on the functions of the BOAW and encouraged the Bahá’í community to form women’s committee and share reports on their activities wherever possible. Mr. James Rigo Japar shared his experience since becoming a Bahá’í. Mr. Terrence Tinggi talked on love and unity in the Bahá’í community and the purpose of religion.

The next day, the program started at 8 a.m. with the study of the Ridvan Message lead by Terrence followed by a talk on Bahá’í Fund by Mr. Usik Bansan. The CAWF representative Mdm. Maria Peter spoke on the importance of education and some Bahá’í Laws and Ordinances. The conference ended with a discussion on the three core activities by the representatives of the eight communities present at the gathering.”