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A Junior Youth Class was successfully held at Stutong Baru last Sunday. Our first encounter with the junior youth at Stutong was memorable as it was our very first experience conducting a junior youth class in Bahasa Melayu. Despite the scorching hot afternoon, 7 participants had gathered for the class at one of the participants’ humble home. They were all excited and were full of spirit when we arrived there.

More than 60 Baha’is gathered in Kuching, the state capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, for a 3-day convention which started on 1 May. Among them were delegates, representing their respective electoral units throughout Sarawak, who came here to elect the 9-member Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Sarawak, which is the highest administrative body for the Baha’is in Sarawak.

The gathering is one of the 41 similar regional conferences held, being held or will be held throughout the Baha’i world between November 2008 to March 2009. These conferences, starting with the first one held in Lusaka, Zambia in 1 Nov 2008 and will end with the last one in Kiev, Ukraine on 1 March 2009, were called by the Universal House of Justice, the world governing body of the worldwide Baha’i communities, to provide the opportunity for the Baha’is to celebrate the feats already achieved during the first half of their current Five Year Plan and to deliberate on its current exigencies.

An extract of the Baha’i Holy Writings on the back of a public bus in Kuching, Sarawak. Altogether, 3 buses, all owned by the Sarawak Transport Company Berhad, are being printed with different Baha’i ethical exhortations as a social service by the Kuching Baha’i community to promote religious harmony and tolerance among the multi-racial, multi-cultural [...]

After much preliminary discussion, consultation and preparation, the first ever Intensive Growth Programme (IGP) for Sarawak was successfully launched for the Kuching-Padawan-Samarahan cluster in the evening of 25 March 2005 amidst much fanfare in an inspiring candle-lighting ceremony. More than 60 friends came for the launching held at the Kuching Baha’i Centre.

This launching was the culmination of many meetings, the first of which was held on 5 March at the start of the fasting month of Ala. In that first meeting, held at the Kota Padawan Baha’i Centre, Counsellor George Soraya spoke and inspired the more than 40 people present to realise the potential and capability of the community to launch an Intensive Growth Programme for the cluster.

The Kuching Baha’i Centre was packed with friends on 20 March evening. More than 85 friends from the Kuching City North and South areas came to celebrate Naw Ruz, the Baha’i New Year, which began at the Spring Equinox. The celebration also marked the end of the Baha’i fasting month of Ala.

The celebration began with a beautiful devotional programme prepared by the youth. This was followed by a sumptuous dinner done on a potluck style, with a great variety of dishes being served. Thereafter, all present were treated to an evening of songs and impromptu dance presentation by the children, youth and adults.

In conjunction with the spirit of charity and gift giving in celebrating Ayyám-i-Há, the Local Bahá’í Youth Committee of Kuching organized a blood donation campaign at the Kuching Bahá’í Centre last 26 Feb. More than 40 friends turned up to support the event. Ayyám-i-Há is the Intercalary days (26 Feb to 1 Mar) before the last month of the Bahá’í year, ‘Alá’, which is the month of fasting. Bahá’u'lláh designated the Intercalary days as Ayyám-i-Há in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and specified when they should be observed. The Ayyám-i-Há are devoted to spiritual preparation for the fast, hospitality, feasting, charity and gift giving.

There were 218 people participating in the children’s festival 2004; a total of 70 children, 75 junior youths, 16 youths and 57 adults out of which about 60 were unexpected turn-ups. We are very happy to have quite a large number of seekers among our participants. About 15 children, 20 junior youths and 2 parents were seekers.Programmes were catered for 3 groups, the children, the junior youths and the parents.

The junior youths were sub-divided into about 10 persons per group for workshops and performance. Lee Yih Ven and Kenneth Jampang were the main coordinators for the junior youth programmes and other facilitators for each sub-group were appointed to assist with their workshops and performance.

Kuching 23-24 October 2004: The third state level institutional meeting was held at the Crown Towers, Pending with Counsellor Paul Lample from the International Teaching Centre as the guest of honour. Also present was Counsellor George Soraya. Among the 139 participants were representatives of the various national committees and institutions based in Kuching, Regional Council of both north and south region and the teaching committee of central region. Nine ATCs from the southern region and ATC Mukah. Local Assemblies of Miri and Sibu and those of Kuching-Padawan-Samarahan communities were also represented.

Verbal comments from a few participants showed that the meeting not only had instilled fresh inspiration but also had brought about a higher level of understanding regarding the whole process of entry by troops. It had assured the community that it is treading the right path, albeit slowly. The main issues to analyze now are “Where are we now?”, “Where are we going?”, and “How are we going to the place we want to go?”

Baha’i women’s contingent at the Women’s Day celebration at the Padang Merdeka, Kuching on 4 Sep 2004, all dressed up in attires representing the various ethnic gropus in Sarawak