This report first appeared in
CommuNIqué - Newsletter of the Bahá'í Community in Northern Ireland
Issue 156 - Kamál 168 BE- August 2011 CE

NI SUMMER SCHOOL 2011

The new sign welcomes participants and visitors alike

Summer School a view from the youth by Sara Donaghy

I know I speak on behalf of all the youth when I say that this year’s youth programme at Summer School NI was fantastic. We were lucky enough to have speakers from England and America as well as Ireland. All of the sessions given were interesting and clearly enjoyed by all.

I really enjoyed the session by Payam Beint, where he told us about his year of service and read some stories about Abdu’lBahá. I found it really inspiring and it made me feel more at ease with the thought of a year of service. I also really like Ashley Southall’s sessions. His first was based around happiness while his second was stories from his greatgrandfather. Both were fabulous and very uplifting. Both Wendi Momen and Kay Hughes’ sessions complemented brilliantly. While Wendi’s was about marriage, Kay’s was about love and chastity. Together they helped me understand the whole picture with more clarity.

I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the youth programme and I left Summer School feeling uplifted and inspired. I would like to thank all the people who were kind enough to give us their time and share their knowledge and feelings with us, it was wonderful.

Devotional group at Summer School

A parent's perspective by Lara Sunday

Another Summer School is over, I feel like I have been on holiday. Living in a bubble for a week then having to return to reality. It is at summer school where you really get a feel for the diversity of our Faith. Old and young mingle around the tuck shop kept in order by Claire. I love that lady; hers was the first face to greet me and is the heart of our summer school.

Unfortunately Jago was away camping this year but Cash is now old enough to attend the youngest class. It is a crèche rather than a class as such. The service it provides by being there is enormous. It allows parents to attend sessions and children to make new friends and to begin to feel a part of something special. I had the privilege this year to take some of the 6 to 9 classes and some of the Junior Youth classes. The 6 to 9 group was a large, lively but wonderful bunch (some older children snuck in). In our first session together we looked at the virtue of responsibility, I was lucky to have Claire Childs the Party Professors Assistant with me. We looked at responsibility and how for every decision/action we take there is a consequence. To visualise this we made rockets from recycled materials, lots of fun was had on the grass outside seeing whose could go furthest. My second session continued this theme with them, looking at the life of Abdu’lBahá and how he took responsibility for those around him with his caring and love. The sun came out so we headed outside for some wheelbarrow races, the children having to take responsibility for each other's safety. With the junior youth the classes were a lot smaller in comparison but I gained a great deal from the time I spent with them. Darius, Kiyan and Duncan who joined us for the last session were an inspiration. It’s invigorating when you see children really engaging in a subject. Their insights into the words of Abdu’lBahá were a pleasure and amazement to me. They entered into discourse and the activities with enthusiasm, we studied a passage I had found and created a canvas expressing what they had understood from his writings.

On the very last session of the school we looked at a small passage from the Seven Valleys which I had found myself reading in the evenings while Summer school was on and we talked of what “responsibility” meant to us. We built rockets which they loved although next year I'm bringing more sparkles and glitter to decorate them; we really dissected and perfected the rockets so next year beware! "You have to work at being responsible" said Darius... boys take a bow.

My hope is next year to have them for full days so we can really get stuck into a project; an hour is not long enough. I managed to attend three sessions with Afnan and I'm so glad that I did. Not only did I learn a great deal but it introduced me to Bahá’ís I had not met before and some of whom did not live very far from me at all. It reminded me and inspired me this year that effort has to be made to spend time together socially. This helps build our Faith, reminds us that we are a part of something larger. Daniel and Cash playing together, Sana with red eyes and sore legs. Sofia my god-daughter coming and saying how kind she thought we all were and what a great, fun time she had. Mike the Owl Man, the little ones who were just beautiful to watch play. Rolling down the grass bank, hearing of peoples stories of joining the Faith. Jan dancing with abandonment at the disco. Holding hands with Zhenia at the back of the room watching the photographs of our Summer School. These are a few of my precious memories… One week… One Faith... One Family.

One of the talks in the main hall

Sarah and Keith Munro gave an afgevting AV presentation on Abdu’l-Bahá

A view from the tech guy, Colin Palin

Arriving at Summer School at Lorne this year I was taken by a feeling of how short it felt since last year’s festivities. Of course, it still couldn’t have been too early and the committee put on one fantastic school this year. As with the past few years Courses where at the centre of the school and we had a fantastic bunch: ‘The Will and Testament: The Master, centre of the Covenant’ by Barney Leith ‘Tablets of the Devine Plan: The Master the teacher’ by Afnan HashemiZadeh ‘Abdu’lBahá, The mystery of God’ by Kay Hughes ‘Parenting within the Faith’ by Ken and Sabina Nagle

The feedback session on Sunday morning was unanimous that each course has been a tremendous success despite some small constructive criticism. Throughout the week there were several other talks and plenary sessions. Wendi Momen’s week long session on ‘A life of service what can we learn from Abdu’lBahá?’ was an example of a deeply researched and informative session. Chris Johnson also joined the school from Louisiana USA and was happy to give us his thoughts on different religions and the afterlife, a subject he has written a book about and building marital skill which we all found interesting, even those of us without the ball and chain yet. Oops, did I just write that? Other speakers included Keith and Sarah Munro, Moojan Momen and Hooshmand Badee. The committee mentioned at one point that there were several last minute changes to the schedule which could have caused problems, well you couldn’t tell! The Bahá'í quiz was held on Tuesday evening leaving even the most deepened Bahá'ís scratching their heads. and jumping to their copies of ‘Some Answered Questions’. Pity Iain Palin didn’t use it to select his questions! The general knowledge quiz was just as cut throat be it a little easier this year. Thank you Iain, I got some right this year!

Throughout the week arts sessions were run by Elizabeth Palin, Inge Haghighi and Rosie Haghighi. If I missed someone out sorry! Arts were never my thing! How could I round up without mentioning the excellent service from Lorne, the ever on hand Claire Greenberg with our tea and bickies, the committee, our chairman, everyone who did a story in the sitting room and finally EVERYONE WHO CAME! In short, Summer School 2011 was an excellent school and now the challenge is on for 2012’s committee to produce a school even better next year. Thanks for reading and see you next year!

The Nagles, whose course on “Parenting” was a great success

The perspective of a day visitor Barbara Boyle

The welcome poster at the entrance guided us into the grounds of Lorne House and its picturesque building and beautiful coastal setting was the gorgeous backdrop to the NorthernIrish Bahá’í Summer School. Unable to take a full week holiday our family travelled to it every evening to attend the presentations, devotionals and activities on offer. Being new to the faith we found the summer school a wonderful way to acquaint ourselves with the values and principles of the Bahá’í faith and the local community as well as meeting international visitors. The welcome was always so warm and friendly and soon we were chatting and making new friends every day of the week.

The talks and presentations were expertly delivered, they were meaningful and enjoyable and every evening we came away looking forward to the next one. Chris Johnson reminded us of the importance of respect and trust for a successful marriage as well having a capacity for humour and fun to help us through life. Later during the week he gave us an insight into the beliefs held by the world religions concerning ‘Death & the Afterlife’. Keith and Sara Munro’s memorable presentation on the life of Abdu’lBahá was beautifully read and visually stunning. For us it was important to learn more about the history of the Bahá’í faith and Moojan Momen’s talks gave us an understanding how the faith has grown from its roots to the present day and an insight to the vision of its future path. Hooshmand Badee and his wife May's lectures on ‘Sustainable Living and Happiness’ will not only stay in our minds but will hopefully influence our daily life and the decisions we make concerning our consumption and our attempts to moderate it. There were many amazing musicians to make the daily devotionals a nourishing feast for the spirit and we are so grateful for these beautiful moments, as well as all the laughter and loving kindness that made the summer school an unforgettable experience.

Key to the success of Summer School - Clare, Queen of the Tuck-shop, and assistants Daniel and Qudrat

A thoughtful group in the sitting room

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