Bahá'í Faith in Kiribati
Encyclopedia
The Bahá'í Faith in Kiribati begins after 1916 with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá
, then head of the religion, that Bahá'ís should take the religion to the Gilbert Islands
which form part of modern Kiribati. The first Bahá'ís pioneered
to the island of Abaiang
(aka Charlotte Island, of the Gilbert Islands), on March 4, 1954. They encountered serious opposition from some Catholics on the islands and were eventually deported and the first convert banished to his home island. However in one year there was a community of more than 200 Bahá'ís and a Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly. Three years later the island where the first convert was sent to was found to now have 10 Bahá'ís. By 1963 there were 14 assemblies. As the Ellice Islands gained independence as Tuvalu
and the Gilbert Islands and others formed Kiribati
, the communities of Bahá'ís also reformed into separate institutions of National Spiritual Assemblies in 1981. The Bahá'ís had established a number schools by 1963 and there are still such today - indeed the Ootan Marawa Bahá'í Vocational Institute being the only teacher training institution for pre-school teachers in Kiribati. All together the Bahá'ís now claim more than 10,000 local people have joined the religion over the last 50 years and there are 38 local spiritual assemblies.
and included the Gilbert Islands
. `Abdu'l-Bahá, head of the religion from 1892 to 1921, mentioned the Gilbert Islands among the places Bahá'ís should take the religion to. `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States
in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan
. The seventh of the tablets mentioned taking the Bahá'í Faith to the Gilbert Islands and was written on April 11, 1916, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I
and the Spanish flu
. These tablets were translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919.
and positions on the National Spiritual Assembly of Panama to pioneer
. They arrived on the island of Abaiang
(aka Charlotte Island, of the Gilbert Islands
), on March 4, 1954. For this service they were named Knights of Baha'u'llah
by then head of the religion, Shoghi Effendi
. About the first of June 1954, former catholic seminarian and mission teacher Peter Kanere Koru quickly became the first convert on the island. He attributed his conversion in part to his attraction to the racial equality practiced by the pioneers, and their desire to implement such equality in his society.
later in June. His pregnant wife who went into labour had to be left behind in a hospital and she died a short time later. On 24 September 1955 the government gave legal recognition to the first Bahá'í institution in the islands, the village of Tuarabu's Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly on the island of Abaiang. Regardless, Roy Fernie was deported in November 1955 with the support of local land owners. Through correspondence Koru and Elena Marsella were working on translations of a collection of the Bahá'í prayers
, Hidden Words
, and excerpts from the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá until later in 1956 when Marsella left. Before she left the Education Department had approved Elena and two native Bahá'ís as teachers in the new school. The new Bahá'í community which had formed essentially in one year continued to function and for a time Shoghi Effendi requested no further pioneers go to the Gilbert Islands. Koru did not meet Bahá'ís again until four years later, but he remained steadfast in his beliefs. By the time Bahá'ís were eventually able to come to visit him, nine more people were active members of the religion on his island, (apparently nearly fifty had been drawn to the religion there.) One of them was a Protestant minister then under disciplinary sanction by his church.
. In earliest 1957 Shoghi Effendi allowed pioneers to consider the Gilbert Islands and Frances Heller from the United States was able to arrive on February 8, 1957. She was able to remain despite failing health until June 1958 - having helped elect the spiritual assembly of Betio. American Mabel Adelle Sneider was the next to arrive and she and Heller agreed the religion needed to be taken to the capital of the islands. So it was that Sneider established herself in the village of Bikenibeu
on Tarawa in October 1958. Sneider lived there for 15 years helping to transfer the center of Bahá'í activities from the relatively remote island of Abaiang to the civic capital on Tarawa - eventually Snieder was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly often serving as secretary or treasurer at one time or another. She helped purchase the site for the National Haziratu'l-Quds
, or the seat, of the National Assembly. Pioneers Joe Russell (arrived in May 1959, and became a Kiritbati citizen) and John Thurston soon followed. Meanwhile the school started by the Fernies was noted as still in existence in 1958 despite their absence. By 1959 a new building, on donated land and built by Bahá'ís alone, had managed to be built for the school while temporary housing for visitors and Bahá'í centers were being raised. By November 1959 two summer schools were held and a conference to discuss the progress of the religion on the islands. Russell was able to travel to Tabiteuea to join Koru in December 1959 and together they helped establish three assemblies by April 1960. By 1961 there were thirteen communities with Bahá'ís.
, Samoa and other islands. The delegates from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were unable to attend the 1959 election. By 1961 the religion had reached the Ocean Island
(now called Banada Island) and one of the delegates from the Gilbert Islands was able to attend the convention to elect the regional national spiritual assembly for the South Pacific Islands.
The Bahá'ís established a number of schools by 1963 - Tuarabu Primary School, Abaiang Island, and several on Tabiteuea
Island - Eita, Utiroa, Taku and Tababuea Primary Schools.
professor Charles Forman analyzed religious trends across the Pacific Islands and attributes the surprising growth of the Bahá'í Faith across Micronesia
was partly due to a certain amount of response from some youths of wider experience and education as well as from some village folk among whom Bahá'ís settled In October 1966 Hand of the Cause Collis Featherstone attended the dedication of the main Bahá'í center of the islands inaugurated with a conference discussing the progress of the religion on the island.
With the assistance of the Hands of the Cause Collis Featherstone and Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir
the Bahá'í communities in the area reorganized to form a regional National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1967. In 1970 the national assembly held three classes on methods Bahá'ís use for growth of the religion and began holding them in a building, the Bahá'í Institute, owned by the assembly. In May 1971 an international conference on the progress of the religion across the south pacific as held in Suva, Fiji to which Gilbert Island Bahá'ís went. Following that conference a national conference for the Gilbert Islands was held at the Bahá'í Institute. As of 1972 the statistics of the national assembly counted 2700 members across Gilbert and Ellice Islands with 51 Assemblies. In February 1973 the national assembly produced two five minute radio programs for an observance of Human Rights Day
that was broadcast on radio in two languages, Gilbertese and Ellice. The program was on the equality of men and women, with passages from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá and a report on the advancement of women in the islands. In April 1973 twenty-three delegates from nine islands gathered in the National Teaching Institute and the Bahá'í Maneba, a native meeting hall with no sides and a high thatched roof, for the national convention. Together the Institute and the Maneaba are part of the national headquarters Pao Penox. For United Nations Day
the national assembly distributed background materials on the observance to national Director of Information, thee King George IV boarding school, the island Teachers College, and to the Department of Education. In 1976 Hand of the Cause Collis Featherstone made a return trip the islands of the region. While in Kiribati he addressed a reception held in his honor and attended by the governor, deputy governor, and government ministers and secretaries. A copy of The Bahá'í' World, vol. XIV, was presented to the governor for the House of Assembly library and a 20-minute radio interview with Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone was broadcast over Radio Tarawa. In 1978 the Bahá'ís took various roles about societal issues. First in several events across the islands they participated in and helped organize the occasions commemorating Japanese soldiers who died in the islands in World War II. Second they helped during a cholera outbreak in September - the Baha'is relayed messages using the radio equipment on the Bahá'í-owned catamaran Erena-Roe which also ferried patients to the hospital and a Bahá'í served as secretary of the government's response committee created to manage the epidemic. The Erena-Roe was making a last run before the owner left the islands and came across a girl in the ocean who was returned to her native island alive though feared dead. By 1979 the national assembly reported there were 80 local assemblies - 16 of which were officially registered with the government and 13 of which had their own centers.
As the Ellice Islands gained independence as Tuvalu
and the Gilbert Islands and others formed Kiribati, the communities of Bahá'ís also reformed into separate institutions of National Spiritual Assemblies in 1981.
in 1981. By 1982 there were 50 local assemblies across Kiribati. Henry Brechtefeld was born in Kiribati but moved to the Solomon Islands
where he came in contact with the Garcias
, converted, and then moved on the islands of Micronesia, including back to Kiribati, and was well known to have reformed his behavior among his family on Kiribati and friends. He died in 1982 back on the Solomon Islands. In 1984, Art New Zealand profiled Robin White as a Kiribati artist who had moved from metropolitan New Zealand of Dunedin
to life on the tropical island. In 1985 the Bahá'ís held their first national youth conference in Bikenibeu
. By 1986 there is a Bahá'í on the Pacific Christmas Island
which is closer to Honolulu than to the capital on Tarawa, 2000 miles to the west.
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. The Bahá'ís of Kiribati have engaged a wide variety of social and economic development projects. The Ootan Marawa Bahá'í Vocational Institute, a high school, is the only teacher training institution for pre-school teachers in Kiribati. It is open to all, regardless of religion, and is assisted by the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá'ís of Australia and New Zealand
. There are five pre-schools administered by Bahá'í local spiritual assemblies on Tarawa and the outer islands. They accept pupils of all religious affiliations. After coming to a reception at the national convention and noting the importance of religious unity and liberty in Kiribati, the contributions to Kiribati society were noted by then president, Ieremia Tabai
, and ministers of government in speeches when they then attended a 1986 peace conference at which over 1000 Bahá'ís attended. The successes of the schools in Kiribati were discussed at the 100th Anniversary of the Bahá'í Faith in Hawaii at breakout workshops in 2001 which included participants from many countries. The Kiribati government supported the United Nations
General Assembly
vote on the "Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran" (A/56/583/Add.3 Draft Resolution) on 19 December 2001.
and Madam Tong, Mr. Michael Fudakowski, representing the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of New Zealand and who lived for some 17 years in Kiribati with his wife, Robin White, now a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Australasia, and their family. Mr. Dominic Tabuaka represented the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Marshall Islands, and congratulatory messages arrived from Bahá'ís in Australia
, Canada, Hawaii, the Solomon Islands, Ukraine
, the United States, and Western Caroline Islands.
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
, then head of the religion, that Bahá'ís should take the religion to the Gilbert Islands
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
which form part of modern Kiribati. The first Bahá'ís pioneered
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
to the island of Abaiang
Abaiang
Abaiang, also spelled Apaiang, sometimes called Apiaia, and formerly named Charlotte Island, Matthews or Six Isles, is a coral atoll of Kiribati, located in the west-central Pacific Ocean.-Geography:...
(aka Charlotte Island, of the Gilbert Islands), on March 4, 1954. They encountered serious opposition from some Catholics on the islands and were eventually deported and the first convert banished to his home island. However in one year there was a community of more than 200 Bahá'ís and a Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly. Three years later the island where the first convert was sent to was found to now have 10 Bahá'ís. By 1963 there were 14 assemblies. As the Ellice Islands gained independence as Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
and the Gilbert Islands and others formed Kiribati
Kiribati
Kiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population exceeds just over 100,000 , and is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the...
, the communities of Bahá'ís also reformed into separate institutions of National Spiritual Assemblies in 1981. The Bahá'ís had established a number schools by 1963 and there are still such today - indeed the Ootan Marawa Bahá'í Vocational Institute being the only teacher training institution for pre-school teachers in Kiribati. All together the Bahá'ís now claim more than 10,000 local people have joined the religion over the last 50 years and there are 38 local spiritual assemblies.
`Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan
From 1892 to 1977 the islands of Kiribatu were known as part of the British EmpireBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
and included the Gilbert Islands
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
. `Abdu'l-Bahá, head of the religion from 1892 to 1921, mentioned the Gilbert Islands among the places Bahá'ís should take the religion to. `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan
Tablets of the Divine Plan
The Tablets of the Divine Plan collectively refers to 14 letters written between September 1916 and March 1917 by `Abdu'l-Bahá to Bahá'ís in the United States and Canada. Included in multiple books, the first five tablets were printed in America in Star of the West - Vol. VII, No. 10, September 8,...
. The seventh of the tablets mentioned taking the Bahá'í Faith to the Gilbert Islands and was written on April 11, 1916, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Spanish flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
. These tablets were translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
Mírzá Aḥmad Sohráb was a Persian-American author and Bahá'í who co-founded the New History Society and the Caravan of East and West in New York, and was excommunicated from the Bahá'í Faith in 1939 by Shoghi Effendi.-Early life:...
on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919.
(Tablet 7) "A party speaking their languages, severed, holy, sanctified and filled with the love of God, must turn their faces to and travel through the three great island groups of the Pacific Ocean—PolynesiaPolynesiaPolynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
, MicronesiaMicronesiaMicronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
and MelanesiaMelanesiaMelanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
, and the islands attached to these groups, such as New GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, BorneoBorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
, JavaJavaJava is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, SumatraSumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, Philippine Islands, Solomon IslandsSolomon IslandsSolomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, Fiji Islands, New HebridesNew HebridesNew Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...
, Loyalty IslandsLoyalty IslandsThe Loyalty Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific. They are part of the French territory of New Caledonia, whose mainland is away. They form the Loyalty Islands Province , one of the three provinces of New Caledonia...
, New CaledoniaNew CaledoniaNew Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, Bismarck ArchipelagoBismarck ArchipelagoThe Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea.-History:...
, CeramCERAMCERAM is a materials science and testing organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent specialising in the field of ceramics. The CERAM Group owns testing facilities around the world.-History:The British Refractories Research Association was formed in 1920...
, CelebesSulawesiSulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
, Friendly Islands, Samoa Islands, Society IslandsSociety IslandsThe Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
, Caroline IslandsCaroline IslandsThe Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
, Low Archipelago, Marquesas, Hawaiian IslandsHawaiian IslandsThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, Gilbert Islands, Moluccas, Marshall IslandsMarshall IslandsThe Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
, TimorTimorTimor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
and the other islands. With hearts overflowing with the love of God, with tongues commemorating the mention of God, with eyes turned to the Kingdom of God, they must deliver the glad tidings of the manifestation of the Lord of Hosts to all the people. Know ye of a certainty that whatever gathering ye enter, the waves of the Holy Spirit are surging over it, and the heavenly grace of the Blessed Beauty encompasseth that gathering."
Beginnings
The first Bahá'ís to Kiribati were Elena Marsella and Roy Fernie, who left their home in PanamaBahá'í Faith in Panama
The history of the Bahá'í Faith in Panama begins with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the Bahá'í Faith, in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan, published in 1919; the same year, Martha Root made a trip around South America and included Panama on the return leg of the trip up the west coast....
and positions on the National Spiritual Assembly of Panama to pioneer
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
. They arrived on the island of Abaiang
Abaiang
Abaiang, also spelled Apaiang, sometimes called Apiaia, and formerly named Charlotte Island, Matthews or Six Isles, is a coral atoll of Kiribati, located in the west-central Pacific Ocean.-Geography:...
(aka Charlotte Island, of the Gilbert Islands
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
), on March 4, 1954. For this service they were named Knights of Baha'u'llah
Knights of Bahá'u'lláh
The title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh was given by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, to Bahá'ís who arose to open new territories to the Faith during the Ten Year Crusade....
by then head of the religion, Shoghi Effendi
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghí Effendí Rabbání , better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957...
. About the first of June 1954, former catholic seminarian and mission teacher Peter Kanere Koru quickly became the first convert on the island. He attributed his conversion in part to his attraction to the racial equality practiced by the pioneers, and their desire to implement such equality in his society.
Incidents related to the first native Bahá'í
When Koru became the first Bahá'í Shoghi Effendi urged him in a letter of welcome to be "very discreet in spreading this Message", explaining that the Bahá'ís did not wish to become a "source of discord, or arouse opposition". However several issues came to the fore to animate hostility from the local Catholics. First, Roy was an amateur magician. Roy was a confident figure who held a show along with a piano the first night they arrived. Records show that within weeks he attracted Sunday audiences perhaps dropping attendance at Sunday services. In the judgement of researcher Graham Hassall, Roy was most likely unaware of the fact that sorcery and magic were practiced widely in Gilbertese culture, and were being actively suppressed by the Catholics ministers and now here was a new presence in the community giving shows including magic tricks. Indeed there are reports the Catholic minister's actions against the Bahá'ís helped spread knowledge of them. Then there was the attempt of the Fernies to setup an English language school - and the fund-raising activities they organised in Tuarabu conflicted with the Tuarabu Catholics attempt to raise funds for their own purposes and embarrassingly unable to match donations with another nearby Catholic community. Indeed a quarter ton of text books were sent from the Bahá'ís of Panama to support the imminent school which was to be open to all natives irrespective of their religion. Lastly the conversion of a seminarian and missionary teacher away from Catholicism - these are all issues mostly likely to lead to antagonism from the Catholics. Indeed the Catholic mission worked to have the Fernies deported, and on several occasions used its journal to "warn" its members against examining this new religion. Central to their initial complaint to authorities, however, was the fact that missionary activity required 100 or 200 individuals to sanction a group of religionists to allow for missionary work. However over two hundred Abaiang residents registered their wish to become Bahá'ís after showing up at the home of the Fernies at 3am, and some 90 people came the next day to see Koru whom Catholic opposition had forced into banishment to his home island of TabiteueaTabiteuea
Tabiteuea is an atoll in the Gilbert Islands, Kiribati, south of Tarawa. The atoll consists of two main islands: Eanikai in the north, Nuguti in the south, and several smaller islets in between along the eastern rim of the atoll. The atoll has a total land area of 38 km², while the lagoon measures...
later in June. His pregnant wife who went into labour had to be left behind in a hospital and she died a short time later. On 24 September 1955 the government gave legal recognition to the first Bahá'í institution in the islands, the village of Tuarabu's Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly on the island of Abaiang. Regardless, Roy Fernie was deported in November 1955 with the support of local land owners. Through correspondence Koru and Elena Marsella were working on translations of a collection of the Bahá'í prayers
Prayer in the Bahá'í Faith
Prayer in the Bahá'í Faith refers to two distinct concepts: obligatory prayer and devotional prayer . Both types of prayer are composed of reverent words which are addressed to God, and the act of prayer is one of the most important Bahá'í laws for individual discipline...
, Hidden Words
Hidden Words
Kalimát-i-Maknúnih or The Hidden Words is a book written in Baghdad around 1857 by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith...
, and excerpts from the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá until later in 1956 when Marsella left. Before she left the Education Department had approved Elena and two native Bahá'ís as teachers in the new school. The new Bahá'í community which had formed essentially in one year continued to function and for a time Shoghi Effendi requested no further pioneers go to the Gilbert Islands. Koru did not meet Bahá'ís again until four years later, but he remained steadfast in his beliefs. By the time Bahá'ís were eventually able to come to visit him, nine more people were active members of the religion on his island, (apparently nearly fifty had been drawn to the religion there.) One of them was a Protestant minister then under disciplinary sanction by his church.
Continued early growth of the religion
In 1956 four assemblies (including Tuarabu, Tebero, and Kuria) were elected and five smaller groups of Bahá'ís. In addition to Koru, other early converts included Taukoriri Eritai, who became a Bahá'í at the time the Fernies were on Abainag, and Timeon Tamaroa who helped take the religion to the island of BeruBeru
BERU Group is a listed public company since October 1997. The company is the leading manufacturer of diesel cold start systems with an estimated worldwide market share of 40% for glow plugs. In the field of ignition technology for petrol engines, BERU is one of the four major manufacturers in...
. In earliest 1957 Shoghi Effendi allowed pioneers to consider the Gilbert Islands and Frances Heller from the United States was able to arrive on February 8, 1957. She was able to remain despite failing health until June 1958 - having helped elect the spiritual assembly of Betio. American Mabel Adelle Sneider was the next to arrive and she and Heller agreed the religion needed to be taken to the capital of the islands. So it was that Sneider established herself in the village of Bikenibeu
Bikenibeu
Bikenibeu is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located about two nautical miles from Tarawa.-Landmarks:*Te Umanibong -Cultural Museum...
on Tarawa in October 1958. Sneider lived there for 15 years helping to transfer the center of Bahá'í activities from the relatively remote island of Abaiang to the civic capital on Tarawa - eventually Snieder was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly often serving as secretary or treasurer at one time or another. She helped purchase the site for the National Haziratu'l-Quds
Haziratu'l-Quds
The term Haziratu'l-Quds or Bahá'í centre refers to national, regional and local Bahá'í administrative centres....
, or the seat, of the National Assembly. Pioneers Joe Russell (arrived in May 1959, and became a Kiritbati citizen) and John Thurston soon followed. Meanwhile the school started by the Fernies was noted as still in existence in 1958 despite their absence. By 1959 a new building, on donated land and built by Bahá'ís alone, had managed to be built for the school while temporary housing for visitors and Bahá'í centers were being raised. By November 1959 two summer schools were held and a conference to discuss the progress of the religion on the islands. Russell was able to travel to Tabiteuea to join Koru in December 1959 and together they helped establish three assemblies by April 1960. By 1961 there were thirteen communities with Bahá'ís.
Growth across the country
With a few pioneers and many local converts the community in the South Pacific was organized into a regional national spiritual assembly for the South Pacific Islands which was elected from 1957 to 1967 including Cook Island, Fiji, New CaledoniaBahá'í Faith in New Caledonia
The Bahá'í Faith in New Caledonia was first mentioned by `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1916, though the first Bahá'í arrived in 1952 during a temporary visit because of restrictive policies on English-speaking visitors. In 1961 Jeannette Outhey was the first New Caledonian to join the religion and with other...
, Samoa and other islands. The delegates from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were unable to attend the 1959 election. By 1961 the religion had reached the Ocean Island
Banaba Island
Banaba Island , an island in the Pacific Ocean, is a solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island chain and 300 km east of Nauru. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. It has an area of 6.5 km², and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81...
(now called Banada Island) and one of the delegates from the Gilbert Islands was able to attend the convention to elect the regional national spiritual assembly for the South Pacific Islands.
Status in 1963
By the end of 1963 there were a wide range of communities across the Gilbert Islands with 14 assemblies, 19 groups, and 7 additional isolated Bahá'ís.| 1. Aobike 2. Betio Betio Betio is an island and a town at the extreme southwest of South Tarawa in Kiribati. The main port of Tarawa Atoll is located there.-Overview:... , Tarawa 3. Bikenibeu Bikenibeu Bikenibeu is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located about two nautical miles from Tarawa.-Landmarks:*Te Umanibong -Cultural Museum... , Tarawa 4. Bubuti 5. Buota Buota Buota is a settlement on the island of Tarawa, Kiribati.... , North Tabiteuea Tabiteuea Tabiteuea is an atoll in the Gilbert Islands, Kiribati, south of Tarawa. The atoll consists of two main islands: Eanikai in the north, Nuguti in the south, and several smaller islets in between along the eastern rim of the atoll. The atoll has a total land area of 38 km², while the lagoon measures... 6. Eita Eita, Kiribati Eita is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on an atoll; Utiroa is to its east and Terikiai to its north; Nuribenua, Tanaiang, and Te Kapuipui are to the west.... , North Tabiteuea 7. Kuria, Abaiang Abaiang Abaiang, also spelled Apaiang, sometimes called Apiaia, and formerly named Charlotte Island, Matthews or Six Isles, is a coral atoll of Kiribati, located in the west-central Pacific Ocean.-Geography:... |
| 8. Makin Makin (islands) Makin is the name of a chain of islands located in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati, specifically in the Gilbert Islands.-Geography:... 9. Taku, South Tabiteuea 10. Tekaman 11. Terikiai Terikiai Terikiai is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on an atoll; to its west are Nuribenua, Tanaiang, and Te Kapuipui, and to its east are Eita and Utiroa.... , North Tabiteuea 12. Tewai, South Tabiteuea 13.Tuarabu, Abaiang 14. Utiroa Utiroa Utiroa is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on an atoll; Nuribenua is to its west, while Terikiai and Eita are to its north.... , North Tabiteuea |
| 1. Bairiki, Tarawa 2. Bangai Bangai Bangai may refer to several places in Nepal:*Bangai, Kapilvastu*Bangai, Rupandehi*Bangai Marchwar*Hati Bangai*Khadawa Bangai-See also:*Bangui, Central African Republic.*Bangai-O*Bangai-O Spirits*Banggai, a group of Indonesian islands... , Tabiteuea 3. Beru Island Beru Island Beru Island is an island located in the Kingsmill Group of the South Gilbert Islands in the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Republic of Kiribati. Beru was previously known as Eliza, Francis Island, Maria, Peroat, Peru Island or Sunday.- Geography :... 4. Borotiam Borotiam Borotiam is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on an atoll; the nearest locations, to the south, are Aonobuaka and Koinawa. Tebunginako is to the west.... , Abaiang 5. Buariki Buariki Buariki is the largest island in the Aranuka atoll of the Gilbert Islands in the Republic of Kiribati. It is one of two large islands which help form the triangle shape of the atoll with Buariki forming the base.-Air transportation:... , Tabiteuea |
| 6. Buariki Buariki Buariki is the largest island in the Aranuka atoll of the Gilbert Islands in the Republic of Kiribati. It is one of two large islands which help form the triangle shape of the atoll with Buariki forming the base.-Air transportation:... , Tarawa 6. Eita, Tarawa 7. Ereti, Tarawa 8. Koinawa Koinawa Koinawa is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on an atoll to the south of Aonobuaka; to its east is Morikao.... , Abaiang 9. Maiana Maiana Maiana is a district of Kiribati and an atoll in the North Gilbert Islands. The north and eastern sides of the atoll are a single island whilst the western edge consists of submerged reefs, all surrounding a lagoon... Island 10. Nuatabu, Tarawa |
| 11. Nuotaea, Abaiang 12. Ocean Island Banaba Island Banaba Island , an island in the Pacific Ocean, is a solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island chain and 300 km east of Nauru. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. It has an area of 6.5 km², and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81... 13. Taburoa, Abaiang 14. Tanaeang, Tabiteuea 15. Tauma, Tabiteuea |
| 16. Taungeaka, Tabiteuea 17. Tebero, Abaiang 18. Tekabwibwi, Tabiteuea 19. Tekaman, Tabiteuea |
| 1. Abemama Abemama Abemama is an atoll in the central part of the Kiribati Group located 152 kilometres southeast of Tarawa and just north of the Equator.- Geography :... Island 2. Butaritari Butaritari Butaritari is an atoll located in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati.-Geography:... Island 3. Marakei Marakei Marakei is a small atoll in the North Gilbert Islands. The central lagoon consists of numerous deep basins and surrounded by two large islands which are separated by two narrow channels. The atoll covers an area of 13.5 km².- Geography :... Island 4. Onotoa Onotoa Onotoa is an atoll and district of Kiribati. It is situated in the Gilbert Islands in the Pacific Ocean, 65 km from Tamana, the smallest island in the Gilberts.... Island 5. Tanimaiaki, Abaiang 6.Tenatorua, Tabiteuea 7. Ubanteman Ubanteman Ubanteman is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on an atoll; to its north is Takarano, and to its east Tebunginako.... Village, Abaiang |
The Bahá'ís established a number of schools by 1963 - Tuarabu Primary School, Abaiang Island, and several on Tabiteuea
Tabiteuea
Tabiteuea is an atoll in the Gilbert Islands, Kiribati, south of Tarawa. The atoll consists of two main islands: Eanikai in the north, Nuguti in the south, and several smaller islets in between along the eastern rim of the atoll. The atoll has a total land area of 38 km², while the lagoon measures...
Island - Eita, Utiroa, Taku and Tababuea Primary Schools.
Forming a national community
Yale UniversityYale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
professor Charles Forman analyzed religious trends across the Pacific Islands and attributes the surprising growth of the Bahá'í Faith across Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
was partly due to a certain amount of response from some youths of wider experience and education as well as from some village folk among whom Bahá'ís settled In October 1966 Hand of the Cause Collis Featherstone attended the dedication of the main Bahá'í center of the islands inaugurated with a conference discussing the progress of the religion on the island.
With the assistance of the Hands of the Cause Collis Featherstone and Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir
Rahmátu'llah Muhájir
Raḥmatu'lláh Muhájir was a prominent fourth generation Bahá'í, born on 4 April 1923 in the town of 'Abdu'l-'Azím, Iran. In 1954, Dr Muhájir married Írán Furútan, the daughter of `Alí-Akbar Furútan, and together they pioneered to the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia...
the Bahá'í communities in the area reorganized to form a regional National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1967. In 1970 the national assembly held three classes on methods Bahá'ís use for growth of the religion and began holding them in a building, the Bahá'í Institute, owned by the assembly. In May 1971 an international conference on the progress of the religion across the south pacific as held in Suva, Fiji to which Gilbert Island Bahá'ís went. Following that conference a national conference for the Gilbert Islands was held at the Bahá'í Institute. As of 1972 the statistics of the national assembly counted 2700 members across Gilbert and Ellice Islands with 51 Assemblies. In February 1973 the national assembly produced two five minute radio programs for an observance of Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December.The date was chosen to honor the United NationsGeneral Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the first global enunciation of human rights...
that was broadcast on radio in two languages, Gilbertese and Ellice. The program was on the equality of men and women, with passages from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá and a report on the advancement of women in the islands. In April 1973 twenty-three delegates from nine islands gathered in the National Teaching Institute and the Bahá'í Maneba, a native meeting hall with no sides and a high thatched roof, for the national convention. Together the Institute and the Maneaba are part of the national headquarters Pao Penox. For United Nations Day
United Nations Day
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which "shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for" its work.In 1971 the...
the national assembly distributed background materials on the observance to national Director of Information, thee King George IV boarding school, the island Teachers College, and to the Department of Education. In 1976 Hand of the Cause Collis Featherstone made a return trip the islands of the region. While in Kiribati he addressed a reception held in his honor and attended by the governor, deputy governor, and government ministers and secretaries. A copy of The Bahá'í' World, vol. XIV, was presented to the governor for the House of Assembly library and a 20-minute radio interview with Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone was broadcast over Radio Tarawa. In 1978 the Bahá'ís took various roles about societal issues. First in several events across the islands they participated in and helped organize the occasions commemorating Japanese soldiers who died in the islands in World War II. Second they helped during a cholera outbreak in September - the Baha'is relayed messages using the radio equipment on the Bahá'í-owned catamaran Erena-Roe which also ferried patients to the hospital and a Bahá'í served as secretary of the government's response committee created to manage the epidemic. The Erena-Roe was making a last run before the owner left the islands and came across a girl in the ocean who was returned to her native island alive though feared dead. By 1979 the national assembly reported there were 80 local assemblies - 16 of which were officially registered with the government and 13 of which had their own centers.
As the Ellice Islands gained independence as Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
and the Gilbert Islands and others formed Kiribati, the communities of Bahá'ís also reformed into separate institutions of National Spiritual Assemblies in 1981.
Multiplying interests and activities of the community
Following the growth of the institutions the sociological impact of the Bahá'ís became more well known starting in the 1980s. It became known that the Bahá'ís of Kiribati used traditional Maneba buildings to meet in. Thanks to a Bahá'í pioneer on Tarawa, a center was raised on Christmas IslandKiritimati
Kiritimati or Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands, and part of the Republic of Kiribati....
in 1981. By 1982 there were 50 local assemblies across Kiribati. Henry Brechtefeld was born in Kiribati but moved to the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
where he came in contact with the Garcias
Russell Garcia (composer)
Russell Garcia, QSM was a composer and arranger who wrote a wide variety of music for screen, stage and broadcast....
, converted, and then moved on the islands of Micronesia, including back to Kiribati, and was well known to have reformed his behavior among his family on Kiribati and friends. He died in 1982 back on the Solomon Islands. In 1984, Art New Zealand profiled Robin White as a Kiribati artist who had moved from metropolitan New Zealand of Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
to life on the tropical island. In 1985 the Bahá'ís held their first national youth conference in Bikenibeu
Bikenibeu
Bikenibeu is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located about two nautical miles from Tarawa.-Landmarks:*Te Umanibong -Cultural Museum...
. By 1986 there is a Bahá'í on the Pacific Christmas Island
Kiritimati
Kiritimati or Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands, and part of the Republic of Kiribati....
which is closer to Honolulu than to the capital on Tarawa, 2000 miles to the west.
Focus to the society
Since its inception the religion has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of JusticeUniversal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
Bahá'í teachings
The Bahá'í teachings represent a considerable number of theological, social, and spiritual ideas that were established in the Bahá'í Faith by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the religion, and clarified by successive leaders including `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son, and Shoghi Effendi, `Abdu'l-Bahá's...
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. The Bahá'ís of Kiribati have engaged a wide variety of social and economic development projects. The Ootan Marawa Bahá'í Vocational Institute, a high school, is the only teacher training institution for pre-school teachers in Kiribati. It is open to all, regardless of religion, and is assisted by the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá'ís of Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. There are five pre-schools administered by Bahá'í local spiritual assemblies on Tarawa and the outer islands. They accept pupils of all religious affiliations. After coming to a reception at the national convention and noting the importance of religious unity and liberty in Kiribati, the contributions to Kiribati society were noted by then president, Ieremia Tabai
Ieremia Tabai
Sir Ieremia Tienang Tabai GCMG AO was the first President of Kiribati. He had been described as being the most able leader of the Pacific island states....
, and ministers of government in speeches when they then attended a 1986 peace conference at which over 1000 Bahá'ís attended. The successes of the schools in Kiribati were discussed at the 100th Anniversary of the Bahá'í Faith in Hawaii at breakout workshops in 2001 which included participants from many countries. The Kiribati government supported the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
vote on the "Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran" (A/56/583/Add.3 Draft Resolution) on 19 December 2001.
Internal developments
Internal the community among the developments are the following. In 1990 the national convention elected two indigenous women, Maureen Nakekea and Marao Teem, to the national assembly. At the 50th anniversary, 2004, celebrations of the Bahá'í Faith in Kiribati dignitaries attending included President Anote TongAnote Tong
Anote Tong is an I-Kiribati politician with Chinese heritage. He is the current President of Kiribati. He won the election in July 2003 with a slim plurality of votes cast against his brother, Dr. Harry Tong and the private lawyer Banuera Berina...
and Madam Tong, Mr. Michael Fudakowski, representing the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of New Zealand and who lived for some 17 years in Kiribati with his wife, Robin White, now a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Australasia, and their family. Mr. Dominic Tabuaka represented the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Marshall Islands, and congratulatory messages arrived from Bahá'ís in Australia
Bahá'í Faith in Australia
The Bahá'í Faith in Australia has a long history beginning with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, in 1916 following which United Kingdom/American emigrants John and Clara Dunn came to Australia in 1920. They found people willing to convert to the Bahá'í Faith in...
, Canada, Hawaii, the Solomon Islands, Ukraine
Bahá'í Faith in Ukraine
The Bahá'í Faith in Ukraine began during the policy of oppression of religion in the former Soviet Union. Before that time, Ukraine, as part of the Russian Empire, would have had indirect contact with the Bahá'í Faith as far back as 1847...
, the United States, and Western Caroline Islands.