Launching a
ship of faith
|
KINIVING,
Papua New Guinea, 18 August 2003 (BWNS) --
A new Baha'i center with a distinctive nautical
design has taken pride of place here in a remote
region of the country.
More
than 300 Baha'is and some Christian guests
gathered from 11 to 14 July 2003 for the opening
of the center in this village, all of whose
residents are members of the Baha'i Faith.
For
some visitors, the journey to Kiniving entailed
a 30-minute flight from the regional center of
Lae followed by a three-hour hike into the
mountains from Pindiu Station. |
Holding a precious gift...Baha'is at the
Kiniving Centre with the Kitab-i-Aqdas.
|
The
center's architect, local Baha'i Roro Kugewa, gained his
inspiration for the building from a picture of an ark on
the cover of a Baha'i publication. (In the Baha'i
Writings, the term "Ark" is often used to
signify the Baha'i Faith and the law of God.)
Mr. Kugewa
incorporated aspects of a ship in his design. The
center's ground-floor meeting room for some 70 people
resembles a ship's hold, with slightly curved half-walls
and windows at eye level.
The upper
level has an enclosed room for the meetings of the Local
Spiritual Assembly, and within that room is another room
reserved for Baha'u'llah's book of laws, the
Kitab-i-Aqdas, and other Baha'i books.
Outside the
upper room is a deck, which commands a view over the
whole village.
Prayers and
music by "singsing" (performance) groups from
different villages featured at the welcoming ceremony.
Ms. Milani
said the presentation ceremony and the placement of the
Kitab-i-Aqdas in the special room followed a study
session on the book's significance.
"With
great reverence the guests were accompanied back to the
entry to the village with representatives of the
(Baha'i) institutions carrying the Kitab-i-Aqdas and the
prayer books in traditional bilums.
"Once
again there was a formal welcome of prayers and singsing
groups and a drama based on one of the Hidden Words
(sacred Writings of Baha'u'llah).
"The
guests were then escorted to the Center where devotions
were read before the formal presentation of a copy of
the Kitab-i-Aqdas to a representative of each of the
nine Local Spiritual Assemblies in the area, namely:
Belibaec, Bulu, Doi, Kiniving, Kolohong, Kuluntufu,
Simbe, Sogobong and Songon."
(There are
about 500 Baha'is in the area. Papua New Guinea has 254
Local Spiritual Assemblies.)
The
assemblies also received copies of excerpts translated
into Tok Pisin (the language also known as Pidgin
English), as well as 100 copies each of a newly
published prayer book in their local language of Mongi,
Ms. Milani said.
Those local
spiritual assemblies without centers entrusted their
copies to the Kiniving Assembly to keep in the special
room until they have a suitable place to keep it in
their own village, she said.
"I
gathered that the friends (local Baha'is) are so much in
awe of the Most Holy book that they find it hard to
actually hold it in their hand and read it," Ms.
Milani said.
