About sixty Montreal youth who participate in a program that develops moral, spiritual and intellectual qualities took part in a special activities day in November.
The youth attended two day camps. The first camp brought together 40 young people from the Côte-des-Neiges and Parc-Extension districts, and 18 youth from the Walkley-Fielding neighbourhood participated in the other.
These young people — aged 11 to 15 — meet regularly in small groups in their neighborhoods as part of an educational program established by a local Baha’i community. The program, among other things, develops and nurtures youths’ power of expression and moral reasoning as well as their capacity to serve their communities.
During the day camp, the youth visited Écomusée du fier monde (the History and Citizenship Museum) near the Montreal Baha’i Centre. The museum takes visitors on a “journey” to the period of the industrial revolution and invites them to reflect on Montreal labour history. Since the building is a former public bath, the youth also learned about our ancestors’ habits of cleanliness and about the lives of working families in the neighborhood.
The two groups then came together at the Baha’i Centre to discuss various issues with facilitators. Examples of the questions explored were “How can we define effectiveness?” and “What is progress?” In the afternoon, they had an opportunity to choose between three workshops: visual arts, music, and theatre. The workshops were conducted by local Baha’is with expertise in those areas.
The youth enjoyed their day camp. They mentioned that it was interesting to meet other youth participating in the same program. Some of them learned at the day camp that their classmates also take part in the program, but in a different group.
As part of the program, the youth have been encouraged to devise activities in their groups to empower them to take charge of their own development and contribute to the progress of their communities. In one such activity, the Côte-des-Neiges group organized an artistic evening on 9 November. Nearly 90 people, including 20 parents and 10 children, attended the event held at the Côte-des-Neiges Community Centre. Artistic performances included dances and songs inspired by Baha’i principles; presentations were made on the importance of service to others and of memorizing significant quotations, and on themes such as friendship, and positive and negative societal forces.