Baha’i summer schools were held across Canada over the summer months from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
Arts enhance learning at Thompson-Nicola summer school:
A family summer school in Clearwater, British Columbia gave participants many new skills and ideas to bring to their home communities earlier this month. The school gave visitors the chance to practice acts of service to others and qualities needed for community life, “accompanied with many smiles and much laughter,” said Jackie Enfield, one of the organizers for the August 5 to 8 event.
The school opened with a concert of Celtic harp music by artist Caroline Mackay that attracted residents from the local community as well as the participants. For the rest, lectures and break-out discussions filled the mornings, while the afternoons were dedicated to arts workshops about music, drama, painting and dance.
Visitors enjoyed swimming at a local beach and a visit to a scenic nearby waterfall at break times. All contributed their talents towards an evening show including theatre, song, prayers, art and hip hop dance.
Sylvan Lake helps different generations learn and work together:
Half an hour west of Red Deer in central Alberta, 40 years and three generations worth of campers have been appreciating the scenery of Sylvan Lake while participating in a unique learning experience. This year was no exception – more than 80 people of various ages came to children’s camps, a youth week, and a family week at the community centre.
“Sylvan Lake is a learning centre,” said Douglas Raynor, who is on the camps’ organizing committee. Each program session helped participants learn skills and knowledge to advance a process of community-building in their home cities. This year, the focus was the practical application of this process, through core activities including classes for children, groups for junior youth, and prayer gatherings and circles of study to develop capacity for service in youth and adults.
The children, junior youth and youth campers learned together about their role in this community-building process and how they could be empowered to participate on an equal footing with adults. On top of discussions, the experience was enriched by recreation activities where they played soccer or went canoeing, and “skill-builders” where they developed their ability to sing, dance, perform or draw.
In the family week, adults participated in workshops including a presentation on community initiatives that showed how social action can be linked to the core activities, such as concern for the environment and health education. “The impact of this is that over 40 years the Alberta community has had a very strong opportunity for growth,” said Raynor. “Kids go from participating in the camp to being a camp facilitator. It’s a successful multigenerational experience.”
Toronto summer school helps participants respond to the “call of the hour”:
high school on Toronto’s Danforth Ave. was home to a different kind of education: a Baha’i summer school. The interactive program helped participants understand how humanity’s current problems can be healed by responding to the “call of the hour”. This call, the presentations demonstrated, is for human beings to fulfill their true nobility in efforts aimed at the material and spiritual upliftment of individuals and communities. Over the three days, many ways to do this were shared: through participation in community-building activities, through the arts, through marriage and family life, and through involvement in global discourses such asjustice or the equality of men and women.
Each session included a presentation and then discussion workshops to help deepen participants’ understanding of the topics covered. Children and junior youth excelled in separate sessions exploring the same themes. “I think we can see the power and potential that lies within [junior youth] when they’re given space to explore a topic and expected to rise to a high standard,” said Veronica Robinson, the program’s coordinator. Mealtimes were left free for socializing and energetic games of soccer, volleyball and Frisbee on the school’s large outdoor field. In the evenings, musical programs ended each day on a high note.