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Hawaii Satellite Baha'i Conference

June 27-28, 2009

Camp Erdman, Mokuleia, Hawaii

A New Day Dawns in Hawaii

All Things Bright and Beautiful

The drive to and from work has been exceptionally beautiful the last couple of days!

 

The morning sky held the promise of rain.

The evenings have been stunning.

And my 2nd cousin Amanda Tae has been on So You Think You Can Dance the last two nights - cheering for her student Jeanine Mason!

Lotsa Lilu

Back at the ranch- er the family digs outside of Portland, Lilu and family have Uncle Aaron and Cousin Jamie over for a little vacation. Haha, did I say vacation? More like male bonding with tools.

 

Meanwhile back at the pool...

 

Swimming lessons for Lilu. Did I mention that Uncle Aaron has held the Kauai record for the 100 yd. breaststroke for the last 19 years?

 

  

Whew! That was a lot of work!

 

Kaukau time!

That Rotary Attraction!

What a way to end a year as president of the Rotary Club of West Kauai.
We were once again located in the charming, artistic ambience of Aloha-N-Paradise in Waimea Town. Our guest speaker Hans Peter (Pete) Faye spoke about the history of sugar plantations- with great authority, of course, because his grandfather and namesake was one of the original Norwegian pioneers who established the sugar industry in Hawaii!

Before the meeting, a lovely lady wandered in- saying she was new to the neighborhood but not new to Rotary, having attended meetings in other parts of the island. We immediately invited her in to enjoy Rotary fellowship.
Another friend of the speaker's family, a professor emiritus from Stanford University, who has been "avoiding Rotary for many years", was able to feel comfortable in our "laid back" west side atmosphere and looked like he was enjoying himself.

After the meeting, a person mentioned that a Rotarian friend of theirs was afraid of fines- especially in times of financial stress. We were able to share that in our club, we do "happy and sad dollars" so that people can feel free to be generous or frugal - as the situation warrants. No pressure, no embarrassment - except for the purely fun kind!

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GREAT NEWS from the International Rotary Conference in Birmingham, UK!
District Governor Ayman El-Dakhakhni emailed us:

Aloha from Birmingham, England!
 
I am writing to you from the 100th annual Rotary International convention.  Today in the first session in front of thousands and thousands of people, I was honored to be recognized as one of the top ten district governors in the world and the top district governor in North America.  The President of Rotary International, D.K. Lee had called us the "Leaders of the Leaders" and "The Worlds Best".  I just wanted to share the good news with you.  It’s very rare that a district receives this kind of distinguished honor.  As you know, there are over 530 districts worldwide and they all look forward to such an honor.  I would like to thank you for a great Rotary year and I would like to tell you that this honor was bestowed upon me because of you and your hard work.  As I said in our conference, you guys did it--I didn’t do it.  I was there to witness it and to cheer you on.  So, please accept my congratulations to all of you and please pass this great news to all our club members as they all participated in this great year.
 
Let’s look forward to another great year under the leadership of our District Governor Elect, Lisa Foster.
Ayman

Truly, DG Ayman and his District staff have been the wind beneath the wings of all our Clubs. He is an amazing leader in Service above self.

FFFFF and Karaoke

Last night I had the pleasure of visiting my friend and fellow Tsai-ko MeiLing and attending a special Karaoke Kall at Genji's in Honolulu for Rich2176 and Garret.
For the uninitiated, Tsai-kos are fans of the University of Hawaii Warrior teams, especially football.

This occasion was to welcome back to Hawaii a couple of our favorite bloggers and to keep the team-fires burning during the offseason.

 

Here is MeiLing from the lanai of her apartment- just a few blocks from Genji's and in the neighborhood where her family has lived for 3 generations. Rich 2176, assisted by Mrs. A-House is distributing the UNLV game tickets that he picked up in Las Vegas for us. This September, our Tsai-ko cheering section will be 220 strong! Then there is a simmering pot of my favorite nabeyaki udon!

Here are Garret and Jason, the Colomaohana, Rob25, Garret and DPK (Da Punchbowl Kid) and moi.

More pix on my PICASA ALBUM.

Oxtail Soup and Thee

Warrior Beat Tsai-kos love to have lunch. Commonly held at an all-you-can-eat buffet and known as a "Cattle Call", we had a slightly modified gathering on Kauai today at TipTop Restaurant- home of the best oxtail soup on Kauai.

 

Gary, Addahknowsports and I had the oxtail soup. Stretch had wonton min  and Kymry had the club sandwich.

Besides good food, the conversation got us all hyped up for the upcoming University of Hawaii Warrior football games at home and away. All of us will be attending the game with UNLV in Las Vegas in September. Woo Hoo!

Prayers for the People of Iran

If you know me, you know that I am one of the many concerned about the Baha'is who have been actively persecuted in Iran for no reason other than their faith.
Arbitrarily hauled away to prisons, with no access to due process or legal representation, denied higher education, burial plots, means of livelihood and basic human rights, Baha'is have endured persecution for generations.

And now it seems that this imbalance is coming to a head.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” -- Mahatma Gandhi

This is not about nations -vs- nations or religions -vs- religions. This is about ke ala pono - bringing the balance forward to what is righteous and correct for principled human life and human governance.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the martyrdom of:

• Mrs. Nusrat Yalda’i, 54 years old
• Mrs. ‘Izzat Janami Ishraqi, 50 years old
• Miss Roya Ishraqi, 23 years old
• Mrs. Tahirih Siyavushi, 32 years old
• Miss Zarrin Muqimi, 28 years old
• Miss Shirin Dalvand, 25 years old
• Miss Akhtar Sabit, 20 years old
• Miss Simin Sabiri, 23 years old
• Miss Mahshid Nirumand, 28 years old
  

And, a mere child of 16, by the name of Mona Mahmudnizhad, who spoke of liberty and the right to believe only months before her martyrdom in one of her school essays. In this essay entitled, liberty and upholding-liberty in Islam, she writes:

“The fruit of the religion of Islam is liberty and upholding liberty. Whoever tastes this fruit shall partake of its benefits. Liberty is a resplendent expression amongst all other glowing expressions in the world.

Humankind has always strived for liberty and freedom; so why is it that this freedom is at times taken from us? Why has freedom not always existed from the start of humanity? Why has the world always seen tyrants who have imposed their will upon others? Why are there people who are willing to inflict any sort of injustice upon the others in order that they may safeguard their own interests? What really is true liberty? What is the true meaning of freedom? How does it even come into being?

Some claim that they work to establish equality, and therefore they need freedom! In response to them, I say that absolute equality will never be possible regardless of whether you live in utmost freedom or under utter suppression. Instead, one must strive for the equality of rights; and one can work towards attaining equality of rights even in the absence of freedom…

Why is it that you don’t allow me the freedom in society to express my aspirations; so that I may say who I am and what I seek! So that I may be able to introduce my religious beliefs! Why is it that you don’t grant me the freedom of speech and penmanship, so that I may print my thoughts in newspapers and speak out in radio and television?

Yes, freedom is a heavenly gift, and this gift must be bestowed upon all; yet, you do not allow me to speak out freely as a Baha’i!

Why is it that you do not wish to know that a new religion has appeared? Why is it that you do not remove from before your eyes those thick veils covering the brilliant new Revelation that has dawned?

Perhaps you feel in your subconscious mind that you are not free! That is certainly a reality; and you do indeed lack freedom! You are devoid of the freedom to think! You have put limitations on your thinking and frozen your thoughts…

Freedom is a heavenly gift; so do not deprive yourselves of such a gift! By God; it is a pitiful sin to do so! God has granted this freedom within the essence of every human; and therefore you as a creature of God cannot deprive me of it; and I, as a creature of God, shall not grant you permission to deprive me of it.

God gave me the freedom to think; and thus I thought and reflected and reached the certitude that Baha’u’llah is the Truth. God granted me the freedom to express; and thus I cry out and express that Baha’u’llah is the Truth. God granted me the freedom to write; and thus I write with eloquent penmanship that Baha’u’llah is “Him Whom God Shall make manifest”. He is the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith, and His book is a Divine Book. God granted me the power to think, to write and to believe; and — in giving me such powers — God’s will was not contingent upon a freedom that you would bestow upon me.

Therefore the outcome of your taking our freedom away lies only within the sins you have stored for yourselves. Do give us our freedom then, for we have the power to believe in God and Baha’u’llah; and this power no earthly weapon can destroy! Nay, your efforts will only strengthen our faith. One of the Teachings of Baha’u’llah is the unification of humankind; thus we have the freedom to strive to attain it. Another one of His Teachings is non-involvement in politics, thus we are free not to interfere in your politics…”

Westernmost Rotary Club in the United States

Welcome to the Rotary Club of West Kauai! My name is Liz and I will be your President for two more weeks!

 

We gathered for our meeting today at Aloha N Paradise Gallery in Waimea town. Interestingly enough, a power outage through the whole area encouraged us to gather on the lanai fronting the gallery- which was cool and pleasant. Rotarians and their guests enjoyed pizza and cool beverages and the beautiful art.

 Our guest speaker was the XO of PMRF but since the power was out everywhere, he brought the Skipper and their spouses so we were all able to share Rotary fellowship and some happy dollar collections! We also had a guest from one of our seed corn companies and we are looking forward to seeing these folks regularly!

  

The cool thing was that the whole town could get a peek at a Rotary meeting today. 

 

Capt. Aaron Cudnohufsky gave us an overview of activities at the base and its many activities in support of our schools and community.

Mahalo to Candy Baar and Aloha N Paradise for a most enjoyable Rotary setting!

 

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Side note- our new photovoltaic system passed muster today. Power switched right over to our batteries and the kids didn't even know it was out!