Neighborhood Outreach: Insights from the Badi Youth Initiative

This past summer the Badi Youth Project took place in Vancouver. During an intense 14-day period about 25 youth came together to study Books 3 and 5 and to immediately apply what they are learning by going into neighborhoods and start children's classes and junior youth groups. During those two weeks the youth involved with approximately 100 children in children's classes and 30 junior youth in junior youth groups.

To see exactly what the youth did in the neighborhoods, watch the video below. You'll notice, particularly, how receptive parents are to sending their children to a Baha'i children's class. As you'll see in the video, the youth also learned to home visit the parents of these junior youth and children after each class by sharing the quote or prayer that the children memorize. The mantra of the training was to keep our activities (1) in neighborhoods, and (2) simple but profound. For example, the children's classes were simple in that they only used a blanket to sit on under trees, on lawns, or in building lobbies, and they stuck strictly to the lessons from Book 3. However, they were profound in that the children were memorizing the Word of God, reflecting on how it would change they way they would behave, and were sharing what they learned with their parents and their friends.