French Polynesia '07
(Thanks to the Lepard family for the photographs; my camera was stolen)
I went to serve the Baha’is living in French Polynesia again in ‘07 for one month.
I was asked by Teura Carawine to go give classes in the home of a new Baha’i couple, Robyn and Bea. Teura writes beuatiful Tahitian style melodies to passages from the Baha'i Holy Writings. I have been involved in producing a cd of 6 of these pieces. The cd will be out soon!
This is Teura on the right:
Robin and Bea lived in the Tipaerui section of Papeete, the capital city of French Polynesia. Papeete is a small city on the slopes of the hills that go down into the Pacific. Robyn and Bea have at least four children—Edward, 10, Gwen and Angelique, 6, and Tawhi—one year old. Their home is made of plywood, tin roof, and two large rooms. There is an older man –the patriarch of a Baha’i family -- living there who has diabetes and stays home. He sleeps in a special bed below a Xerox of the Baha’i “Greatest Name” – Everyone in the home helps him out. At night there were the two parents, 4 children, grandparent, two kids from the island of Taha’a who were spending the summer on Tahiti, me, and, sometimes, one or two overnighters. I would give the class both in the morning and afternoon. Children, neighbors and relatives would stop by and watch or participate.
The house in Tipaerui:
The partriarch of the Baha'i family:
Here are some of the people living there who were in the class:
Bea, the mother of the family, was illiterate. Her son Edward helped her to learn to read. She was very eager to learn by reading, memorizing and learning songs. She was determined to develop her skills
Matairea, a fifteen year old from the island of Taha’a whose parents recently became Baha’is. I was able to visit her family in Taha’a and have some real fellowship. She wanted to become a Baha’i while I was there. Her father, a small farmer on the island of Taha’a, gave me a hand made log drum, saying “I would like to give this to the people of my daughter’s spiritual father”.
Tehey, a 21 yr old from the island of Taha’a. She was extremely shy and unable to speak. She showed great eagerness privately to learn the lyrics to Baha’i songs and prayers though she was too shy to say them in front of others.
Here is a video showing Tehey on the left, Bea in the middle and Matairea on the right. they prepared a dance to go along with a song they had been learning. This is in Bea's home in Tipaerui at night. Brian Lepard is over on the left:
Here is a video of me teaching the song "Oy es el Dia", a song in Spanish written by a Baha'i:
Poereva Dubois and some children learning the songs:
Robin, the father of the house is very warm and about age 40. He is very sincere and not educated. He participated actively and took the risk of making of participating in the skits. He takes care of the elderly man in the home.
Fai is Tahitian woman of Chinese ethnicity. She was taught about the Baha’i Faith by Piera from Huahine who is somehow related to her; she became a Baha’i four months ago and eager to deepen in her knowledge and understanding of the Baha’i Faith. She has a much higher reading level, money with which to travel abroad each year and a husband who is not Baha’i. She has a one-year-old named Heiva.
Robyn on the right in a dark blue shirt and Piera behind him over his right shoulder:
Language
Many country Tahitians, the background of most Baha’is there, do not have strong reading levels in French and Tahitian is the language of their ‘soul’. Fai explained to me that Tahitians in their forties and up had not been allowed to speak Tahitian in school and were certainly not taught it outside the home. Therefore, rural Tahitians do not have a strong grounding in either language. This presented me with a unique teaching challenge and I was fortunate to be able to draw on 20 years of teaching experience to help.
Taha’a, the vanilla island
I flew to the island of Raiatea where I met up with Richard Neufeld, a Baha’i from Canada who lives there. We boarded his sail boat and crossed the ‘lagon’ to the neighboring island of Taha’a/
Much less touristy than the other islands, Taha’a is know as the Vanilla island because of the amount of cultivation of vanilla there. It is a tough plant and fetches a good price on the market. The island is almost indescribably beautiful because it has deep bays into which you sail that are very foreboding and often have mist in them. We circled the island in the boat searching for the village of the Baha’i family we were visiting. On the horizon the jagged, high mountains of Bora-Bora appeared as a blue silhouette. The ocean was multicolored and Taha’a has a dark green mysterious coloration. It is surrounded by ‘motus’ tiny little islands, which are beginning to be built up with hotels and the secret gets out about this extraordinary island.
We found the Baha’i family home after looking for much of the day and docking twice. There are picturesque Christian churches bit the shoreline. We stayed late with the family, fellowshipping and singing song sin Tahitian and I played a few in Spanish and English. Richard and I went back to sleep on the sailboat because of the electronics on board and set sail about 5 the next morning.
Aditional photos
Moorea is one of the most majestic islands in the world. The Lepard family and I went for one day accompanied by Francis Dubois, a local Baha'i Tahitian fisherman.
The Lepards, Francis and me at an overlook on Moorea:
The magnificent vistas of Moorea:
Cook's Bay ...wow or booya is all you can say...James Cook, a real genius and leader..
Why not to use plastic bags:
The beach at Moorea:
One of the old Polynesian temples -- marae -- in the hills of Moorea:
Trees on the hills of Moorea with interersting strange roots:
Les, a Baha'i from New Zealand, who has settled on Moorea and works as an engineer in the fruit juice factory:
Leds and the Lepards in his home. He built this indoor/outdoor house on a steep hill with a view of the valley and ocean:
The hillside home in Tahiti of Francis and Poereva:
Hanging out with Marco at Poereva and Francis's house:
The Lepards teaching the children at Poe and Francis's home. The kids live on the hillside in nearby homes:
Andre, a mechanic and gifted musician/singer, who sang on our forthcoming Tahitian music cd, visiting us at Poe and Francis's house:
Home of relatives of Poe down the hill in Paea where we had a prayer gathering:
Group picture at prayer gatehring in Paea, Tahiti:
Katy and me talking afterwards:
Katy
Djanni, a Baha'i living, in Paea, and another of the singers on our upcoming Tahitian music cd:
A few parting views of Tahiti:
I went to serve the Baha’is living in French Polynesia again in ‘07 for one month.
I was asked by Teura Carawine to go give classes in the home of a new Baha’i couple, Robyn and Bea. Teura writes beuatiful Tahitian style melodies to passages from the Baha'i Holy Writings. I have been involved in producing a cd of 6 of these pieces. The cd will be out soon!
This is Teura on the right:
Robin and Bea lived in the Tipaerui section of Papeete, the capital city of French Polynesia. Papeete is a small city on the slopes of the hills that go down into the Pacific. Robyn and Bea have at least four children—Edward, 10, Gwen and Angelique, 6, and Tawhi—one year old. Their home is made of plywood, tin roof, and two large rooms. There is an older man –the patriarch of a Baha’i family -- living there who has diabetes and stays home. He sleeps in a special bed below a Xerox of the Baha’i “Greatest Name” – Everyone in the home helps him out. At night there were the two parents, 4 children, grandparent, two kids from the island of Taha’a who were spending the summer on Tahiti, me, and, sometimes, one or two overnighters. I would give the class both in the morning and afternoon. Children, neighbors and relatives would stop by and watch or participate.
The house in Tipaerui:
The partriarch of the Baha'i family:
Here are some of the people living there who were in the class:
Bea, the mother of the family, was illiterate. Her son Edward helped her to learn to read. She was very eager to learn by reading, memorizing and learning songs. She was determined to develop her skills
Matairea, a fifteen year old from the island of Taha’a whose parents recently became Baha’is. I was able to visit her family in Taha’a and have some real fellowship. She wanted to become a Baha’i while I was there. Her father, a small farmer on the island of Taha’a, gave me a hand made log drum, saying “I would like to give this to the people of my daughter’s spiritual father”.
Tehey, a 21 yr old from the island of Taha’a. She was extremely shy and unable to speak. She showed great eagerness privately to learn the lyrics to Baha’i songs and prayers though she was too shy to say them in front of others.
Here is a video showing Tehey on the left, Bea in the middle and Matairea on the right. they prepared a dance to go along with a song they had been learning. This is in Bea's home in Tipaerui at night. Brian Lepard is over on the left:
Here is a video of me teaching the song "Oy es el Dia", a song in Spanish written by a Baha'i:
Poereva Dubois and some children learning the songs:
Robin, the father of the house is very warm and about age 40. He is very sincere and not educated. He participated actively and took the risk of making of participating in the skits. He takes care of the elderly man in the home.
Fai is Tahitian woman of Chinese ethnicity. She was taught about the Baha’i Faith by Piera from Huahine who is somehow related to her; she became a Baha’i four months ago and eager to deepen in her knowledge and understanding of the Baha’i Faith. She has a much higher reading level, money with which to travel abroad each year and a husband who is not Baha’i. She has a one-year-old named Heiva.
Robyn on the right in a dark blue shirt and Piera behind him over his right shoulder:
Language
Many country Tahitians, the background of most Baha’is there, do not have strong reading levels in French and Tahitian is the language of their ‘soul’. Fai explained to me that Tahitians in their forties and up had not been allowed to speak Tahitian in school and were certainly not taught it outside the home. Therefore, rural Tahitians do not have a strong grounding in either language. This presented me with a unique teaching challenge and I was fortunate to be able to draw on 20 years of teaching experience to help.
Taha’a, the vanilla island
I flew to the island of Raiatea where I met up with Richard Neufeld, a Baha’i from Canada who lives there. We boarded his sail boat and crossed the ‘lagon’ to the neighboring island of Taha’a/
Much less touristy than the other islands, Taha’a is know as the Vanilla island because of the amount of cultivation of vanilla there. It is a tough plant and fetches a good price on the market. The island is almost indescribably beautiful because it has deep bays into which you sail that are very foreboding and often have mist in them. We circled the island in the boat searching for the village of the Baha’i family we were visiting. On the horizon the jagged, high mountains of Bora-Bora appeared as a blue silhouette. The ocean was multicolored and Taha’a has a dark green mysterious coloration. It is surrounded by ‘motus’ tiny little islands, which are beginning to be built up with hotels and the secret gets out about this extraordinary island.
We found the Baha’i family home after looking for much of the day and docking twice. There are picturesque Christian churches bit the shoreline. We stayed late with the family, fellowshipping and singing song sin Tahitian and I played a few in Spanish and English. Richard and I went back to sleep on the sailboat because of the electronics on board and set sail about 5 the next morning.
Aditional photos
Moorea is one of the most majestic islands in the world. The Lepard family and I went for one day accompanied by Francis Dubois, a local Baha'i Tahitian fisherman.
The Lepards, Francis and me at an overlook on Moorea:
The magnificent vistas of Moorea:
Cook's Bay ...wow or booya is all you can say...James Cook, a real genius and leader..
Why not to use plastic bags:
The beach at Moorea:
One of the old Polynesian temples -- marae -- in the hills of Moorea:
Trees on the hills of Moorea with interersting strange roots:
Les, a Baha'i from New Zealand, who has settled on Moorea and works as an engineer in the fruit juice factory:
Leds and the Lepards in his home. He built this indoor/outdoor house on a steep hill with a view of the valley and ocean:
The hillside home in Tahiti of Francis and Poereva:
Hanging out with Marco at Poereva and Francis's house:
The Lepards teaching the children at Poe and Francis's home. The kids live on the hillside in nearby homes:
Andre, a mechanic and gifted musician/singer, who sang on our forthcoming Tahitian music cd, visiting us at Poe and Francis's house:
Home of relatives of Poe down the hill in Paea where we had a prayer gathering:
Group picture at prayer gatehring in Paea, Tahiti:
Katy and me talking afterwards:
Katy
Djanni, a Baha'i living, in Paea, and another of the singers on our upcoming Tahitian music cd:
A few parting views of Tahiti:
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