Baháʼí Faith in Panama
The history of the Baháʼí Faith in Panama begins with a mention by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then head of the Baháʼí Faith, in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan, published in 1919; the same year, Martha Root made a trip around South America and included Panama on the return leg of the trip up the west coast.
The sixth of the tablets was the first to mention Latin American regions and was written on April 8, 1916, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919—after the end of the First World War and the Spanish flu.
The sixth tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919.
[1] Following the Tablets and about the time of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's passing in 1921, a few other Baháʼís began moving to, or at least visiting, Latin America.
[3] The Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada appointed the Inter-America Committee to take charge of the preparations.
[16] Its members were Josi Antonio Bonilla, Marcia Steward, Natalia Chávez, Gerardo Vega, and Oscar Castro.
Shoghi Effendi then called for two international conventions to be held at April 1951; one was held in Panama City for the purpose of electing a regional National Spiritual Assembly[3] over the Central area of Mexico and the West Indies whose headquarters was in Panama and which was witnessed by representatives of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States in the persons of Dorothy Beecher Baker and Horace Holly.
[15] Ruth (née Yancey)[21] and Alan Pringle had the first Baháʼí wedding to be legally recognised in Panama, and both were members of the National Spiritual Assembly[22] that formed in 1961.
The members of the 1963 National Spiritual Assembly of Panama were Harry Haye Anderson, Rachelle Jean E de Constante, James Vassal Facey, Kenneth Frederics, Leota E. M. Lockman, Alfred E. A. Osborne, William Alan H. Pringle, Ruth E. Yancey Pringle and Donald Ross Witzel.
The religion entered a new phase of activity around the world when a message of the Universal House of Justice dated 20 October 1983 was released.
The Baháʼí temple in Panama City was dedicated in 1972 with Hands of the Cause Ruhiyyih Khanum, Ugo Giachery and Dhikru'llah Khadem representing[5] the Universal House of Justice, head of the religion after the death of Shoghi Effendi.
It is perched on a high hill, la montaña del Dulce Canto ("the mountain of Beautiful Singing"),[30] overlooking the city, and is constructed of local stone laid in a pattern reminiscent of Native American fabric designs.
[8] After the religion grew among the Guaymi, they in turn offered service in 1985–6 with the "Camino del Sol" project included indigenous Guaymí Baháʼís of Panama traveling with the Venezuelan indigenous Carib speaking and Guajira Baháʼís through the Venezuelan states of Bolívar, Amazonas and Zulia sharing their religion.
[34] A two-day seminar on literacy was held by the Baháʼí Community in collaboration with the Panamanian Ministry of Education in Panama City over two days beginning on April 23, 1990.
Instead they take turns providing firewood for an outdoor kitchen or build small wood-framed shelters with corrugated zinc panels and a narrow wooden platform for a bed.
In 2007 there were 290 students serving K-12, with a waiting list of 1,500, and six of the first seven graduates earned the highest grade on the Panama University entrance exam and were accepted with full four-year scholarships.
[49] Further accreditation is being sought as a university program in 2008[50] but already has had students taking college work, among them commercial artist Jessica Mizrachi Diaz.
