- 1927-00-00 — Leonora Armstrong was the first Bahá'í to visit and speak about the Bahá'í Faith in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Trinidad, Barbados, Haiti, British Guiana and Dutch Guiana (now Suriname). [Biographical Profile]
- 1940-07-00 —
Gerrard Sluter, a German with Canadian citizenship and previously a pioneer in Guatemala, arrived in Colombia, the first Bahá'í to settle in the country.
- He later became a Covenant-breaker and caused much difficulty to the Bahá'ís in many South American countries.
- 1940-12-00 —
Luis Carlo Nieto became the first Bahá'í in Colombia.
- He soon left the Faith and Aura Sanchez, who became a Bahá'í in 1941, is considered the first Colombian believer.
- 1941-00-02 — Aura Sanchez became a Bahá'í in Colombia, considered the first Bahá'í of the country.
- 1943-00-00 — The first Bahá'í group was formed in Bogotá, Colombia, with the celebration of a Unity Feast.
- 1944-11-00 —
The Local Spiritual Assembly of Bogotá, Colombia, was disbanded.
- It was not reformed until April 1946.
- 1961-04-21 — The National Spiritual Assembly of Colombia was formed. [BW13:258]
- 1964-04-01 — The chief of the Arpushana clan of the Guajiros, Francisco Pimienta Arpushana, became a Bahá'í in Colombia and teaching work began among his people. [BW14:319]
- 1974-10-25 —
FUNDAEC (A Spanish acronym for Foundation for the Application and Teaching of the Sciences) was founded by a group of scientists and professionals led by Farzam Arbab, a renowned physicist who had arrived as a visiting professor to the University of Valle in 1970. The non-profit, non-governmental organization focused on training and development in the rural areas of Colombia and other countries in Latin America. [FUNDAEC website]
- They would go on to establish SAT (Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial) which expanded across Latin America to reach more than 300,000 students, and become accredited and recognized by a number of governments.
- The Brookings Institution, a major think tank in the United States, described SAT as "catalyzing an education revolution" by "transforming how education is conceptualized, designed, and delivered."
It does this by focusing on skills that are beyond the traditional academic skills, such as moral and character development, and it conceives of learning as something much broader. The philosophy is one of nurturing socially minded young people who can support and sustain development in their own communities. It bridges theory with practice by linking classroom work with practical projects, like encouraging students to learn mathematics and science in the context of growing vegetables or using their language abilities to start small study groups to promote literacy.
- One difference between SAT and other widely accepted classroom models is the concept of "tutors." Teachers working with SAT are referred to as tutors, and their role is defined as guiding and facilitating the learning process, rather than only imparting information. The lack of hierarchy is "an important distinction", wrote Brookings, "as it creates a culture of mutual respect and trust between tutors and students". [BWN1155]
- 1975-07-01 — The first Katio Indians to become Bahá'ís enrolled in northern Colombia. [BW16:217]
- 1988-09-10 — A three-month teaching project was launched in Colombia, resulting in 1,245 people becoming Bahá'ís. [BINS193:1]
- 1995-00-00 — The Association for Latin American Bahá'í Writers and Authors was formed at the fifth Latin American Seminar for External Affairs in Cali, Colombia. [BINS336:2]
- 2008-04-00 —
The publication of Attaining the Dynamics of Growth: Glimpses from Five Continents by International Teaching Centre.
The Universal House of Justice asked the International Teaching Centre to choose one example from each continent of an intensive programme of growth and prepare a document to demonstrate at once the diversity of conditions in which the believers everywhere were labouring and the coherent vision that united them as they advanced the process of entry by troops. The document consisted of five case studies and a closing analysis. -
- 2011-04-22 —
The Preparation for Social Action programme was implemented under the Five Year Plan.
The programme drew on the learning of three decades of experience of FUNDAEC (Fundación para la Aplicación y Enseñanza de las Ciencias), in Columbia. It was an approach to social and economic development that addressed both the material and the spiritual dimensions of human existence. The programme aimed at assisting youth to understand certain concepts, learn a range of relevant facts, and acquire certain qualities, attitudes and skills that would enable them to promote the well-being of their people in fields as diverse as health, education, the environment, secondary production and community organization.
- At the beginning of the Plan, the programme was being implemented in nine countries, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and Zambia and involved some 1,500 to 3,000 participants. [5YPSumPage94-95]
- For further information see video entitled 2017 Teach For All Global Conference - Grassroots Stirrings in the Preparation for Social Action Program, Colombia
- See the thesis Knowledge Sharing for Community Developement: Educational Benefits at the Community Level through Networks of Knowledge Flow and Communities of Practice by Emily Lample.
- For further information please see Uplifting Words.
- 2012-04-21 —
Plans were announced that the Universal House of Justice was entering into consultations with respective National Spiritual Assemblies regarding the erection of the first local Houses of Worship in each of the following clusters: Battambang, Cambodia; Bihar Sharif, India; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Norte del Cauca, Colombia; and Tanna, Vanuatu.
- It was announced in the Ridván Message that a Temples Fund was established at the Bahá’í World Centre to support the construction of the two national and five local Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs, as well as other such projects. The friends everywhere are invited to contribute to it sacrificially, as their means allow.
[BWNS906; Riḍván 2012 To the Bahá'ís of the World]
- In a message from the Universal House of Justice dated 1 August 2014 it was announced that the Office of Temples and Sites had been created in 2012.
- 2014-09-14 —
Some 500 people attend the unveiling of the design of the first local Bahá'í House of Worship in Norte del Cauca, Colombia
[BWNS1020]
- Julian Gutierrez Chacon was the architect for the House of Worship.
- The relationship between the environment of the region and the community was also expressed in the design of the House of Worship, which was inspired by the shape of the cocoa pod, a plant that grows abundantly in Colombia and was integral to the identity of the landscape and the lives and economy of the people.
- See BWNS for pictures.
- 2016-05-22 —
Some 700 people gathered on the temple land in the small village of Agua Azul, in the municipality of Villa Rica near Norte del Cauca, Colombia to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony of the first local Bahá'í House of Worship.
[BWNS1109]
- See BWNS1100 for pictures.
- Following the groundbreaking ceremony the three-meter high central mound on which the 18-meter tall Temple will stand will be completed, and the foundational work for the surrounding auxiliary structures will be laid. In time, these structures will be painted in the bright colors traditional to buildings in Colombia.
- 2017-02-23 —
Plans for the construction of the local Bahá'í House of Worship in Agua Azul, a village in Norte del Cauca, Colombia, reached an important milestone. Construction officially began in January after building contracts were formalized with a local firm in the region.
[BWNS1153]
-
Concurrent with the building the House of Worship has been the reinforcement of activities that contributed to the spiritual and material progress of communities in and around Norte del Cauca. Inspired by the Temple, these community-building activities multiplied, and a spirit of prayer, devotion, and participation begun to increasingly permeate the area.
-
Parallel to this, the community undertook a reforestation project, designated for a "Bosque Nativo" or native forest on an 11-hectare piece of land adjacent to the Temple site to reintroduce native vegetation which had been decimated by years of monoculture plantations of sugarcane.
- For pictures see BWNS1153
- For development report dated the 14th of May, 2017 see BWNS1168.
- 2017-11-15 —
Progress report on the construction of the local Bahá'í House of Worship in Norte del Cauca.
[BWNS1222] -
See BWNS1047 for information on the reforestation project in the vicinity of the Temple.
- 2018-02-22 — A progress report on the construction of the Mashriqul-Adhkar in Norte del Cauca was made. The main structural components of the central building had been completed and work had begun on the finishing of the floor and the walls as well as the placement of the roof tiles. Construction had begun in a number of auxiliary buildings. [BWNS1240]
- 2018-04-04 — A major milestone in the construction of the local Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in Agua Azul was reached. The crown on the topmost part of the roof was installed. [BWNS1020, BWNS1109, BWNS1168, BWNS1109, BWNS1248, BWNS1249]
- 2018-06-22 — Following the recitation of prayers, the carved teak Greatest Name symbol was raised 15 meters to be placed at the inner apex of the dome inside the local Bahá'í House of Worship in Agua Azul, Colombia. This marked the near-completion of the world's second local House of Worship.
[BWNS1268]
- 2018-07-22 —
The dedication of the second local Bahá'í House of Worship in the world in Norte del Cauca, Colombia. News of this project was announced in 2012 along with other projects in Battambang, Cambodia; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Bihar Sharif, India; and Tanna, Vanuatu.
(For information on the first local Mashriqu'l-Adhkár see here.)
The event marked the opening of a month-long inauguration period. In a series of weekly visits to the Temple, 1,500 people were expected to participate in a special program called "My First Visit to the Bahá'í House of Worship."
- In the Ridván Message of 2012 the Universal House of Justice announced that national Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs would to be raised up in two countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Papua New Guinea and that the first local Houses of Worship were to be built in Battambang, Cambodia; Bihar Sharif, India; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Norte del Cauca, Colombia; and Tanna, Vanuatu. This was the second of those local Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs to have been completed. [Ridván 2012 Message]
- See the message from the Universal House of Justice dated 1 August 2014 where they pointed out the "the dynamic interaction between worship and endeavours to uplift the spiritual, social, and material conditions of society" and recalled the construction of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs in Turkistan and in America.
- The local Bahá'í House of Worship in Norte del Cauca, Colombia, included a budding native forest, called the Bosque Nativo, that aimed to restore the region's indigenous plants. This video in Spanish describes the Bosque Nativo's features.
- The Universal House of Justice was represented by Mrs. Carmen Elisa de Sadeghian who read a letter addressed to the attendees. "This House of Worship stands now as a symbol of the beauty inherent in the noble people of this region and its design evokes the generosity of their land," stated the letter, dated 22 July 2018. Also in attendance were Mr. Gustavo Correa and Dr. Farzam Arbab, two former members of the Universal House of Justice, as well as the mayors of four neighbouring towns. [BWNS1275]
- A musical group sang and dancers performed a piece titled "The Soul of Norte del Cauca," about the arrival of the Bahá'í Faith to the region and how Bahá'u'lláh's teachings are given expression in the hopes and aspirations of the people. The group also performed a song called "La Cumbia del Jardinero" which was made available on SoundCloud.
- See photo of the Greatest Name.
Specifics
Location: Aqua Azul, Notre del Cauca, Columbia
Property acquired:December, 2013
Design unveiled: 13 September, 2014
Groundbreaking: 22 May, 2016
Construction Period: January 2017 to July 2018
Site Dedication: 22 July, 2018
Architect:Mr. Gutierrez Chacón
Architectural firm:CUNA Engineering and Sustainable Architecture
Seating:
Dimensions:The Temple is 18 metres tall. Inside height is 15 metres.
Cost:
Dependencies:
References: BWNS1020;
BWNS1047;
BWNS1109;
BWNS1153;
BWNS1168;
BWNS1222;
BWNS1240;
BWNS1249;
BWNS1268,
BWNS1277.
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