- 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]
- 1940-05-13 — American Baha'i John Stearns sailed from Los Angeles to Guayaquil, Ecuador to take up his pioneer post. He took up residence in Quito and became the first established pioneer in Ecuador. [The Beginnings of the Bahá'í Faith in Latin America:
Some Remembrances by Artemus Lamb]
- 1940-12-00 —
Eduardo Gonzales, a university student, accepted the Faith and became the first native Bahá'í of Ecuador. He was accepted as a Bahá'í on the occasion of his 21st birthday on the 15th of October 1943. Eduardo (Les) Gonzalez performed outstanding service for the Cause both as an itinerant teacher abroad and pioneer to Spain and Venezuela. Sadly, in later years he became a Covenant-breaker and had to be ex-communicated.
- He was not formally registered until his twenty–first birthday on 15 October 1941. [Heroes of God: History of the Bahá'í Faith in Ecuador, 1940-1979 p4; 8; 24]
- 1945-04-21 — The first local spiritual assembly in Ecuador was established in Guayaquil. The founding members were: Eduardo Gonzalez Lopez, Luis Guillermo Molina DeFranc, Emilio Minervini, Jorge Sarco, Jorge Jalón Fer, Juan Luis Aguirre Tarpeau, Mme. Marie Constantine Claudet de Thomas, Else Jorgensen, and Lauro Sánchez.
[Heroes of God: History of the Bahá'í Faith in Ecuador, 1940-1979 p17, 84]
- 1946-09-14 — The first native Ecuadorian woman to accept the Faith was Judith Franco.
[Heroes of God: History of the Bahá'í Faith in Ecuador, 1940-1979 p21]
- 1953-05-23 — The Hand of the Cause of God, Mr. Valiollah Vargha, arrived in Guayaquil accompanied by Miss Eve Nicklin, a pioneer and the spiritual mother of Perú. He also visited Quito and left the country in early July to attend the conference in Stockholm. [Heroes of God pp53-54]
- 1953-08-11 — Virginia Orbison arrived in the Balearic Islands from a pioneer post in Spain and was named a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh for the Balearic Islands. [BW13:449]
It was neither her first nor her last pioneer experience. Between 1942 and 1946 she pioneered to Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. After World War II she went to Madrid, Spain where she helped raise the first local spiritual assembly and she did the same thing in Barcelona the following year.
In July of 1953 she went to the Stockholm Intercontinental Teaching Conference where she offered to pioneer to Mallorca in one of the Balearic Islands, She stayed about one year before returning to Barcelona in August of 1954 where she attended the Iberian Teaching Conference that was attended by 60 people. Late that nine, she and nine others were arrested by the police and interrogated for 18 hours. They had thought that the Bahá'í were Communists.
In 1956 she moved to Portugal where she was elected to the first Iberian Regional Spiritual Assembly. After three years she was forced to leave by the authorities because of her Bahá'í activities, holding property and owning a telephone.
She was asked to go to Luxembourg where she spent nine years but made little progress in establishing the Faith. She was then asked to got to Malaga, Spain and by 1972 Malaga had a local spiritual assembly so she pioneered to Margella in 1979.
The National Spiritual Assembly asked her to write a history of the Faith in Spain which was completed in 1980.
As was her wish, she passed to the Abha Kingdom in 1985, still a pioneer. [KoB346-347; Wikipedia]
See also Also see Bahá'í World 19 pages 715-721 or 692-697 in the print version and Bahá'í News #586 January 1980 p2-5. - 1954-04-09 — Gayle Woolson and her companion, Rebecca Kaufman, arrived in the Galapagos Islands and was named a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh. [BW13:452]
[Heroes of God p59]
- 1954-05-29 —
Haik (Haig) Kevorkian arrived in the Galápagos Islands and settled on the island of Santa Cruz. He was named a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh. Haig had been present in Guayaquil as an itinerant pioneer-teacher in 1945 when the first local Assembly of that city was formed. He returned in 1954 to fill the virgin goal of the Galapagos. [BW13:452; Heroes of God: History of the Bahá'í Faith in Ecuador, 1940-1979 p24; 61]
- On March 8, 1955 on the island of Santa Cruz, Señor Moyses Mosquera Zevallos enrolled as the first believer of the Galapagos. He was a school teacher from the mainland of Ecuador working on the island. Later he was dismissed from his job and was forced to leave theGalapagos due to accusations made against him of immoral acts with some of his students in spite of the fact that the teaching space was such that his wife was constantly with him. He had been the victim of an attack by the parish priest[ibid p76]
- Haig returned to his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina in January 1956. His family came from Turkey but he was born in
Syria on October 1, 1916 and came to Argentina as a youth with
his family. He married his fiancée Miss Aurora de Eyto on
October 19, 1957. His wife reported that he had colds continuously after returning from the islands, and on August 3, 1970 Haig passed away at .the age of 54. [ibid p75]
- 1954-08-11 — American librarian Fred Schechter arrived in South Africa by way of Djibouti, Nairobi and Addis Ababa. During his time in South Africa he assisted in the preparations for the election of the Regional Spiritual Assembly which was held at the Sears farm.
In 1958 he and Bill Sears Jr travelled to Uruguay, arriving in 1959. they participated in a campaign to raise up the second Local Spiritual Assembly in the country with Julia Bulling, a pioneer fro Chile. In 1960 Fred and Julia were married.
They were sent to the Dominican Republic in preparation for the election of the first National Spiritual Assembly but were diverted to Ecuador prior to the first elections in that country because Covenant issues had arisen. Their first son was born there.
A few months later the Hands of the Cause requested that they move to Uruguay where they both served on the National Spiritual Assembly. Their second son was born in Uruguay.
In 1965 they had to move back to the USA because of economic conditions. Their daughter was born in the United States.
Fred served on the Auxiliary Board and the the Continental Board of Counsellors from 1993 to 1998 and was a Counsellor at the International Teaching Centre. [KoB50-57]
- 1955-01-08 — Señor Moyses Mosquera Zevallos became the first believer of the Galapagos Islands to accept the Faith. As a result of his becoming a Bahá'í he was persecuted by the priest and both he and his wife lost their jobs as teachers. He was wrongfully accused of immoral acts with some of his students in spite of the fact that the teaching space was such that his wife was constantly with him.
Moses was dismissed from his position because of the influence of the priest but he was asked to return to Naranjal because of the demands of the parents of his students. He remained at this school until his retirement during the late 1970's.
[Heroes of God: History of the Bahá'í Faith in Ecuador, 1940-1979 by Helen Basset Hornby p69; 77] - 1958-04-22 — The second Annual Regional National Convention for the South
American countries of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela
was held in Guayaquil. This was the highlight
of the year for Ecuador being that it was their first time
to host a National Convention. The delegates for Ecuador were:
Juan Luis Aguirre and Alberto Carbo Medina from Guayaquil community
and Gayle Woolson and Guillermo Sotomayer from Quito. At the time
Ecuador still had only two local assemblies, four isolated centers
and only two new believers for the year.
[Heroes of God: History of the Bahá'í Faith in Ecuador, 1940-1979 by Helen Bassett Hornby p96]
- 1961-04-21 — The National Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador was formed. [BW13:258]
Those elected to the National Spiritual Assembly were: Juan Luis Aguirre;
David Beckett;
Khaliu'llah Bihjati;
Dorothy Campbell;
Patricia Conger;
Freydoun Monadjem;
Raúl Pavón;
Guillermo Sotomayor; and
Gayle Woolson. [Bahaipedia]
Picture. - 1972-03-01 — A thousand children attended a Bahá'í school in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. [BW15:237]
- 1977-07-01 — The first Bahá'í summer school of Ecuador was held in Cuenca. [BW17:170]
- 1977-09-14 — The first Spiritual Assembly of the Galapagos was established on the island of Santa Cruz. The members of this first local Spiritual Assembly of Puerto Oyora, Santa Cruz, Galapagos were:
Sr. Catlos Patino,
Sr. Golo Paredes,
Sta. Nilda Pena,
Srta. Ester Margarlta Panedei,
Sr. Gonzalo Salinas,
Sra. Luzmila Villacis de Salinas,
Sra. Vilma de Arguello,
Sra. Soila Robaliino, and
Sr. Victor Hugo Arguello.
. [Heroes of God: History of the Bahá'í Faith in Ecuador, 1940-1979 p82]
- 1977-10-12 —
The first Bahá'í educational and cultural radio station, HCRN-1 Radio Bahá'í del Ecuador, made its inaugural broadcast at 1420kHz, 20 watts, in Spanish and Quechua from studios in Otavalo. [BBD193; BW17:169, 215–17; BW19:120; VV77; Mess63-86p373]
- Radio Bahá'í was first housed in the Amatu'l-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khanum Institute in Otavalo. [BW18p226]
- For pictures see BW17:216, 218 and VV77.
- Full time programming (six hours a day) was initiated on the 12th of December, 1977. The 1 kiloWatt transmitter was located at Cahas, 20km south of Otavalo. [Radio Bahá'í Ecuador p23, 52]
- On December 12th, 1979, programming was initiated in the short wave band on 2340 kHz in the 120-metre band. The 1 kilowatt transmitter was located about 30 km north of Otavalo at an altitude of 10,000 feet. In 1982 the transmission frequency was switched to 4990 kHz on the 60-meter band. [Radio Bahá'Í Ecuador p205 note 23]
- For further details on this radio station see Radio Bahá'í Ecuador by Kurt Hein.
- See as well the compilation entitled Use of Radio and Television in Teaching attached to the message from the Universal House of Justice dated 25 May 1975.
- Pictures
- 1979-10-00 — The first Bahá'í summer school for Quechua-speakers was held in Cachaco, Imbabura, Ecuador. [BW17:170]
- 1979-12-29 —
Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir, Hand of the Cause of God and Knight of Bahá'u'lláh, passed away in Quito, Ecuador. (b. 4 April 1923 in 'Abdu'l-'Azím) [BW18:486, 651]
- Shoghi Effendi had appointed him among the third contingent on the 2nd of October, 1957. [MoCxxiii]
- For his obituary see BW18:651–9.
- See BWNS353 for news of the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of his passing in Quito.
- See also Dr Muhajir: Hand of the Cause of God, Knight of Bahá'u'lláh by Írán Furútan Muhájir.
- See Bahá'í Chronicles.
- For stories about Dr Mahájir see Bahá'í Memories.
- See Academic Wikipedia.
- See Rahmatu'llah Muhajir: Hand of the Cause of God the Treasure of All Humanity
by Richard Francis.
- A photo.
- See as well LoF455-461.
- The 25th anniversary of Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir's death was marked in Ecuador by a Growth and Victories conference and graveside ceremony, including a talk by his daughter Gisu Mohadjer Cook. BWNS353]
- 1982-08-06 —
A Bahá'í International Conference to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf was held in Quito, Ecuador, attended by some 1,450 Bahá'ís from 43 countries. [BW18:100; VV61]
- For the message of the Universal House of Justice see BW18:157–8.
- For a pictorial report see BW18:141–3.
- 1984-00-00 — The publication of Heroes of God: History of the Bahá'í Faith in Ecuador, 1940-1979 by Helen Bassett Hornby.
- 2004-12-30 —
The "Growth and Victories" conference was held Otavalo, Ecuador in honour of the Hand of the Cause of God Rahmatu'llah Muhajir who passed away in Quito. (1923-79). Bahá'ís attending the conference came from a range of South American countries as well as from Australia, Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Among those attending were his daughter, Gisu Mahajir Cook who spoke about the life of her father.
- A member of the Continental Board of Counsellors, Eloy Anello of Bolivia, spoke on the topic "The Life of Dr. Muhajir".
[BWNS353; BW33p98 ]
- 2006-04 —
The Preparation for Social Action programme that was implemented at the beginning of the Five Year Plan was expanded to seven additional countries: Cambodia, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Panama, the Philippines and Vanuatu.
- Over 10,000 had participated in the programme with about 1,800 among these who had studied all of the texts available.
- In addition some 1,700 individuals serving institutions and agencies of the Fatih in 25 countries had studied a selection the the materials in a seminar setting. [5YPSumPage94-95]
- Preparation for Social Action was implemented as a course of study at the New Era High School and Senior Secondary in Panchgani.
- 2008-11-22 — Regional Conferences were held in Quito, Ecuador, New Delhi, India, Kolkata, India, and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. [BWNS673]
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