On the morrow of the close of the Ridvan period share with National
Assemblies of the Baha'i world additional glad tidings supplementing the
message addressed a fortnight ago to delegates to national Conventions
East and West.
Six acre and five acre plots have been purchased in Kampala and Panama
City as sites of future Temples in the heart of the African continent and
Central America.
First historic African Spiritual Assemblies have been formed in
Johannesburg, Brazzaville, Victoria, Topremang, Casablanca, Tangier,
Algiers, Tripoli, Bukora. In Uganda alone, eleven additional Assemblies
have been established, over three hundred and eighty additional converts
enrolled, raising the total white and Negro believers to over six hundred
and seventy. The number of localities where Baha'is reside on the Arabian
Peninsula is now over fifteen, in Egypt and Sudan over forty, in the
British Isles over fifty, in Australasia over sixty, in the ten European
goal countries over seventy, in Germany and Austria over seventy, in
Uganda over eighty, in Canada over a hundred, in Latin America over a
hundred and ten, in the Indian subcontinent and Burma over a hundred and
thirty, in the African continent over a hundred and ninety, in Persia over
six hundred and in the United States over twelve hundred, swelling the
number of Baha'i centers scattered over the surface of the globe to well
nigh twenty-nine hundred.
Additional National Haziratu'l-Quds Funds have been inaugurated in ten
countries of Central America.
The number of Baha'i books and pamphlets for the blind transcribed into
Braille, English, Esperanto, German, Japanese, now totals over a hundred
and ten.
The President of the State of Israel, accompanied by Mrs. Ben Zvi,
visited, as anticipated, the Shrines on Mount Carmel, following a
reception in their honor held in 'Abdu'l-Baha's house marking the first
official visit paid by the Head of a sovereign independent State to the
Sepulchers of the Martyr-Prophet of the Faith and the Center of
Baha'u'llah's Covenant.
The following pioneers have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since the
fifth periodic announcement: Bruce Matthews, Howard Gilliland, Labrador;
Olivia Kelsey and Florence Ullrich, Monaco; Joan Powis, South Rhodesia;
Sohrab Payman, San Marino; Samuel Njiki, Mehrangiz Munsiff, French
Cameroons; Gail Avery, Baranof Island; Benedict Eballa, Ashanti
Protectorate; Martin Manga, Northern Territories Protectorate; Gayle
Woolson, Galapagos Islands; Bula Stewart and John Allen and wife,
Swaziland; Charles Duncan, Harry Clark, John Fozdar, Brunei; David Tanyi,
French Togoland; Edward Tabe, Albert Buapiah, British Togoland; Kay Zinky,
Magdalen Islands; John and Margery Kellberg, Dutch West Indies; Robert
Powers, Jr., and Cynthia Olson, Mariana Islands; Habib Esfahani, French
West Africa.
The Roll of Honor, after the lapse of one year since the launching of the
World Crusade, is now closed, with the exception of pioneers who have
already left for their destination, as well as those first arriving in the
few remaining virgin territories inside and outside Soviet Republics and
satellites.
The Concourse on High will continue to applaud the highly meritorious
services rendered by future volunteers arising to reinforce the historic
work so nobly initiated by the Knights of Baha'u'llah in the far-flung,
newly opened territories. Posterity will likewise record with admiration
and gratitude the initial victories destined to be won in the course of
the spiritual conquest of the continents and islands of the globe.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, May 4, 1954]