Junior Youth Service Project

The children and junior youth of Mount Gambier know many stories of Abdu'l-Baha, and enthusiastically share these stories with their families and friends. The junior youth were inspired by His life and the services He rendered. This motivated a series of service projects organised by the junior youth involving the community, friends and neighbours.

The group planned a garage sale to raise funds for an environmental project at the Valley Lake conservation park. The coordinator of the program was invited to meet with the junior youth and on hearing their plans explained a project to establish an Indigenous garden at the conservation park. A decision was made to utilize the funds raised by the junior youth to purchase plants for this project.

The junior youth were invited by the coordinator of the conservation program, to provide some service to clear the area and plant trees in different parts of the park. This brought the local community together and introduced the junior youth program to many members of Mount Gambier, who supported the garage sale. The garage sale raised over $600.

A camp dedicated to the memory of Abdu’l-Baha and the services He rendered to humanity, was organised. Participants came from Murree Mallee, Fleurieu, and the South East region of South Australia. Each day the program started with devotions and a story of Abdu’l-Baha. The final day of the camp was devoted to the service project. Participants prepared by saying prayers and reflecting on Abdu’l-Baha’s life before going to the conservation park at the Valley Lake. The junior youth and youth worked together to mulch an area of the reserve, weed another area, plant some trees and put guards around them.

Mount Gambier junior youth have visited the conservation park on two other occasions to plant more trees and check the health of the trees. The most recent visit to the park included a group of 22 friends including junior youth, children and parents. Devotions and stories of Baha'u'llah were said, followed by art activities and lunch. This was followed by all the friends collaborating to plant more trees in the conservation park.

Reflecting on Abdu’l-Baha’s life is inspiring the community in Mount Gambier to arise to serve by walking in the footsteps of Abdu'l-Baha.