Swiss Bahá'í Winter School, Einsiedeln
December 2013
The Swiss Bahá'í Winter School was held in Einsiedeln, in the canton of
Schwyz 50 minutes from Zürich, from 25 to 30 December 2013, with the
participation of about 150 Bahá'ís and their friends from all over
Switzerland. The programme was in English, German and French, with separate
workshops as appropriate in the three languages. The highlight of the school
was the participation of Mrs. Joan Lincoln, recently retired from 20 years
on the International Teaching Centre, and her husband Albert. Joany not only
provided short daily keynotes, but also with Al gave an opening evening
keynote on balancing family life, profession and service to the Bahá'í
Faith, and presented a beautiful evening programme on “Music, the food of
the soul”.
The school programme was organized around four themes: community building,
children, pre-youth and support to the youth, starting each day with the
global perspective from Mrs. Lincoln, followed by the national perspective,
and consultation on relevant texts in working groups for the remainder of
the morning. The first part of the afternoon programme was sharing of
experience from across Switzerland in the different activities, often with
photo presentations and video clips, by representatives of each cluster, and
by the children, pre-youth and youth themselves. In the second half of the
afternoon, groups of participants of all ages rotated through four workshops
on arts that could be used in the core activities: music, crafts,
story-telling and group games. Other evening programmes were a musical
evening, a presentation on pioneering in China, my slide programme on
principles of community building illustrated by the coral reef ecosystem, a
poetry recital by Tom Shoemaker, and the final gala evening with many
talented participants of all ages. There was also a supervised play area for
children under 4 (including my granddaughter Lia), children's classes, and a
junior youth programme that included facilitating the adult workshops on
junior youth, assisting with the infants and children's classes, presiding
at the final gala evening, and preparing a very professional video clip on
the Winter School. The school was able to develop a strong family atmosphere
among participants of all ages, languages and backgrounds.
The Allegro Hotel and study centre between Einsiedeln and the lake features
winter sports, but we had no time for more than an occasional walk in the
snow.
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View from my room; the hotel; view towards the lake Sihlsee
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Views from around the study centre
Bahá'í
Winter School 2013
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Registration; morning devotionals often included music; Mrs. Joan
Lincoln was the featured speaker
The programme
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Morning plenaries started with Mrs Lincoln for a global overview,
then a national perspective on each theme (here ABM Michael Wohlwend)
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Reports from around Switzerland included the youth on their
activities since the youth conferences
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Workshop in French on community building
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Workshops facilitated by junior youth on their materials
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Workshop in French on children
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Time for informal sharing during breaks and at mealtimes
Evening programmes
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Musical evening with choir; Nina and Jean-Michel on guitar and Celtic
bagpipe; jam session with Joany and Jean-Luc Shoderet at piano
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the music continued with the Shoemaker family; Nina and
Jean-Michel changed instruments
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everyone caught the spirit; Jean-Michel changed to a harmonica
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Joany Lincoln presents "Music the spiritual food" one evening
Final dinner
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At the final dinner, we gave a present of "Blessed is the spot" to
the centre director
Gala evening
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The junior youth were the Masters of Ceremonies in all three
languages; Nina Habermacher organized the evening
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The audience was attentive
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There were performances from the children
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Gaby Shoemaker led ad-hoc choirs, accompanied by Tom Shoemaker and
Joany Lincoln; Joany and daughter Jessica improvised music and dance
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Traditional Persian music; Jean-Michel Jacquier and Nina Habermacher
on various instruments
Eddie Kolaart crooned to Joany's piano
We all left with a deeper sense of the importance of community building and
of the united effort we are all making across all parts of Switzerland.