Honoring ancestors, inspiring the future, through friendship and education
Our Vision
To promote a just, unified, and vibrant world in which the excellence of Indigenous character and spirit is recognized as an intrinsic source of illumination for all people.
Our Mission
To empower people to build capacity for service in themselves and in their communities through prayer, study of the Baha’i teachings, and celebration of Indigenous cultures and contributions to society, inspiring individuals and families to rise above past injustices and suffering to realize each person’s inherent nobility, honor, and potential.
“. . . Protect us from what lieth in front of us and behind us, above our heads, on our right, on our left, below our feet and every other side to which we are exposed. . . .”
— The Báb
Our Story
In the summer of 2021, animated by a news story about graves found at boarding schools in Canada and our own country’s history of cultural genocide, Baha’is in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and neighboring communities met to find a way to honor generations of children and inspire the future.
The resulting task force, led by Indigenous Baha’is and supported by friends of various ethnicities, took as its charge the responsibility to provide education and awareness about the broad range of Indigenous experiences and traditions in the local area and far beyond. And, in the process, to pursue friendships among like-minded people who seek to build spiritually and materially vibrant communities.
To date, the task force has focused on two primary aims: coordinating the monthly Indigenous Voices webcasts, many of which you can view in our Video Library, and arranging for the creation of a memorial to those children who lived and died in the boarding schools. The site for that memorial has been selected and reserved in the Water Wise Demonstration Garden in Rio Rancho; details will be shared as they develop.
