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economist suntribune in our community saturday nov 16 2002 york bahais contribute to peace justice initiatives by sarah fasullo special it has no formal churches but the bahai faith does have a messi- ah 18th century mystic bahaullah and his followers throughout york region celebrated his birthday this week bahai communities in aurora east gwillimbury georgina king markham newmarket richmond hill vaughan and whitchurch- stouffville each had their own way of celebrating said nancy allen- deane of stouffville however the majority gathered in each others homes and in halls to listen to stories or watch plays of bahaullahs life accompanied by music dancing and food bahais believe in one god who reveals his truths through messen gers much as jesus and mohammed did for their faiths bahaullah believed by his fol lowers to be another messenger was bom in 1817 into a noble fami ly tracing its ancestry back to the great dynasties of persia instead of taking over his fathers government post bahaullah decided to help the poor by providing them with food shelter and clothing whenever pos sible said jinus victory of whitchurchstouffville by the early 1840s he had became known as the father of the poor by the end of the century his followers numbered about 50000 the faith spread to most of countries and territories in the middle east and the indian subcon tinent however in europe and in the rest of the world bahaullah and his teachings were largely unknown even though a canadian chapter opened in montreal in 1902 that changed when bahaullahs son abdulbaha made a land mark tour of europe and north america in 1911 and 1912 during the tour he spoke at churches mosques synagogues and temples abdulbaha came with a strong message of religious unity mrs victory explained the bahais goal is to deliver the message that humanity is one single race the bahai faith states the peo ple of the world of whatever race or religion derive their inspiration from one heavenly source and are the subjects of one god said ms allendeane all human creatures are ser vants to god said abdulbaha during a 1912 speech in the us all are submerged in the sea of his mercy the creator of all is one god the provider the giver the pro tector of all is one god he is kind to all why should we be unkind all live beneath the shadow of his love why should we hate each other added ms allendean the bahais goal is to deliver the mes sage that humanity is one single race and to promote the ideal of a global society canadas bahai community which numbers about 25000 has collaborated with governments and private organizations it has also sponsored a number of social and economic development projects around the world in 1995 bahais came together in england with leaders from budd hism christianity hinduism islam jainism judaism sikhism and taoism to figure out when and how they could cooperate in 2000 this interfaith move ment passed another milestone when leaders gathered at the united nations for the millennium world peace summit of religious and spiritual leaders more than 1000 representatives came together including bahais to give guidelines for tire worlds reli gious communities to cooperate with secular leaders on issues of peace justice the eradication of poverty protection of the environ ment and social harmony bahais believe their understand ing of the relationship between faitlis and of the purpose of inter- religious dialogue represents a sig nificant step towards unity during november bahais all staff photosjoerd witteveen york region members of the bahai faith assemble at the bahai national centre on leslie street in thornhill front row left david hoar pixie mccallum at right second row from left mandana arjomand zorrida bacchus maryam toumraie hatice baghania standing from left jennifer moshtagh vida haghighi carol plummer shahab rahmani nancy allendeane kay muttart susan lyons jane graves behjat hakimi and elizabeth asbury over canada celebrate unity of diversity week this is to encourage everyone to recognize the bahai diversity and celebrate its unity in york region residents can join the bahais in a prayer gather ing marking the celebrations at the silver jubilee senior centre on main street stouffville on thursday nov 21 from 8 to 9 pm light refresh ments will be served for more information call 905 6421677 region s horses vaccinated against west nile virus staff photosjoan ransberry monty the horse gets a west nile virus booster shot from stouffville vet erinarian peter weidelich holding the horse is stephanie vanditzhuyzen by joan ransberry staff writer horses across york region are being vaccinated against west nile virus after four tested positive for the deadly disease when monty was separated from the other 60 horses at pause awhile equestrian centre in whitchurchstouffville on friday he was about to receive what is now considered a routine booster shot the needle holds the vaccine to combat the west nile virus administered by veterinarian peter weidelich of stouffvillestown and country animal hospital the vaccine will protect monty for a year when it was announced that a vaccine against the deadly disease was available for horses like monty stephanie vanditzhuyzen breathed a sigh of relief monty was vaccinated in the spring and now he has his booster shot hes protected said ms vanditzhuyzen a riding instructor at pause awhile which is on mccowan road tests on the sick horses from york region were done in cornell new york we dont know if any of the horses in york region with west nile have died we just know that they tested positive said dr paul innes of the ontario ministry of agriculture and food on average about 70 per cent of horses with west nile do survive he noted west nile was first identified in the united states four years ago its a mosquitoborne virus that causes an inflammation in the brain mosquitos pick up the virus from birds and pass it on to other birds humans and animals no cattle dogs cats or other species are known to have the dis ease said darlene keates of regions health protection division dr weidelich has vaccinated more than 100 horses in york and he expects to do more next spring the vaccine for west nile in horses was conditionally approved in canada last year its administered by a guelph laboratory horses require two injections three to six weeks apart and then once annually preferably prior to the onset of the next mos quito season the vaccination may include a booster every six months for horses travelling to high risks areas such as the united states where mosquitos see west page 10 hp w uies hd call or stop by the club to receive your free report sllfs total pcfitness wwwwhytefltnesscdm 9054715433 98 main street markham ms 6665392 1501 hopkins street whitby jjr 4 j- v- r jas jj n- ptv v rv7fptt