Dear Bahá’í Friends,
The Day of the Covenant, 26 November 2000, marks the commencement of a new five-year term of service for members of the Continental Boards of Counselors for the Protection and Propagation of the Faith. The number of these high-ranking officers of the Cause remains at eighty-one. We are happy to announce the names of the Counselors now appointed.
AFRICA (19 Counselors): Beth Allen, George Allen, Beatrice Asare, Asfaw Tessema, Niaz Bushrui, Mehraz Ehsani (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Clément-Thyrrel Feizouré, Kobina Fynn, Ibrahim Galadima, Kamaye Moussa, Eddy Lutchmaya, Enos Makhele, Maina Mkandawire, Rachel Ndegwa, Muḥammad Otmani, Ahmad Parsa, Garth Pollock, Antoinette Ziehi, Tiati à Zock.
THE AMERICAS (19 Counselors): Eugene Andrews, Eloy Anello, Stephen Birkland, Gustavo Correa, Irma Nelly de Dooki, Abdu’l-Missagh Ghadirian, Angélica Huerta, Antônio Gabriel Marques, Hervé Masrour, Catherine Monajjem, Rebequa Murphy, Carmen Elisa de Sadeghian, Arturo Serrano, Crystal Shoaie, David Smith, Marilyn Smith, Leticia de Solano, Rodrigo Tomás (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Dorothy Whyte.
ASIA (19 Counselors): Fadel Ardakani, Baatar Uransaikhan, Nidavanur Baskaran, Irene Chung, Jabbar Eidelkhani, Bijan Farid, Elena Grouzkova, David Huang (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Humaida Jumalon, Lee Lee Ludher, Delafruz Nassimova, Lori Noguchi, Jaya Gopan Ramasamy, Lateef Rashid, Foad Reyhani, Payam Shoghi, Zena Sorabjee, George Soraya, Rosalie Tran.
AUSTRALASIA (11 Counselors): Beatrice Benson, Donald Blanks, David Chittleborough (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Jalal Mills, Sírús Naráqí, Manijeh Reyhani, Heather Simpson, Henry Tatnashiro, Erama Ugaia, Robin White, Fereidoun Yazdani.
EUROPE (13 Counselors): Fevziye Bald, Alla Borets, Uta von Both, Firouzeh Moghbel, Paul Öjermark, Patrick O'Mara (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Shahriar Razavi, Ihan Sezgin, Nosrat Tirandaz, Nicola Towfigh, Larissa Tsutskova, Sohrab Youssefian, Ivo Zerbes.
The following believers, whose contributions to the advancement of the Faith have earned our profound appreciation, are being relieved of the duties of membership on the Boards of Counselors:
Borhanoddin Afshin, Ben Ayala, Hooshidar Balazadeh, Patricia Coles, Parvine Djoneydi, Wilma Ellis, Tod Ewing, Shidan Fat'he-Aazam, Linda Gershuny, Louis Henuzet, Hizzaya Hissani, Nobuko Iwakura, Abbas Katirai, Zekrullah Kazemi, Kim Myungjung, Jacqueline Left Hand Bull, Betra Majmeto, Peter McLaren, Alejandra Miller, Perin Olyai, Nabil Perdu, Maija Pihlainen, Ruth Pringle, Polin Rafat, Daniel Ramoroesi, Shapour Rassekh, Cyrus Rohani, Vicente Samaniego, Isabel de Sanchez, Bruce Saunders, Errol Sealy, Edith Senoga, Farhad Shayani, Tiberiu Vajda, Lally Warren, Wingi Mabuku.
We are confident that these distinguished friends will continue to display the utmost valor and self-sacrifice in the pathway of service to Bahá’u’lláh. Our fervent prayers at the Holy Threshold will surround each of them.
The accomplishments of the Four Year Plan, now being consolidated, have established a pace of growth that is certain to gain added momentum. The Five Year Plan, to be launched at Riḍván, holds immense promise. In the discharge of their responsibilities for the propagation and protection of the Faith, the Counselors and the Auxiliary Board members will play a vital role, in collaboration with Spiritual Assemblies and Regional Councils, in ensuring that the design and implementation of programs of action, from the national to the local level, respond to the exigencies of the hour.
The Counselors in all continents are being called to the World Center to take part in deliberations on the general features of the Five Year Plan from 9 to 13 January 2001. They will be joined by the Auxiliary Board members who will have gathered from throughout the world to participate in events marking the occupation by the International Teaching Center of its permanent seat on Mount Carmel. The coming together of the Counselors and Auxiliary Board members in the Holy Land, for the first time, on so propitious an occasion, will give further impetus to the activity that they will be required to sustain.
It is our earnest prayer at the Sacred Threshold that these eighty-one devoted souls will be assisted by grace from on high as they bend their energies to foster the systematic growth of the community worldwide.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
The Universal House of Justice
(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)
