wfn.org | BWNS -- Spiritual legacy now paying dividends

["Michael Day" <mday@bwc.org>]

Baha'i World News Service
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Spiritual legacy now paying dividends
HAGATNA, Guam, 8 June 2004 (BWNS) -- Cynthia and Edgar Olson initially won
fame on this Pacific Island for introducing "Swedish pancakes" but their
enduring legacy is a contribution far more precious.

The couple, originally from Delaware in the United States, brought the
teachings of Baha'u'llah here, and from that foundation the Baha'i Faith has
since spread across the four inhabited islands of the archipelago of the
Mariana Islands.

Some three years after their arrival the Olsons opened a Swedish pancake
house, which became so popular that families drove from the far corners of
the
island to taste the exotic concoctions.

The building later functioned as a Baha'i center and it was from there that
the plans to firmly establish the Faith were made.

Today the community includes seven local spiritual assemblies, and is
experiencing a surge in enrolments as its devotional meetings, children's
classes, and study circles attract attendance from the wider community.

The dramatic story of the Olsons was recounted on 2 May 2004 at Mrs. Olsons'
graveside, in a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the
Faith in the Mariana Islands.

The Olsons were unlikely pioneers -- a journalist and storekeeper, both
middle-aged: the thin, frail Cynthia and the burly, balding Edgar -- and they
almost didn't make it by the target date of 2 May 1954.

As part of a decade-long (1953-1963), highly successful strategy to spread
the
Faith around the world, the then head of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, had set
that date as the goal for Baha'is to arrive in their place of service. This
act usually involved, as it did with the Olsons, Baha'is voluntarily leaving
their country to settle in one where there were no Baha'is.

At the time of the Olsons' arrival, the Mariana Islands were still a military
area, controlled exclusively by the US Navy. Even short-term visitors needed
special security clearance and a very good reason for coming -- a
Navy-approved reason.

Cynthia Olson came first, completing the last leg of her 12,000-kilometer
journey on a rare Pan Am civilian flight to the islands. She had convinced
the
Navy that she could be useful on Guam. Her husband had stayed behind to close
up their store, and was anxiously awaiting word of her safe arrival.

She landed on 2 May 1954 after the telegraph office had closed, so she waited
up all night to send a cable first thing the next morning. Her message was
immediately read to a cheering audience at the US Baha'i National Convention
halfway around the world.

Shoghi Effendi named Cynthia a Knight of Baha'u'llah for her efforts.

Her first job was as host of a popular daily program called "Women's World"
at
the island's only commercial radio station. Edgar, widely known as "Olie,"
followed a year later and became a popular TV executive and presenter -- as
well as an owner of the pancake house.

The Olsons quickly fell in love with the friendliness and generosity of the
indigenous people, the Chamorros. Other ethnic groups there include
Filipinos,
Micronesians, Asians, and a tiny minority of US mainlanders, often called
"haoles" or "statesiders."

In a message read to the commemoration event, Mrs. Madeleine Bordallo, Guam's
present US Congresswoman, lovingly recalled Cynthia's support and
encouragement for her as a fellow radio presenter, and later in Mrs.
Bordallo's official role as the First Lady of Guam.

"As we remember Cynthia, let us remember a lady who was kind with her words,
abundant with faith and hope, and generous with her love," wrote Mrs.
Bordallo.

"She came to our islands, as I did, fell in love with it, its culture and
traditions, but most of all, its people," she said.

Mrs. Olson later became a journalist for the United States Trust Territory of
the Pacific, and then a supervisor responsible for arranging scholarships for
island students. Many of those students, some of whom stayed in the Olsons'
home, later became prominent members of Guam society, including legislators,
teachers, and businessmen.

In her memoirs, Mrs. Olson wrote about the first Baha'i Feast on Guam, when
she and Robert Powers, a young Baha'i sailor who had been posted there
temporarily, said prayers and had a picnic at the water's edge in the
southern
village of Inarajan. Mr. Powers also received the title Knight of
Baha'u'llah.

The first Micronesian islander to become a Baha'i was Joe Erie Ilengelkei,
who
became the ninth member of the community, thus meeting the required number to
form the first Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Guam. It was
established on 21 April, 1956.

When the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the North West
Pacific,
which included the Mariana Islands, was formed in 1972, Mrs. Olson was
elected
a member. In 1978 she became a member of the newly formed National Spiritual
Assembly of the Mariana Islands.

During the past 50 years the Mariana Islands has welcomed many distinguished
Baha'i visitors, including Madame Ruhiyyih Rabbani, and two other Hands of
the
Cause, Rahmatullah Muhajir, and Collis Featherstone.

Cynthia Olson passed away in 1988, and Edgar Olson a year later.

The Mariana Islands Baha'i community will hold another celebration in
November, this one a formal banquet, as part of their jubilee celebrations of
the Faith that this stalwart couple brought to these islands.

(Report by Tom Howe.)