Port Alfred and Grahamstown

---

Today we started off driving north along the coast to Port Alfred where we had arranged to meet a local artist named Edmund. Eddy, as he is called, is the only Bahá’í in Port Alfred, and he took off work to give us a wonderful tour of the town and to have lunch with us. Eddy is a painter who incorporates human figures and architectonic forms in his work. We had lunch at a small restaurant next to the beach that was being pounded by the storm surf. It is an amazing and beautiful coastline.

After lunch we drove inland to the city of Grahamstown, which is where Rhodes University is located. Here Choughi, a Persian/Egyptian Bahá’í, met us. He took us to his home where his wife Amal, who is a Persian/Palestinian, hosted us for dinner. We’ll be staying with them for a couple of days while we get to know this community.

One of the things that we have learned during our travels is that the “friends,” who is what the Bahá’ís refer to themselves as, are really quite friendly. We usual phone the local assembly secretary a couple days before we arrive, and we are always welcomed warmly. They are quite supportive of our efforts. This is especially significant, considering the fact that many of these people are third and fourth generation Bahá’ís, or have been displaced from their homelands, or have lost friends or family because of their faith, or have spent many years living and working in very troubled places such as Somalia or Zimbabwe. It makes our efforts appear very insignificant in comparison, but we are never treated like the naive beginners we are. We look forward to being able to return the favor.

---