Guest speaker Ermelinda da Costa Monteiro, left, with WA Baha’i Council member Padma Wong
An East Timorese nurse studying in Western Australia under a peace scholarship was a guest speaker at a devotional meeting held at the Baha’i Centre of Learning in Perth on 10 October 2009.
Giving her first speech in English since arriving in Australia this year, Ms Ermelinda da Costa Monteiro spoke about her life experiences and asked participants to pray for the people of East Timor as they work towards a lasting peace.
Among the guests at the event were representatives of various faith communities as well as Melissa Parke, Federal Member of Parliament for Fremantle, Tricia Phelan, deputy mayor of the City of Melville, and Ms Anne Banks-McAllister of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
Ms Banks McAllister, who outlined the scholarship program which brought Ms da Costa Monteiro to Australia, told the gathering that UNIFEM works to educate and empower women from the Pacific, East and South-East Asia and Afghanistan to enable them to contribute to peace building upon their return home.
Speaking on behalf of the Baha’i Council for Western Australia, Padma Wong provided an overview of the Baha’i vision for achieving peace, calling upon all those present to develop their spiritual qualities to serve humanity.
Among those who gave readings about peace from the scriptures of the Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Hindu traditions were Rev. Austin Sanderson (Maylands Christian Spiritualist Church), and Mrs Nasreen Ahmed (Australian Islamic College).
The New Era Baha’i Choir sang sacred music to open and close the event.