Hello and welcome to the Baha’i Blogcast with me your host, Rainn Wilson.

In this series of podcasts I interview members of the Baha’i Faith and friends from all over the world about their hearts, and minds, and souls, their spiritual journeys, what they’re interested in, and what makes them tick.

In this episode I have the delightful Mam-Yassin Sarr and her husband, David Fox, visiting me at my home in California. They are visiting me from The Gambia in West Africa, and they are the founders of Starfish International, a non-profit dedicated to educating and empowering girls in The Gambia. In this conversation we talk about how they met, how each of them discovered the Baha'i Faith, and the inspiration behind Starfish International. We also talk about life in The Gambia, international conflict and racism, and the awesome transformative power of education. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

To find out more about some of the things we covered in this podcast, check out the list below:

* Starfish International's website: https://starfishinternational.org/

* Starfish International's Facebook page run entirely by the girls attending the school: https://www.facebook.com/StarfishInternational/

* David mentions the book The Baha'i Faith: An Introduction by Gloria Faizi: https://amzn.to/2KKTABI

* Watch Mam-Yassin's talk called "Why Educating Girls is the Key to Fixing the World": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3SZB-EweM

* Mam-Yassin mentions the Baha'i House of Worship. You can learn more about it here: Baha’i Temples: A Brief Introduction: https://bit.ly/2zyIMCl

* We talk about the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program [JYSEP], which you can learn more about from this video: https://bit.ly/2Qqueyn

* Mam-Yassin talks about going to Berea college in Kentucky, USA: https://www.berea.edu/

* Mam-Yassin talks about how she was drawn to the Baha’i principle of Progressive Revelation: https://bit.ly/2SfK7Vy

* David shares the Baha'i quotation: "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." -Baha'u'llah

* Mam-Yassin shares the following analogy from the Baha'i Writings about gender equality: “The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized; humanity cannot wing its way to heights of real attainment." -Abdu'l-Baha

* David mentions the Baha'i quotation: "Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship…" -Abdu'l-Baha

* Mam-Yassin shares one of her favourite Baha'i Writings: "O SON OF MAN! My calamity is My providence, outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy. Hasten thereunto that thou mayest become an eternal light and an immortal spirit. This is My command unto thee, do thou observe it." -Baha'u'llah

* David shares one of his favourite quotations from the Baha'i Writings: "Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone, let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path." -Abdu'l-Baha

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Thanks for listening!

-Rainn Wilson