Cochabamba

Cochabamba
City in Bolivia
The First Local Spiritual Assembly of Cochabamba, 1956.
Location of Cochabamba
History: Firsts
-	Local Assembly	1956
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Cochabamba is a city located in central Bolivia.

History

Cochabamba was opened to the Bahá’í Faith in 1947, with Gwenne Sholtis pioneering to the city to teach the religion, and in 1948 Esteban Canales visited during a teaching tour across South America.

In 1955 Rezsi Sunshine pioneered to Cochabamba, in March 1956 Gayle Woolson visited to assist with teaching efforts, and that year the cities Local Spiritual Assembly was established. In December 1958 the first Summer School of Bolivia was held in Cochabamba, and Athos Costas visited during a teaching tour and was able to give a talk on a local radio station. In 1959 Hand of the Cause Hermann Grossmann visited Cochabamba while touring Bolivia.

In 1962 Bolivia founded a school for training Bahá’ís to participate in mass teaching in Cochabamba constructing a small building to serve as its premises. Hand of the Cause Abu’l-Qásim Faizí visited the schools inaugural sessions in 1963, with Athos Costas serving as the schools first director. The school improved the quality of consolidation across Bolivia with the courses offered being expanded in 1964, and it had been dubbed the National Bahá’í Institute by 1968.

In 1967 the National Spiritual Assembly of Bolivia organized an exhibition on the Bahá’í Faith in Cochabamba which was visited by three thousand people, and in November that year Rúḥíyyih Khánum visited the city attending sessions at the Institute. In January 1968 a National Bahá’í Youth Congress for Bolivia was held in Cochabamba, and in August the first meeting of the Continental Board for South America was held in the city attended by the newly appointed Counsellors and Hand of the Cause Jalál Kháḍih. In 1969 the Cochabamba National Institute hosted the Bolivian National Convention, and a teaching conference was held in August at which a one year teaching plan for Bolivia was made with Hand of the Cause Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir participating in consultations.

In 1970 Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga visited Cochabamba during a tour of Bolivia, and in 1971 mass teaching teams began to secure large amounts of declarants in the city. Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir returned to Cochabamba in 1972 to participate in the annual National Bahá’í Institute, and that year Anselmo Heredia, a local Bahá’í, became the first indigenous Bolivian to deliver a talk at the Eudianam Culture Center in Cochabamba. In 1975 the United Nations Information Center of Bolivia loaned materials to the Bahá’í community of Cochabamba who organized an exhibit on the United Nations for a Human Rights Day celebration, and that year the Bahá’í Institute of Cochabamba was named the Amelia Collins Bahá’í Institute.

In 1976 an International Quechua Conference for Quechua speaking Bahá’ís across South America was held in Cochabamba and attended by three hundred indigenous Bolivians. In February 1977 a National Teaching Conference for Bolivia was held in the city attended by two hundred and ninety-eight Bahá’ís, and it was followed by another National Teaching Conference in August which was attended by four hundred Bahá’ís. In 1979 Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir visited Cochabamba delivering a fireside in the city just one week before his passing.

In 1981 a National Pioneer Conference was held in Cochabamba for pioneers across the world who had settled in Bolivia and later in the year Counsellor Lauretta King visited the city. Later in the 1980's Dr. William Baker founded the Dorothy Baker Institute for Environmental Studies in Cochabamba which was a Bahá’í inspired organization which aimed to assist indigenous peoples of Bolivia in developing farming techniques. In November 1988 a Bahá’í development conference was held in the city at which representatives of Bahá’í inspired development projects across Bolivia and Peru discussed their endeavors.

In 2013 a major international youth conference was held in Cochabamba.