For the last 10 years, members of the Black Men's Gathering in the United States have traveled to various parts of Africa to connect with members of the Baha'i Faith there and share the healing message of Baha'u'llah. The Gathering's latest trip was to Ghana in December.

Baha'is in the Ghanaian village of Perchire
"I felt fire on the trip, the fire of love," says Travis Ivery, a Baha'i from Fulton County, Georgia. "We touched other souls and they touched ours. The hospitality, the sweetness, the service to Baha'u'llah...I've never experienced love like that before from ‘strangers.' Hearts opened up."

Shannon Reddy of Evanston, Ill., felt the trip "transformed people's lives, Baha'is as well as those who were not members of the Baha'i Faith. And over the course of many hours of travel all 32 of us from the U.S. got to know each other well. We got to see the wisdom and strength in each of us."

What touched Shawheen James, a freshman at Duke University, was “watching young people sell random articles of clothing to make money to go to college. Their determination and drive are something you don’t find here often,” he says. “We tend to take higher education for granted.”

Carl Shorter of Buffalo, N.Y., was struck by "the light that shines in the people there regardless of the struggles they face." He expressed his feelings in a poem:

they traveled in ships
i traveled by plane.
i wore a seat belt
they shackled in chains.
i stretched my legs
and walked about
they writhed in pain
with screams and shouts.
packed like toes
in a shoe too small
tears wet my lap
as if I knew them all.
i reclined my seat back
and watched Scoop
the attendant asks
if I'd like juice.
many had strength
to make it here intact
God gave me strength
to make my way back.