Out on the remote Scottish Isle of Lewis, a club of fifteen children meet once a month for stories, games, food and to say prayers.

The Bahá’í Youth and Children Group attracts children aged four to 13, many of whom are not Bahá’ís, from different villages on Lewis.

The club was started by Bahá’í mother Mina Sheppard in 1994 as an after-school Peacemakers Club, attached to a local primary school.

With the permission of the school’s headmaster, Mina, a 46-year-old supply teacher, brought her two young children along to the first sessions. They brought more friends, who in turn invited their friends. When another mother offered to help, the idea of a non-denominational club took root.

But three years later, responding to requests from the children themselves, Mina agreed to make the club a Bahá’í club. The club’s constitution undertakes to provide moral, spiritual and physical education for young people.

An organising committee was set up, and today parents of participating children meet once a month to make sure everything runs smoothly. Grants from the council have made it possible for the club’s members to make an annual excursion to other Scottish islands and go on camping trips, as well as hold workshops and parties.

“Sometimes it’s been really hard work,” Mina says. “But we get the encouragement to keep going as we see the children going from strength to strength, both as individuals, and as a group of people, and that gives us the inspiration to sustain it.”