Darko Jambres

Croatia

'I was a man from the street.'

I became a Bahá'í in September 1990. I met the Italian Bahá'í group "Light in the Darkness" when they came to Croatia to perform, with other people from England and from Poland, too. I met them in the square in Zagreb where they were giving out pamphlets. There was an immense crowd there. It was beautiful. I was walking there, and I met them spontaneously. They were giving out pamphlets and I could hear that they were speaking English. I joked, "I'm Benny Lynks from Glasgow and I'm a boxer," and they asked, "Really? What are you doing here?" and I met them like that. My English was very low in the beginning, but the spirit was what they brought to me. I saw it was something new, that spirit they brought.

So I hooked up with them. I went with Bahá'ís to meetings even when I wasn't a Bahá'í yet. The Bahá'í teaching about unity brought me close. Before I became a Bahá'í I was a Catholic, but always I have believed something like this -- there was some Bahá'í thing in my head.

I think that the Bahá'í Faith offers a lot to my friends and my countrymen. It is not only theory. If we are united, it will come out. But like everyone knows, peace is a process -- a long process. As Bahá'ís we have the unity of religion. That is a key. It will be different in Croatia if more people become Bahá'ís. It will end the disunity between us. People will get together much better and be happy. Most of the Croatian Bahá'ís are youth. Now we are growing. We are developing ourselves in the community. During the war we were sort of cut off. But still we did things together.

Since I have been a Bahá'í, I have learned a lot. I have grown up a lot. I have studied the Bahá'í Faith more, and I have learned a lot about myself and changed myself. It's hard to be in two worlds, sometimes, you know -- the material world and the world of the spirit -- and it's hard to be detached from the outside world. I realized that when you have a test between these two kinds of life, the best way to remove that test is to pray. You have to put your effort, your human effort, but if you ask for help from Bahá'u'lláh He will help you. He is helping me. It's beautiful.

Before I heard about the Bahá'í Faith, to be honest, I was a man from the street. I have changed a lot, but it's hard. Still I can't say I'm 100% Bahá'í. It is a process, a lifelong process. You never retire!