Julian’s Progress

My family (which now includes my new son-in-law) and I just got back home from our pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It was an amazing experience and very significant for me. We had originally planned to go to Haifa, the Baha’i World Center, in June, 2006. However, as noted on this web site, in April of that year I had my spinal cord injury. We already had our tickets, hotels, and so on, and everything had to be cancelled. After much planning, we were finally able to make the trip on December 20th.

The pilgrimage involves visiting many places in Haifa, Akka, and the surrounding area. Although transportation between these sites is generally provided by bus, there is still a considerable amount of walking. And the sites of interest in Haifa are all on the Holy Mountain of Mount Carmel. As a result, there are many stairs to climb up and down.

When we originally planned this trip, about a year ago, I expected to be travelling with a collapsible wheelchair. However, given my progress, when the time came, I travelled with my rollator and my canes.

Before talking about the actual pilgrimage, I just want to say a few words about the flight to and from Israel. Our booking was with bmi, and as a result we flew Montreal, London, Tel Aviv. I had made arrangements months in advance to have a wheelchair available in the airports so that I would not have to walk the huge distances that are customary. In every case, it was as though I had never made any request at all. Whatever service I received, was entirely dependant on last minute arrangements. In both Montreal and Tel Aviv these were very good to excellent. (In Montreal, in fact, there was an attendant who met me at the aircraft, and pushed me all the way through customs, helped get my baggage, and right out the door to a suitably large taxi! Door-to-door service!) Heathrow was another story. If at all possible people needing wheelchair assistance should avoid both Heathrow, and bmi, completely. The total lack of service and understanding is appalling. It seems this is what happens when services are privatized. bmi refused to take any responsibility, or to help in any way, and so they are now on my black list.

On to more uplifting events.

I will not deal with the spiritual aspects of my pilgrmage here; suffice it to say that it was a truly wonderful 10 days.

One of the first places we visited was Baha’u'llah’s prison cell in Akka. After that, we walked about 700 meters to the House of ‘Abbud. Here you can see me walking up one of the hilly sections of the old City of Akka, on our way to the Prison. My son-in-law Jory is pushing the rollator on the right, and my son Jonathan is on the left.

These stairs, at the House of House of `Abdu’llah Pasha in Akka are typical of what I had to climb up and down. The steps themselves are very uneven, and going down was certainly more challenging than going up. Having the assistance of my family really made it all possible.

The gardens throughout the Baha’i Holy places are truly magnificent to look at. One of the features that make them very special also makes them a real challenge for people with walking difficulties: Many of the paths are covered in small white stones, and others in the broken pieces of reddish roof tiles. Both of these surfaces are really very difficult for a wheelchair, or a rolling walker like mine. Whenever we came across these paths, one of the members of my family (usually my son) would pick up the walker and carry it (with my backpack), while I walked down the path using my canes.

You can just make out the two different kinds of path in the bottom of this photo:

It is quite a long way from the Bahji Visitor Center (where the bus drops you off) to the Shrine of Baha’u'llah. It takes about 20 minutes for an able-bodied person to walk that distance. Fortunately, there is a paved path as well, that runs most of the way to the Shrine. I sat in a wheelchair while one of the security guards kindly pushed me along.

The last bit, however, has to be done on foot, since the only path is one of small white stones, and it is very difficult to roll anything along that path, unless one has a wheelchair with really wide tires. So I used my canes and walked up to the Shrine. This is the view back from the Shrine to the Collins Gate, which is the distance I walked (twice).

There are going to be more photos, and possibly videos, on this site, as I get them from other members of my pilgrimage group. When they become available, I will add them.