The whole Ahdieh family gathered one morning in 1961 to send off their nineteen-year-old son, Hussein, to the United States. He was the first family member to do so.
His mother worried about what she’d heard of the West and how its culture might affect her son. But the family understood that the restrictions on Baha’is in Iran made a future in the West more appealing to a youth full of promise.
His close and extended family members who gathered that day at the Tehran airport were sure they would never see him again. After all, he was the first Baha’i from Nayriz to ever undertake such a trip. Most of them were correct that they would not see him again though as he waved goodbye, Hussein genuinely believed he would one day send for them all.
In his jacket, Hussein had the phone number of Ugo Giachery. Mr. Giachery was born into aristocracy in Palermo, Italy, and accepted the Faith in the United States after being wounded in World War I. He had even visited Iran after the war.
Shoghi Effendi found in Mr. Giachery a reliable co-worker and put him in charge of procuring the marble for the Shrine of the Bab and the Archives Building at the Baha’i World Center. In 1951, Shoghi Effendi appointed him a Hand of the Cause and named one of the doors in the Shrine of the Bab after him in honor of his outstanding service.
In Rome, Hussein was able to make his way to Mr. Giachery’s home. That evening over dinner, the distinguished Mr. Giachery, later appointed Hand of the Cause, patiently taught the young Iranian how to handle spaghetti properly.
Hussein had to fly to England to catch the boat to the United States. Not used to these big cities, he was unsure whether the tall men at the door of the hotel who were moving towards his luggage to steal it or help him with it.
He made a pilgrimage north of London to the New Southgate Cemetery in New Southgate, to the gravesite of beloved Shoghi Effendi whose passing had left a gaping hole in the hearts of Baha’is the world over.
The gravesite reflected Shoghi Effendi’s majesty and his perfect sense of proportion. A single white Corinthian column was topped by a globe upon which a large, golden eagle seemed to be either taking off or landing.
While travelling in Edinburgh, Shogi Effendi had purchased the statue of an eagle in this same position which he brought back to Haifa and placed in his bedroom which was also his office. He had expressed to his wife Ruhiyyih Khanum the desire to have his own Corinthian column, which surprised her since she didn’t see how he could use just one column.
After his funeral, Ruhiyyih Khanum was leaving the burial site which was festooned with flowers from the funeral when the picture of a single Corinthian column with this eagle atop it came to her. Later her vision became a reality when the Roman architect who had helped build the Shrine of the Bab designed the gravesite monument.
The original model of the eagle remains in the Archives building. The eagle symbolizes Shoghi Effendi’s majesty, and the globe reflects the worldwide spread of the Faith with the map of Africa facing forward, reflecting the great joy the conversion of African peoples to the Faith brought him.