Footprints in the Sands of Time

Gillbanks, Shahla

Footprints in the Sands of Time


The first part describes the author’s family history, starting  in the 1880s when her grandfather left Ishqabad for Hamadan in Iran. Then his family life in Tehran and his involvement in the Persian Constitutional Revolution. It continues with the story of the author’s parents who lived as Bahá’ís  in the 20th Century of Iran, the social and political changes of Iran and its impact on the life of the Bahá’í community.

The second part is a memoir of the author’s life in Iran (1945-1968, 1973-74, 1978-79). Her move to assist the Bahá’í communities in the Philippines (1968-71), New Zealand (1971-73, 2001-2004), Kenya (1974-1978), and the Caribbean (1979-1983). It continues with the author’s involvement with the Bahá’í community in the United States (California 1982-1992, 1993-2001, and Florida 2005-2018), and in Czechoslovakia 1992. It includes a recollection of special events of the author’s  life, as she experienced them; the memories of the Bahá’í personalities that she met and their influence on her.

Copyright: © Shahla Gillbanks 2019, 2020

Where available the downloads are:

PDF: Same as the online version.

DOCX: Text version of the document.

TOC: Table of contents (PDF) from inside the volume or created separately.

Citing the Afnan Library

When citing the Afnan Library be aware that the digital document (PDF) page number usually differs from the original document's page number. For citing a particular page, click on "View Document on Website" and find the page you wish to cite. Capture the URL of the document from the address line. Add to that the page number of the PDF from the top left of the viewing box. You may also add the page number of the original document in parenthesis. For example: http://www.afnanlibrary.org/inba_v056/, p. 10 (p. 7 of ms.)

View more detailed instructions here