and early growth (1954–1963) In February 1954, Shirin Fozdar, a Baháʼí from India who had been a member of the National Spiritual Assembly there, went to Saigon to establish the religion in Indochina. On 15 March, she gave a public introduction to the Baha'i Faith in a lecture at the Norodom theatre, which was given significant coverage in the Vietnamese press. During this time, Pham Huu Chu, a professor living in Saigon, became the first Vietnamese Baháʼí. Jamshed and Parvati Fozdar, members of Fozdar's family, arrived to take her place in the summer, settling into an apartment at 88 Bonard St (now Le Loi St). By the following year, there were enough Baháʼís in Saigon to elect the country's first Local Spiritual Assembly there, on 21 April 1955. The Assembly was officially recognized by the government of South Vietnam on 20 September. Promotion of the religion in Central Vietnam led to the establishment of Vietnam's second Spiritual Assembly in the village of Trừng Giang, Quảng Nam province, in April 1957. Eight more Spiritual Assemblies were established in 1958, bringing the total to ten. Of these, most were in Central Vietnam, including those of Da Nang and Quang Ngai. Also established in that year was the Baháʼí community of Phuoc Long, where the first Baháʼí school of South Vietnam was established; several other schools were established in Central Vietnam. In 1958 Tuskegee Airman Dempsey Morgan and his wife Adrienne, both Baháʼís, came to Vietnam, and over succeeding years helped establish administrative procedures among the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Vietnam. During their stay in Vietnam, the Morgans also identified Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼís Faith, with the Maitreya Buddha, who in the Buddhist tradition is the successor to Gautama Buddha and who is to appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma. During this period of growth a number of Buddhist monks also become Baha'is. The Morgan family left Vietnam for Thailand in 1959, staying for two years before continuing to Phnom Penh. They were able to visit Saigon when Rúhíyyih Khanum visited in 1961 and were able to move back to Saigon before the end of the year. There was also a local newsletter the Baháʼí News in publication by then. From 1957 to 1963 the Baháʼí community in South Vietnam had more than tripled (including among the Koho, Thổ, Annamese, and Cham peoples) and several schools