Baháʼí Faith in Uganda

The Baháʼí Faith in Uganda started to grow in 1951 and four years later there were 500 Baháʼís in 80 localities, including 13 Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assemblies, representing 30 tribes, and had dispatched 9 pioneers to other African locations. Following the reign of Idi Amin when the Baháʼí Faith was banned and the murder of Baháʼí Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga and his family, the community continues to grow though estimates of the population range widely from 19,000 to 105,000 and the community's involvements have included diverse efforts to promote the welfare of the Ugandan people. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated about 78,500; however, National Population & Housing Census, 2014 recorded only 29,601.

Early history

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916–1917; these letters were compiled together in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan. The eighth and twelfth of the tablets mentioned Africa and were written on April 19, 1916, and February 15, 1917, respectively. Publication however was delayed in the United States until 1919—after the end of the First World War and the Spanish flu. The tablets were translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá mentions Baháʼís traveling "…especially from America to Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, and travel through Japan and China. Likewise, from Germany teachers and believers may travel to the continents of America, Africa, Japan and China; in brief, they may travel through all the continents and islands of the globe" and " …the anthem of the oneness of the world of humanity may confer a new life upon all the children of men, and the tabernacle of universal peace be pitched on the apex of America; thus Europe and Africa may become vivified with the breaths of the Holy Spirit, this world may become another world, the body politic may attain to a new exhilaration…."

Connections and development An early instance of contact between Uganda and the Baháʼí Faith came in September 1946 when Ugandan Dr. Ernest Kalibala, one of Uganda's first PhDsProfessionalism and Unionism in the teaching service: The development of teacher' organizations in Uganda, by AK. Tiberondwa, Utafiti Journal, vol 2, no. 1, then associated with the UN, gave a talk at the New York Baháʼí Center.African to address meeting, The New York Age, 21 September 1946, page 4 Particular plans to bring the religion to Uganda began in 1950 involving the cooperation of American, British, Egyptian, and Persian Baháʼí communities and reached a level of coordination and detail that materials were translated into languages widely used in Africa before pioneers reached Africa. On August 3, 1951 Mr. and Mrs. Músá Banání, Mrs. Violette and Mr. Ali Nakhjavani, of Iran, with their baby daughter Bahiyyih, and Mr. Philip Hainsworth arrived in Kampala. Banání was an adult convert to the religion during World War I. After receiving the news that Hand of the Cause Louis George Gregory — Hands of the Cause are a select group of Baháʼís who achieved a distinguished rank in service to the religion — had died previously on July 31, a commemorative meeting for Gregory was held in Kampala at which the five pioneers and Marguerite Preston (from Kenya) were joined by twelve Africans. In October an observance of the birth of the Báb was the first to be held in the home of a Bugandan citizen of Uganda, with prayers said in Luganda. In December, the first two native Ugandans had converted to the Baháʼí Faith — Fred Bigabwa (Mutoro tribe) and Chrispin Kajubi (Buganda tribe). While Banání was on pilgrimage, World War II veteran Enoch Olinga (of Iteso tribe), who had been attending classes taught by Nakhjavani in Kampala, was the third Ugandan to become a Baháʼí and swore off alcohol, though his alcoholism had already cost him his government job.

The first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly in the country was elected in April 1952 in Kampala. The members of the assembly were Fred Bigabwa, Chrispin Kajubi, Peter Musoke, Enoch Olinga, Mr and Mrs Músá Banání, Mr and Mrs Ali Nakhjavani and Philip Hainsworth. These were soon joined by American pioneers, Mary and Reginald (Rex) Collison, in about May. In early 1952, Músá Banání was also appointed as a Hand of the Cause. In the summer of 1952 the Baháʼís bought the first center for hosting meetings. By October 1952 there were 55 members of the religion including Olinga's father, living in 12 different localities and representing 9 different tribes: Ganda, Gishu, Gwero, Kabarasi, Kakamega, Luo, Sega, Teso, Toro. Six of them were women. Eighteen were in Kampala and 26 in Teso country. Like Olinga other Baháʼís effected a change in character when converting to the religion and giving up alcoholism. These joined the religion by conversion from Roman Catholic, Protestant and pagan backgrounds and the rural areas were organized into committees until Assemblies could be organized. In February 1953 the first inter-continental conference of four designated by the head of the religion was taking place in Kampala. On the program were Hands of the Cause (already appointed or not yet) Dorothy Beecher Baker, ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan, Ugo Giachery, Hermann Grossman, ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá, George Townshend, and Dhikru'llah Khadem giving a wide variety of talks and classes across 7 days opened with a message from Shoghi Effendi read by Hand of the Cause Leroy Ioas. By April nine more assemblies were elected among a community of over two hundred ninety members of the religion, residing in twenty-five localities, and representative of twenty tribes. In June 1953 the American pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Rex Collison moved to Ruanda-Urundi from Kampala. In October 1953 Olinga went on to Cameroon and was honoured with the title Knight of Baháʼu'lláh.

Developing community

Wide-scale growth in the religion across Sub-Saharan Africa was observed to begin in the 1950s and extend in the 1960s. After the conference in February 1953 Bill and Marguerite Sears arrived in September 1953 visiting from Johannesburg for an extended stay into October giving many classes and traveling to many villages. It was also during this time the first pioneer from Uganda went to Mwanza, Tanganyika. In 1954 Uganda had 500 Baháʼís in 80 localities, including 13 Local Spiritual Assemblies, representing 30 tribes, and had dispatched 9 pioneers to other African locations. In 1955 there were over 800 Baháʼís having just added seventeen assemblies. In 1956 Olinga was elected as Chairman of the North West regional Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly and the Ugandan Baháʼí community came under the newly formed regional National Spiritual Assembly of Central & Eastern Africa, of which Nakhjavani was the Chairman and the Ugandan community alone topped 1000 members. The other members of the regional assembly over Uganda were Philip Hainsworth, Hassan Sabri, Oloro Epyeruj, Aziz Yazdi, Jalal Nakhjavani, Tito Wanantsusit, Sylvester Okurut, and Max Kenyerezi. In early 1957 Olinga attended the laying of the foundation stone of the first Baháʼí House of Worship of Africa (which was in Uganda) and in the fall he was appointed a Hand of the Cause and Knight of Baháʼu'lláh Clare Gung, formerly of Germany, moved from Tanganyika to Uganda where she founded a multi-racial kindergarten nursery. Systems were initiated to deal with the rate of growth of the religion - weekend Baháʼí schools were set up for any Baháʼí who could attend and individuals who were judged to have a substantial understanding of the religion and were able to travel were selected for training as presenters who would then travel locally in their area to make presentations on many of the same themes. By the summer of 1957 13 weekend schools had been held. It was believed these schools lent impetus to the continued growth of the religion in the area by empowering local members of the religion and the schools were repeated in 1958. And the same year regional and local assemblies were registered with the civil government. In 1957 a lone Baháʼí, a member of the Tesa, Yokolamu Okello, reached the relatively remote and pagan region of Moroto in Karamoja and in 1958 the first spiritual assembly was formed there. Conversions to the Baháʼí Faith in Uganda even reached into the prisons where Shoghi Effendi, then head of the religion, responded to letters by encouraging the inmates to use their "stumbled" history not to become "embittered or defeated" but "determined to make it a means of purifying your natures, improving your characters, and enabling you to become better citizens in the future." The quick growth of the religion in Uganda was attributed by Baháʼís to the sincerity of their purpose and to the demonstrated lack of racial prejudice.

House of Worship

In 1958 the land for the temple had to be bought in the name of three African Ugandan Baháʼís rather than an institution directly foreign or domestic. These Baháʼís were Joseph Mbogo, Erisha Kiwanuka and Max Kanyerezi who held the land in trust. The Baháʼí House of Worship in Uganda, named as the Mother Temple of Africa, is situated on Kikaaya Hill on the outskirts of Kampala. At the ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone in 1958 Hands of the Cause Ruhiyyih Khanum and Músá Banání presented material gifts for the building - some soil from the inner-most Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh and the fortress of Maku where the Báb was imprisoned. The building was designed by Mason Remey and the green dome is made of fixed mosaic tiles from Italy, the lower roof tiles are from Belgium, and the colored glass in the wall panels was brought from Germany. Nine massive columns, each two feet in diameter, support the great dome, itself forty-four feet in diameter at its base; while the two roofs are supported by two sets of twenty seven slightly smaller columns. The overall height is 127 ft., the internal diameter of the building is eighty four feet and the seating capacity is over 600. The inside of the dome is painted a pale blue; the rotunda, into which are set nine enormous windows and fifty-four small windows, all filled with green, amber and pale blue glass, is painted a brilliant white, while the columns and the lower walls are painted a very pale green. All this lends itself to an effect of lightness and airiness which is intensified by the large green and amber glass-filled grilles which stand on either side of the huge mvule doors.

The fifty-acre property includes the House of Worship, extensive gardens, a guest house, and an administrative center. In 1960 the Ugandan government built an access road out to the site of the temple and a Bugandan council of ministers came to see the building. Observances of Baháʼí Holy days are held and regular services are normally held about 4 pm on Sunday afternoons. By the end of 1965 an estimated 50,000 visitors had come to the temple. Both Hands of the Cause Enoch Olinga and Músá Banání are buried near the Temple.

Dedication