Enoch Olinga (June 24, 1926 – September 16, 1979) was born to a Ugandan family of the Iteso ethnic group. He became a Baháʼí, earned the title Knight of Baháʼu'lláh and was appointed as the youngest [1] Hand of the Cause, the highest appointed position in the religion. He served the interests of the religion widely and especially in Africa. He returned to Uganda during a time of turmoil and ultimately was murdered with his family.
The second son to Samusan Okadakina and Eseza Iyamitai, [2] his father was a catechist and missionary for the Anglican church. In 1927, Enoch's family moved to the village of Tilling [2] where he was educated in missionary schools. [1] He studied economics and learned several languages enough to work as a translator. Eventually he learned six languages and published three books on language issues. [3] In 1941 Olinga joined the British Royal Army Educational Corps and served in Nairobi, capital of Kenya and beyond. On return to Uganda in 1946 he soon married and began having children (eight.) Around 1950, he moved to Kampala. [2] and encountered the Baháʼí Faith in 1951. [4] Though Olinga had already lost a government job to alcoholism he attended classes taught by Nakhjavani and became the third Ugandan to become a Baháʼí and swore off alcohol in February 1952. [5] He did so at the forefront of a period of large scale growth in the religion. [6] [7] It was also the year he published Kidar Aijarakon, a translation of the New Testament in Ateso. [8] [9] By October 1952 Olinga's father joined the religion. [10]
In 1953 he became the first Baháʼí pioneer to British Cameroon, and was given the title Knight of Baháʼu'lláh for that country. Ali Nakhjavani, and his wife along with Olinga and two other Baháʼís travelled from Uganda to Cameroon - the other Baháʼís were dropped along the way in other countries. [11] As the number of Baháʼís grew in Cameroon new Baháʼís left the immediate region to pioneer in other surrounding areas, each becoming a Knight of Baháʼu'lláh including Ghana, and Togo. Because of the successive waves of people becoming Knights of Baháʼu'lláh, Enoch Olinga was entitled "Abu'l-Futuh", a Persian name meaning "the father of victories" by Shoghi Effendi. [12] In 1954 a Baháʼí book belonging to Olinga, Paris Talks, became the basis of a Baha'i Church in Nigeria in Calabar which operated in 1955-56. The church was disconnected from the Baháʼí community but applied the Baháʼí teachings with virtually all of the Cameroonian men on one large palm plantation. The church was established, flourished, and then collapsed utterly unrecognized and unknown to the Baháʼís and to the international Baha'i community until one of the founders tried to return the book. Both leaders of the church later officially joined the religion and helped form the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Calabar in 1957 and served in other positions. [13]
A biography published in 1984 examined his impact in Cameroon and beyond. [14] The first person in Cameroon to join the religion withstood beatings to persevere in his choice. The first woman to become a Baháʼí in Cameroon did so from his impact on her life though she had been an active Christian before - both she and her husband converted and were among the first to move to Togo and then Ghana. Another early Baháʼí, the first of the Bamiliki tribe, moved to what was then French Cameroon to help there. Another early contact joined the religion later but his wife was the first Baháʼí of Nigeria. The researcher again found that there was an emphasis not on rooting out cultural traditions among the peoples but instead focusing on awareness of the religion and awareness of scientific knowledge should not relate to social class. There were accusations of political intrigue of which Olinga was acquitted. It was judged that Olinga was always sincere and never belittled.
In February 1957, in four years, Olinga traveled on Baháʼí pilgrimage for 10 days. [2] Immediately afterwards he was able to visit back to Uganda to attend the laying of the foundation stone of the first Baháʼí House of Worship of Africa. [11] In October 1957 Shoghi Effendi appointed him as a Hand of the Cause of God at the age of 31. [1] He was the only native African named as a Hand of the Cause. [3] In November news of the death of Shoghi Effendi spread through Olinga was unable to attend the funeral in London. However Olinga was in attendance for the first Conclave of the Hands in Bahjí on November 18, 1957 to review the situation and the way forward leading to the election of the Universal House of Justice. [2] Ebony magazine covered a conference in Uganda in January 1958 which Olinga and his wife attended and pictured him on page 129. [15] However Olinga did not stay in Uganda - he returned to Haifa where he served at the Baháʼí World Center until 1963 [2] when Olinga chaired the opening session of the first Baháʼí World Congress in 1963 which announced the election of the first Universal House of Justice. [16] He then returned to live in East Africa and found he was estranged from his wife Eunica. They separated and divorced; he moved to Nairobi with his second wife, Elizabeth and all of his children and he continued to travel widely. [2] After fellow Hand of Cause Músá Banání died, Enoch purchased his home in Kampala. Additional travels after 1968 were extensive, including a tour of Upper West Africa in 1969 and later that same year, South America, Central America, passing through the United States, then the Solomon Islands, and Japan. In 1977, Olinga represented the Universal House of Justice at the International Conference held in Brazil and then attended another one in Mérida, Mexico. [2]
His co-religionist Dizzy Gillespie wrote a song named Olinga; and it was the title track of an album by Milt Jackson, produced by Creed Taylor, recorded in 1974 and re-issued in 1988 [17] and covered by Judy Rafat on her tribute album to Gillespie in 1999. [18] Olinga was also a song released by Mary Lou Williams in 1995. [19]
In September 1977 the administrative institutions of the religion in Uganda had been disbanded by the government along with over two dozen other groups. [20] Soon the Uganda-Tanzania War broke out in 1978 and President Amin was overthrown by early 1979. Olinga returned to Uganda to protect the community as much as he could. [5] [21]
The country was in a period of street violence from 1978. [20] In March 1979 the Olinga home was robbed though the temple was undisturbed and there was a suspicious accident where Olinga's car was rammed and forced down a hill by a troop transport vehicle, where he was robbed and left for dead, [5] and Olinga's son George was disappeared for a week by soldiers of Amin. [20] Death threats perhaps simply because of his prominence came to Olinga from his home town. [20] Meanwhile, after President Amin fled in April the religion began to re-organize. After a night of area bombardment when Olinga spent the night praying in the temple and it and he emerged undamaged the organization of the religion began though his house was being plundered upon his return. [2] First was the re-opening of the Baháʼí House of Worship again, [22] and the beginning of reforming the national assembly in August. [20] Olinga chaired its first organizational meeting.
Neighbors and a garden servant boy bore witness mostly by hearing events of the execution of the Olinga family. [5] [22] Sunday, September 16, 1979 was the birthday of one of Olinga's daughters, and planned as a day of a family reunion; a few could not arrive in time. [20] After 8pm local time five soldiers entered Olinga's home. While one stood guard at the household gate, the others killed Olinga, his wife, and three of their five children. Trails of blood went from the kitchen to the back of the house. One of the children had been hurt and roughly bandaged before the family was executed. Enoch himself was killed out in the yard where he had been heard weeping, after perhaps seeing his dead family in the very same house in which he had joined the religion. [20] The news was conveyed initially by the garden servant to a member of the national Baháʼí administration, and then to a 79-year-old pioneer, Claire Gung, who called internationally. Ultimately news reached the Universal House of Justice, the head of the religion, while it sat in session on the 17th. All the dead were buried in the Baháʼí cemetery on the grounds of the Ugandan Baháʼí House of Worship on the 25th while civil war and terrorism continued. [20] The funeral included hundreds of Baháʼís who could make the trip and several members of the government of Uganda. [23]
One of Olinga's surviving sons, George Olinga, in about February 1985 made a return trip to Uganda where he and another gave a talk at one of the primary schools about the religion and the institutions of the religion. [24] Also in February 1985 Claire Gung died. [25]
The Baháʼí Faith in Cameroon was established when the country was separated into two colonies - British and French Cameroon. The first Baháʼí in Cameroon was Enoch Olinga, who had left his homeland of Uganda to bring the religion to British Cameroon in 1953. Meherangiz Munsiff, a young Indian woman who had moved from Britain, arrived in French Cameroon April 1954 - both Olinga and Munsiff were honoured with the title Knight of Baháʼu'lláh. In 2003 Baháʼís estimated there were 40,000 adherents of the religion in the country. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated about 50800 Baháʼís in 2005.
The Baháʼí Faith in Kenya began with three individuals. First, Richard St. Barbe Baker took a constructive engagement with the indigenous religion of Kenyans to a United Kingdom conference on religions, where, in sympathy with his efforts, he was presented with the Baháʼí Faith and became a convert. The second individual was Enoch Olinga who traveled to Kenya when he served in the British Royal Army Educational Corps. The third came twenty-one years after the first and marked the arrival of the Baháʼí Faith in Kenya. In 1945 Mrs. Marguerite Preston arrived in Kenya. She had been a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom from 1939 through 1945 when she married a Kenyan tea grower and moved to Kenya where the couple had three children within two years and she was the only Baháʼí in the nation. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated about 429,000 Baháʼís in Kenya in 2005.
After an isolated presence in the late 1920s, the Baháʼí Faith in Nigeria begins with pioneering Baháʼís coming to Sub-Saharan West Africa in the 1950s especially following the efforts of Enoch Olinga who directly and indirectly affected the growth of the religion in Nigeria. Following growth across West Africa a regional National Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1956. As the community multiplied across cities and became diverse in its engagements, it elected its own National Spiritual Assembly by 1979. Estimates of membership vary widely - a 2001 estimate by Operation World showed 1000 Baháʼís in 2001 while the Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 38,000 Baháʼís in 2005.
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 estimated about 78,500; however, National Population & Housing Census, 2014 recorded only 29,601.
In 1916-1917 a series of letters by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, asked the followers of the religion to take the religion to regions of Africa; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan. In 1929 Shoghi Effendi, then Guardian of the religion, was the first Baháʼí to visit the area. In 1953 several Baháʼís settled in what was then South Rhodesia as pioneers. Along with indigenous conversions in 1955 the Baháʼís formed the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly was formed in Harare. By the end of 1963 there were 9 assemblies and more smaller groups and isolated members of the religion. While still a colony of the United Kingdom, the Baháʼís nevertheless organized a separate National Spiritual Assembly in 1964. Though Rhodesia declared independence in 1965, succeeding political developments and wars changed the status of the country and the National Assembly was reformed and has continued since 1970 while Zimbabwe regained independence in 1980. By 2003, the 50th anniversary of the Baháʼís in Zimbabwe, a year of events across the country culminated with a conference of Baháʼís from all provinces of Zimbabwe and nine countries. There were 43 local spiritual assemblies in 2003.
The Baháʼí Faith in Dominica begins with a mention by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, in 1916 as Latin America being among the places Baháʼís should take the religion to. The island of Dominica was specifically listed as an objective for plans on spreading the religion in 1939 by Shoghi Effendi, who succeeded ʻAbdu'l-Baha as head of the religion. In 1983, William Nedden is credited with being the first pioneer to Dominica at the festivities associated with the inaugural election of the Dominican Baháʼís National Spiritual Assembly with Hand of the Cause, Dhikru'llah Khadem representing the Universal House of Justice. Later research records Ivor Ellard arrived two days before, April 17, 1966. The first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly of Dominica was elected in 1976. Since then, Baháʼís have participated in several projects for the benefit of the wider community, and in 2001 various sources report between less than 1.4% and up to 1.7% of the island's approximately 70,000 citizens are Baháʼís.
The Baháʼí Faith in Laos begins after a brief mention by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1916 and the first Baháʼí enters Laos in about 1955. The first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly is known to be first elected by 1958 in Vientiane and eventually Laos' own National Spiritual Assembly is first elected in 1967. The current community is approximately eight thousand adherents and four centers: Vientiane, Vientiane Province, Kaysone Phomvihane, Pakxe and smaller populations in other provinces. While well established and able to function as communities in these cities, Baháʼís have a harder time in other provinces and cannot print their own religious materials. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated almost 14000 Baháʼís in 2005.
The Baháʼí Faith in Iceland began with Baháʼís first visiting the Iceland in the early 20th century, and the first Icelandic Baháʼí was Hólmfríður Árnadóttir. The Baháʼí Faith was recognized as a religious community in 1966 and the first Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1972. Currently there are around 400 Baháʼís in the country and 13 Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assemblies. The number of assemblies is the highest percentage, by population, in all of Europe.
The Baháʼí Faith in Senegal begins after ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, mentioned Africa as a place the religion should be more broadly visited by Baháʼís. The first to set foot in the territory of French West Africa that would become Senegal arrived in 1953. The first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly of Senegal was elected in 1966 in Dakar. In 1975 the Baháʼí community elected the first National Spiritual Assembly of Senegal. Baháʼís claimed there are 34 local assemblies in 2003. The most recent estimate, by the Association of Religion Data Archives in a 2005 report estimates the population of Senegalese Baháʼís at 24700.
The Baháʼí Faith in the Democratic Republic of the Congo begins after ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote letters encouraging taking the religion to Africa in 1916. The first Baháʼí to settle in the country came in 1953 from Uganda. The first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly of the country was elected in 1957. By 1963 there were 143 local assemblies in Congo. Even though the religion was temporarily banned, and the country torn by wars, the religion grew so that in 2003 there were some 541 assemblies. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 290,900 Baháʼís in 2005.
The Baháʼí Faith in Italy dates from 1899 - the earliest known date for Baháʼís in Italy. Baháʼí sources currently claim about 3,000 adherents in Italy in over 300 locations. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 5000 Baháʼís in Italy in 2005.
The relationship between Baháʼí Faith and Native Americans has a history reaching back to the lifetime of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and has multiplied its relationships across the Americas. Individuals have joined the religion and institutions have been founded to serve Native Americans and conversely have Native Americans serve on Baháʼí institutions.
The Baháʼí Faith in Tanzania begins when the first pioneer, Claire Gung, arrived in 1950 in what was then called Tanganyika. With the first Tanganyikan to join the religion in 1952 the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1952 of Tanganyika in Dar es Salaam. In 1956 a regional Baháʼí Assembly which included Tanganyika was elected. Later each of the constituent countries successively formed their own independent Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly and Tanganyika, with Zanzibar, formed its own in 1964 and it and the country was renamed Tanzania. Since 1986 the Baháʼís have operated the Ruaha Secondary School as a Baháʼí school. In 2005 Baháʼís were estimated at 163,800 adherents.
The Baháʼí Faith in Equatorial Guinea begins after ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote letters encouraging taking the religion to Africa in 1916. The first pioneer to Spanish Guinea was Elise Lynelle who arrived in Bata, Spanish Guinea, on 17 May 1954, and was recognized as a Knight of Baha'u'llah. In 1968 the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Equatorial Guinea was elected in Santa Isabel,. The community has elected a National Spiritual Assembly since 1984. The community celebrated its golden jubilee in 2004. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 3,500 Baháʼís in 2005.
The Baháʼí Faith in Hungary started in various mentions of the religion in the 19th century followed by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's trip to Hungary in 1913 when Hungary's first Baháʼí joined the religion. The community suffered from World War II and communist rule until the 1980s. The National Assembly was elected in 1992 and in 2002 Baháʼí sources claimed 1100 and 1200 Baháʼís in Hungary, many of which are Roma. In 2010 the Association of Religion Data Archives estimated 290 Baháʼís in Hungary.
The history of the Baháʼí Faith in Africa dates back to the lifetimes of the three individual heads of the religion, Baháʼu'lláh, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi, each of who was in Africa at least once. The Association of Religion Data Archives lists many larger and smaller populations in Africa with Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Zambia among the top ten numerical populations of Baháʼís in the world in 2005, and Mauritius highest in terms of percentage of the national population. There are Baháʼí Houses of Worship in Uganda, Kenya, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A plan for a House of Worship in Zambia was announced in 2023.
The Baháʼí Faith in Bolivia begins with references to the country in Baháʼí literature as early as 1916. The first Baháʼí to arrive in Bolivia was in 1940 through the beginning of the arrival of coordinated pioneers, people who chose to move for the growth of the religion, from the United States. That same year the first Bolivian joined the religion. The first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in La Paz in 1945 and the first native Bolivian formally joined the religion in 1956 which soon began spreading widely amongst indigenous Bolivians. The community elected an independent National Spiritual Assembly in 1961. By 1963 there were hundreds of local assemblies. The Baháʼí Faith is currently the largest international religious minority in Bolivia. The largest population of Baháʼís in South America is in Bolivia, a country whose general population is estimated to be 55%-70% indigenous and 30%-42% Mestizo, with a Baháʼí population estimated at 217,000 in 2005 according to the Association of Religion Data Archives.
The Baháʼí Faith in Trinidad and Tobago begins with a mention by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, in 1916 as the Caribbean was among the places Baháʼís should take the religion to. The first Baháʼí to visit came in 1927 while pioneers arrived by 1956 and the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1957 In 1971 the first Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly was elected. A count of the community then noted 27 assemblies with Baháʼís living in 77 locations. Since then Baháʼís have participated in several projects for the benefit of the wider community and between 2005 and 2010 various sources report near 1.2% of the country, about 10,000–16,000 citizens, are Baháʼís.
The Baháʼí Faith in Botswana begins after ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then leader of the Baháʼí Faith, wrote letters encouraging taking the religion to Africa in 1916. The first Baháʼí pioneers arrived in Botswana about October 1954, where they befriended many Africans. The first election of Botswana's Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly was in 1970. The 2001 national census counts approximately 700 Baháʼís. However, the Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 16,500 Baháʼís in Botswana as of 2010.
The Baháʼí Faith in Tunisia begins circa 1910 when the first Baháʼí arrives, possibly from Egypt. In 1956, at Ridván, a marked holy day of the religion and a day on which major elections are held, three new Regional Spiritual Assemblies were established including that of North-West Africa with the chairmanship of Enoch Olinga In 1963, a survey of the community counted 1 assembly and 18 organized groups of Baháʼís in Tunisia. US State Department 2001 estimates mention the Baháʼí community at about 150 persons. However, Association of Religion Data Archives and several other sources point to over 1000 Baháʼís in the country.
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