# Olinga, Enoch

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Richard Francis, Olinga, Enoch, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Olinga, Enoch
> 
> Richard Francis
> 
> 1998
> 
> Enoch Olinga was
> born on June 24, 1926 as the second son to Samusan Okadakina and Eseza Iyamitai in Soroti
> County, Uganda. His parents were
> devout Christians and members of the Native Anglican Church of Uganda. He was also a member of the
> Atesot tribe, of the Aatekok or Iraraka clan from the Teso region of the north-eastern
> part of Uganda.
> 
> In 1927, Enoch's family moved to the village of Tilling where he
> received his schooling locally and at the nearby town of Ngora. He later attended
> high-school in Mbale. In 1941, he joined the British Army Education Corps and went to Nairobi in
> Kenya. He later transferred to the East African King's Rifles Corps in South East
> Asia, visiting Burma, Bangladesh (then East
> Pakistan), Ceylon,
> and India. At the age of
> twenty, he returned to Uganda and joined the Government Department of Public Relations and
> Welfare, stationed in Soroti and Mbale. He wrote two books in Atesot. his native
> language, that assisted the Governmental Education Department in the Teso District. Around
> 1950, he moved to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.
> 
> Enoch was now married, with children. He was developing personal
> problems and becoming disillusioned with life. The government service that employed him,
> despite his long record of service and noted capacities, dismissed him because of
> alcoholism.
> 
> In 1951, Enoch came into contact with the Bahá'í Faith through `Ali Nakhiavani, the
> son-in-law of the Bananis, Persian Bahá'í pioneers; and upon enrollment, he gave up
> all alcohol. However, this was too late to save his government career.
> 
> Enoch Olinga was the third Ugandan and the first of the Teso tribe
> to declare his belief in Bahá’u’lláh. He had become a close friend of
> `Ali and regularly was in attendance at Bahá'í meetings at the Banani home, 3 Kitante
> Road. On account of his remarkable transformation in conduct, his wife soon became
> a Bahá'í. Then many others followed and by Ridván (April 21, 1952) the first of
> several Local Spiritual Assemblies in Uganda were formed. Shortly afterward, Enoch
> returned to his native village of Tilling to spread the glad tidings of
> Bahá’u’lláh. In a few weeks, the mass enrollments begun, the first
> trumpet blast of `entry by troops' predicted by `Abdu'l-Bahá. The following year, nine more Assemblies
> were formed.
> 
> In 1953, the first of four Intercontinental Conferences was held
> in Kampala, February 12-18 and Shoghi Effendi hailed with a `joyous heart', the large
> number of new believers. The next year, Enoch responded to the appeal for pioneers
> to open up new territories and became a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh. He was
> also elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of North-West Africa. That same
> year,Enoch made a precarious, overland journey to what was then known as Cameroon, becoming the first to open that
> country to the Faith, holding this pioneer post for ten years. One of the
> outstanding believers who found the Faith through the teaching work of Enoch Olinga was
> David Tanyi, the first believer in the entire Cameroon province, later becoming a Knight
> of Bahá’u’lláh for French Togoland.
> Discretion often had to be used when teaching and making travel plans in order to avoid
> arousing the suspicions of the local governmental authorities, for persons of diverse
> backgrounds and ancestry were often suspected of covert activities.
> 
> It was during this time, Enoch wrote his first letter to Shoghi
> Effendi, describing the outcome of the teaching work and asked that he may be permitted to
> stay at his pioneering post. In 1956, Enoch was elected chairman of the newly formed National Spiritual Assembly of
> North-West Africa, headquartered in Tunis. In the span of three years, twenty-nine of
> the thirty-three virgin territories were opened to the Faith.
> 
> During February 1957, with the assistance of Dr. Ugo Giachery, Enoch
> was, with some difficulty, granted a current passport and visa to visit the Guardian in Haifa, and
> arrived in the Holy Land on February 3rd, staying for ten days. The love showered upon him
> by Shoghi Effendi affected him for the rest of his life. He returned to West Africa
> enkindled with the love of Bahá’u’lláh and made arraignments to move his
> family. The teaching work in the British territories of West Africa continued. It was on a
> visit to Uganda, October 2, 1957, when he was notified through a cable received by Mr. Banani that he was, along with John Roberts and William Sears, elevated to the rank of Hand of the Cause of God.
> 
> Bahá'i Temple of Africa
> 
> One month later, he
> received the word of the Guardians passing. Enoch was unable to attend Shoghi Effendi's
> funeral in London but was in attendance for the first Conclave of the Hands in Bahji on
> November 18, 1957.
> 
> Rúhíyyih Khánum
> recalls one of his most endearing qualities was his: "great joyous, consuming and
> contagious laugh." He attended the laying of the foundation stone of the Mother
> Temple of Africa at Kampala on February 14, 1957. He worked at the World Center
> until 1963. He returned to live in East Africa and found his relation with
> his wife Eunica, going from bad to worse. They separated and divorced; he went to
> Nairobi with his second wife, Elizabeth and all of his children, facing numerous
> difficulties during the dark days after the passing of the Guardian.[1] Finally, he
> returned to live in his native village of Tilling in Teso, Uganda and built a house.
> Though the loving guidance of the Universal House of Justice, he once again began to
> travel teach for the Faith. In the spring of 1963, he was chosen to be chairman of the
> opening session of the First Bahá'i
> World Congress, held in London.
> 
> Enoch met heads of state during his many visits to different
> countries, including one with the Dalai Lama in
> Dharamsala, India, during October 1968. Over many years of service, often
> accompanied by his wife Elizabeth, he traveled and stimulated the Bahá'ís and met with
> high officials. He would often bring the Faith before pubic and media. After
> Mr. Banani 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 Island, and
> Japan. In 1977, He represented the Universal House of Justice at the International
> Teaching Conference held in Brazil and then attended the International Teaching Conference
> in Merida, Mexico where the instructor of this deepening series was given the honor of
> meeting and conversing with him. He returned to Uganda that same year to help
> protect and preserve the Bahá'i Community there during a civil war.
> 
> In September, 1977, the Bahá'í Faith was banned in Uganda by the
> new dictatorial government headed by Idi
> Amin.[2] All administrative institutions had to be closed. In march of the
> same year, Enoch was in a terrible automobile accident when his car was rammed and knocked
> down the side of a hill by a troop transport; he was subsequently robbed by the soldiers
> and left for dead. He commented that if it weren't for Bahá’u’lláh, he
> would have died in that accident. Two days later, his son Badí was kidnapped by
> soldiers. He arranged for his wife and youngest child, Tahirih to return to Tilling.
> The train they traveled on was strafed by bullets several different times, inflicting many
> casualties. However, they were not harmed. Badí returned and Enoch promptly
> sent him and his brother Patrick on to Tilling to be reunited with their mother. He
> was too weak to make the journey himself because of the accident. Kampala was being
> heavily bombarded and Enoch was persuaded to seek refuge on the
> Temple property. He made
> his way there on foot, under extreme pain, struggling against the crowds of people trying
> to flee the city.[3] That night, a fierce artillery battle raged around the Temple
> where he spent the night in prayer. The next day, the temple still stood, undamaged.
> He soon returned to his house, finding it being looted. He was accused of being one
> of Idi Amin's men but somehow was able to convince the mob otherwise. He returned to the
> Temple and assisted in its protection.
> 
> Gradually, the conditions improved and the Universal House of
> Justice was able to appoint an interim administrative body to reorganize the Bahá'í
> activities and properties. Enoch spent his days working at the Bahá'í Temple and
> assisting the Administrative Committee. He refurbished his home in Kampala and his
> family joined him there.
> 
> It was on Sunday, September 16, 1979, five soldiers in unmarked
> uniforms knocked on the door.
> 
> The houseboy recalled: "At about 8:30, I heard someone shaking
> the gate to the compound and, looking through the window, saw five armed men walking
> towards the back door leading to the kitchen. They shouted `open' and banged on the
> door. Lennie opened the door and there was a sound of shots. I fled over the fence
> to hide in the neighbor's bushes and remained there in terror all night. I wasn't able to
> see anything but heard shooting and other sounds going on for about two hours.
> At
> dawn, I ventured out of hiding and went to the house, seeing the body of Enoch lying in
> the courtyard and inside, all in an inner bedroom, the bodies of Elizabeth, Tahirih, Lennie and Badí, heaped on the floor where they had fallen when shot to death."
> [4]
> 
> On September 24, 1979, Enoch Olinga was laid to rest in a burial
> plot near the Temple, next to that of Musa Banani, his fellow Hand of the Cause of God;
> one was designated the `Spiritual Conqueror of Africa' now joined by the `Father of
> Victories'.
> 
> Notes:
> 
> It is often a cultural custom among African tribesmen
> to practice polygamy; Enoch Olinga had two wives. (Research by the author).
> 
> Idi Amin was making the news almost daily during the
> later nineteen seventies. The author recalls the announcement in September 1977 that he had
> band several organizations from Uganda, including the Bahá'í Faith, and
> it was thought that he stated:
> "Such a belief doesn't fit my agenda."( KABL San Francisco).
> 
> Numerous stories of brutality have come forth centered
> around Idi Amin. One of the most noteworthy was posted in Time Magazine in October
> 1977: It stated that he killed one of his three wives because he believed she had
> conspired to have him poisoned. He then dismembered the corps and arranged the
> severed limbs backward. Upon showing the atrocity to his children, he was reported
> to remark: " See what happens to bad mothers." (Time Magazine article)
> 
> Another story of Idi Amin concerned the Mother Temple
> of Africa: He was reported through communication by Bahá'í caretakers to frequently visit
> the Mother Temple of Africa, instructing his body guards to wait outside. He would then
> enter the Temple alone and remain in solitude for a considerable period of time before
> calling to his trusted guards that he was ready to leave. Could the mystical power of God
> have comforted his poor, demented soul? (Bobby Nicolas-oral communication,
> Gallup, New
> Mexico).
> 
> The United States State Department has denied it,
> but it is speculated by many political scientists that the Central Intelligence Agency was
> supporting an effort to overthrow the regime of Idi Amin. He in turn, was receiving
> support by the Soviet Union during what has sometimes been termed a "Cold War"
> diplomacy. Idi Amin was overthrown in 1978 after Tanzanian troops
> invaded Kampala. He fled first to Libya, then Iraq and most recently to
> Saudi Arabia. He died in Jeddah's King Faisal Hospital on August 16,
> 2003 from kidney failure after remaining in a coma for nearly a month.
> (Oral communication -Anonymous, VAO News.com ).
> 
> This is a common practice used in third world
> nations as a terrorist ploy by covert activist and drug lords. Similar activity has
> occasionally been practiced by counter cultural groups such as that of Charles Manson in
> the United States in 1968. (oral communication)
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views27591 views since posted 2004-10-07; last edit 2016-05-03 20:26 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../francis_olinga_biography;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> Citation: ris/1565
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> — *Olinga, Enoch (Used by permission of the curator)*