Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Rúhíyyih Khánum, Enoch Olinga: Hand of the Cause of God, Nairobi, Kenya: Bahá'i Publishing Agency, 2001, bahai-library.com. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Enoch Oli11ga. Hand u/rhe Cause of God. 1957 ENOCH OLINGA HAND OF THE CAUSE OF GOD The memorial article by Ruhiyyih Rabbani With The reminiscences of Rowshan Mustapha Baha'i Publishing Agency P.O. Bo, 47562 Nairobi. Ken,áa Tel: •254-2-725557 / 725-147 e~mail:bpakenyarU: 2lphane1.cn.ke ©2001 All rights reserved including reproduction of any photographs herein not previously published under copyright. Ruhiyyih Rabbani Enoch Olinga Hand of the Cause of God 1. Olinga, Enoch. 2. Baha'is - Biography l. Mustapha, Rowshan II. Title: Enoch Olinga Hand of the Cause of God ISBN 9966-891-02-1 Printed in Kenya by: Modem Lithographic (K) Ltd. 0 my Lord! 0 my Lord! This is a lamp lighted by the fire of Thy love and ablaze with the flame which is ignited in the tree of Thy mercy. 0 my Lord! Increase his enkindlement, heat and flame, with the fire which is kindled in the Sinai of Thy Manifestation. Verily, Thou art the Confirmer, the Assister, the Powerful, the Generous, the Loving. 'Abdu'l-Baha Contents Illustrations v1 Introduction xn Part I: Enoch Olinga, Hand of the l Cause of God, by Rul}fyyih Rabbanf Part II: Enoch Olinga, 52 Reminiscences of moments with him, by Rowshan Mustapha Notes 104 Index 106 Illustrations Frontispiece Enoch Olinga, Hand of the Cause of God, 1957 Plate Between pages 23 and 24 1 First four native Baha'fs in Uganda, 1952 2 Enoch Olinga as a young Baha'f 3 Enoch and Eunice Olinga with their baby Florence, the first child to be born after they became Baha'fs 4 The first Local Spiritual Assembly of Kampala, 1952 5 The first Baha'fs of the British Cameroons, with pioneer Enoch Olinga, 1954 6 Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga speaking at the Baha'f World Congress, London, 1963 7 Hand of the Cause of God Olinga speaking at the Baha' f World Congress, London, 1963, with view of fellow Hands and audience vi 8 Baha'i World Congress, London, 1963: Group of African Baha'fs, including Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga, presenting a selection of songs with Baha'i themes Between pages 51 and 52 9 'Akka, Israel, 1957, the historic gathering of the Hands of the Cause of God at Bahji shortly after the passing of the Guardian 1o 'Akka, Israel, 1961, Hands of the Cause of God at Bahji, Tarazu'llah Samandari, Amatu'l-Baha RuJ.1fyyihKhanum, Abu'l- Qasim Faizi, Enoch Olinga 11 'Akka, Israel, 1957, Hands of the Cause of God at Bahji, Hermann Grossmann, William Sears, Enoch Olinga 12 Germany, 1972, Hands of the Cause of God at the Plon Conference, Enoch Olinga, Abu'l-Qasim Faizi, Dr. Adelbert Muhlschlegel 13 Haifa, Israel, 1973, Hands of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga and Dr. Ral).matu'llah Muhajir at the Shrine of the Bab 14 Merida, Mexico, 3 February 1977, Hands of the Cause of God Paul Haney and Enoch Olinga inviting the Governor to the Merida Conference Vll Plate 15 Kampala, Uganda, Riqvan 1969, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga with the National Spiritual Assembly of Uganda and Central Africa 16 Zambia, 1967, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga with the National Spiritual Assembly of Zambia 17 Freetown, Sierra Leone, 19-20 April 1975, First National Convention of the Baha'is of Sierra Leone, with Hand of Cause of God Enoch Olinga 18 Singapore, 1-3 January 1971, Oceanic Conference, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga with a blind Malaysian believer, Luke Lee, who volunteered to pioneer 19 Singapore, 1-3 January 1971, Oceanic Conference, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga greeting Mrs. George Lee 20 Tejeria, Department of Cochabamba, Bolivia, June 1970, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga with the Indian Baha'is of the community of Tejerfa 21 Nashville, Tennessee, United States, October 1970, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga with Baha'i friends viii Plate 22 Bangui, Central African Republic, November 1974, Hand of Cause of God Enoch Olinga at the Nineteen Day Feast 23 Solomon Islands, December 1970, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga holding baby 24 Shiraoi, Hokkaido, Japan, December 1970, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga holding Japanese Baha'i child 25 Indonesia, 1971, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga with Baha,'f children 26 Bogota, Colombia, July 1970, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga with Baha'f children 27 Turangawaewae, New Zealand, 18 October 1958, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga addressing Maori gathering 28 Saskatchewan, Canada, 1970, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga in native headdress with Indian Baha'fs taking part in teaching project 29 Badjiran Village, The Gambia, June 1976, local Baha' fs in front of new centre with Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga ix Plate 30 Hokkaido, Japan, December 1970, Baha'i friends in the centre at Shiraoi with Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga 31 Fiji, 1971, Baha'i friends of Fiji with Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga 32 Singapore, January 1971, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga with Baha'f friends at the Oceanic Conference 33 Stavanger, Norway, 1972, Baha'i friends with Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga and Mrs. Elizabeth Olinga 34 Bahia, Salvador, January 1977, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga and his wife Elizabeth at the Ba~fratu'I-Quds 35 Kampala, Uganda, September 1979, Olinga family and friends, last photograph taken of the Hand of the Cause before his murder (two weeks later) Between pages 72 and 73 36 'Akka, Israel, 1961, Hands of the Cause of God, John Robarts, Tarazu'llah Samandarf, Enoch Olinga X Plate 37 The Hands of the Cause of God for Africa, William Sears, Musa Bananf, Enoch Olinga and John Robarts 38 Tunis, Tunisia, Ri0van 1956, First National Convention of the Baha'fs of Northwest Africa, with Hand of Cause of God Musa Bananf 39 Region of Northwest Africa as it was in 1956 under the jurisdiction of the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Northwest Africa 40 Tunis, Tunisia, April 1956, the first National Spiritual Assembly of Northwest Africa 41 Tunis, Tunisia, circa January 1958, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga holding baby Olinga, first Baha' f child to be named after him 42 Tunis, Tunisia, early 1960, Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga holding child, Olinga Mustapha XI Introduction "Of all the places in the world where the Baha' f Faith exists and is spreading, the Guardian is definitely most pleased with Africa, and most proud of Uganda. He feels that the spirit shown by white and negro pioneers alike in that continent, presents a challenge to the Baha' fs everywhere in the world, and that old and staid communities may well learn from, and emulate the example of, the believers of Africa, many of them scarcely a year old in the Cause of God!" 1 At the centre of the great teaching success referred to in this remarkable statement made on Shoghi Effendi's behalf is the story (among others) that Amatu'l-Baha Rt'.il)fyyih Khanum tells us in the pages that follow. It is a story about a great teacher of the Baha' f Faith-one who was not only a Hand of the Cause of God, a Knight of Baha'u'llah, and a "Chief Steward of Baha'u'llah's embryonic World Commonwealth", but whom Shoghi Effendi named, uniquely in this present cycle of human existence, Abu'l-Futt'.il): "Father of Victories", because of his selfless service and singular achievements in the field of teaching. This was Enoch Olinga. He was a young man whose life was transformed when he heard of the Faith in 1952 in Uganda; and who went on to drink the sweet elixir of pioneering, to kindle the faith of unnumbered souls and, in the hearts of these new believers, to "plant the seed of the tree of the love for the Covenant. "2 We are further privileged that this important and inspiring article, which Amatu'l-Baha Ru}:lfyyihKhanum had, at one time, expressed the desire to have circulated among the African friends in their languages, is now being disseminated in this present accessible form, not only in Africa, but throughout the world. A number of the African believers will, no doubt, tend to its translation into their native tongues, as will believers in many lands. Following this article are Rowshan Mustapha's memories of Mr. Olinga. These immortal remembrances give us further details of Enoch Olinga's life before being appointed Hand of the Cause of God and reveal, in many ways, the spiritual potentials Shoghi ~ffendi saw in him. They include his work on the National Spiritual Assembly of Northwest Africa and the early teaching committee for West Africa. There are also fascinating excerpts from letters he wrote before and after becoming a Hand of the Cause. These letters give us insights into his deep knowledge and great faith, as well as a glimpse of the stirring poetry of his language. There are stories of his perseverance and his marvellous sense of humour. In this book, we come to know one of the "divinely appointed, tried, and victorious souls", a Hand of the Cause of God who with others of Xlll his station "brought the Cause safely to victory in the name of Shoghi Effendi".3 We learn, as well, about the spiritual life. The tests and trials Enoch Olinga passed through so victoriously, which both parts of the book indicate, his detachment, and his success in making "the Faith come first" are great lessons for all of us. So too are his intrepid and swift advances along the path of teaching, which, please God, will encourage each of us to "invite people of every sort and every gift to the banquet table of the Lord of Hosts". 4 There is doubtless a wisdom in the production of this book at a time the Universal House of Justice has signaled is "one of the most critical times in the life of the planet." 5 And about one, whose conversion to the Faith came as a precious raindrop just before that cloud-burst of teaching, and whose subsequent services impelled still further that first flood of new believers, described by Amatu'l-Baha Rul).iyyih Khanum as "the first blast on the trumpet of 'entry by troops' predicted and so much hoped for by 'Abdu'l-Baha."6 Felicity Enayat 1999 XIV PARTI ENOCH OLINGA 24 June 1926-16 September 1979* By Rul].fyyihRabbanf Enoch Olinga came from a family of devout Christian converts taught by the Church Missionary Society, now the Native Anglican Church of Uganda. His people lived in the Teso northeastern part of the country and belonged to the Atesot tribe, of the clan of Aatekok or Iraraka. His father, Samusan Okadakina, of the village of Tilling in Ngora County, volunteered in 1920 to take Christianity to Soroti County where he became a catechist in the church, and where, in 1921, he married, according to church ritual, Eseza Iyamitai, who gave birth on 24 June 1926, in the village of Abaango, to her second son, Enoch. In 1927 Enoch's father returned to his permanent home in Tilling-a name which * As first published in The Baha'i World, vol. XVIII, 1979-1983, pp. 618-35. will forever be associated not only with Africa's only native Hand of the Cause, but with the first substantial conversion of the African people to the Faith of Baha'u'llah, an event which was a source of immense joy and pride to the heart of the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. Enoch's stature must be seen against a unique period in Baha'f history, for he accepted this new Faith of God shortly after its introduction into black Africa through a vast planned drive to carry Baha'u'llah's message to its people. During the last thirty years of Baha'u'llah' s ministry a few of His followers living in Egypt and the Sudan were the recipients of His praise and encouragement; during 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry the Faith had reached Tunis, and for the first time some of its occidental supporters, greatly encouraged by the Master, were spreading its message in southern Africa; it remained, however, for the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, at the time of the British National Spiritual Assembly's two-year interim plan in 1950-1952, to truly inaugurate the spiritual conquest of Africa through the strong support and guidance he gave to Persian, British and American believers to pioneer there. This initial step he followed up on a grand scale through the provisions of his World Crusade, inaugurated in 1953-a Ten Year Plan which, among other objectives, was to open to the Faith 131 virgin territories in the five continents of the globe; many of its objectives concerned the work in Africa, whose pioneers were responsible for the phenomenally rapid spread of the Teachings amongst a race whom Baha'u'llah Himself had compared to "the black pupil of the eye" through which "the light of the spirit shineth forth "-a statement fraught with profound implications, for the sight of the eye is in the pupil. The current of Enoch Olinga' s destiny carried him towards a fixed point; for the ten years after his father returned to Tilling in 1927, Enoch received his schooling locally and at Ngora, a small town not far from his home; later he went to high school in Mbale; during World War II, in 1941, he joined the British Army Education Corps and went to Nairobi in Kenya, later serving in the East African King's Rifles Corps in South East Asia, visiting Burma, East Pakistan, Ceylon and India. By 1946 he had returned to Uganda, a young man of twenty, and joined the Government Department of Public Relations and Welfare. For a time he was stationed in Soroti and Mbale, producing two books in his own language, Ateso, which were of assistance to the Government Education Department in the Teso district; later he moved to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. By the time Enoch came in contact with the Faith in 1951 his personal life had assumed an entirely new aspect; he was now married and had his first children; he was a gifted translator working for the government, but also a somewhat disillusioned man who had become a very heavy drinker, a fact of which the government service that employed him had become aware and which led to his dismissal, in spite of his marked capacity and relatively long record of service. Unfortunately the reports on this serious impairment to the discharge of his duties had already gone through when Enoch accepted the Faith and upon his enrolment gave up all alcohol immediately. Enoch was the third Ugandan to accept Baha'u'llah, but the first of the Teso tribe; he heard about the Faith from a friend who introduced him to 'Alf Nakbjavanf, the son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Bananf who had left Persia to pioneer, in response to the wishes of Shoghi Effendi; had proceeded to Africa and settled in Uganda with their daughter Violette, her husband 'Alf, and their daughter, aged three, arriving there in 1951; Mr. Bananf purchased a home in the heart of Kampala, at 3 Kitante Road; events were to take place there, of both joy and grief, which are inextricably interwoven with the unfoldment of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan in that continent. Once Enoch had met 'Alf a friendship began to unfold and Enoch attended the regular evening meetings held for enquirers in the Bananf home, where the warmth of this Persian Baha'i household greatly attracted him. In February 1952 Mr. and Mrs. Bananf left on their pilgrimage to the World Centre, and it was agreed that during this time the pioneers in Kampala would hold a special meeting for all the Africans who were interested in the Faith and that this would coincide with the time in Haifa when the Guardian usually visited the Shrines; Mr. Bananf would inform him of this and ask for special prayers. Shoghi Effendi was happy to comply with this request, and he and Mr. Banani visited the Shrines together at that hour. Enoch attended that meeting in Kampala-but nothing happened! The three pioneers-the Nakhjavanis and Philip Hainsworth-felt very discouraged. Later that night, however, he returned, posed many questions and ended up by asking "How does one become a Baha'i?" Early the following morning he appeared with a letter requesting to be accepted as a believer; from the very beginning Enoch had avidly read every Baha'i book he could get, and this laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of the Teachings. Mrs. Olinga, making no secret of the fact that it was the remarkable transformation in her husband's conduct since he had become a Baha'i that influenced her decision, also embraced the Faith. Gradually others swelled its numbers in Kampala so that by 21 April 1952, the first, historic Local Spiritual Assembly of Uganda, of which Enoch was a member, could be elected in that city. Some months later Enoch returned to his Teso home in Tilling to spread the glad tidings of Baha'u'llah's teachings and aroused such interest that he returned to Kampala and persuaded 'Alf to visit Tilling, as the people there wanted to see with their own eyes the white man who had converted Enoch to this new doctrine. 'Alf, first with Enoch as interpretor, lat~r with Enos Epyeru, one of the first Teso believers, travelled and taught in the Teso district for several weeks, where regular enrolment now began, one of the first being Enoch's own father, who became a very staunch Baha'i. In the beginning of January 1953-eight months after the Local Assembly of Kampala was formed-the Guardian cabled the Baha'i world: SHARE BAHAI COMMUNITIES EAST WEST THRILLING REPORTS FEATS ACHIEVED HEROIC BAND PIONEERS LABOURING DIVERS WIDELY SCATTERED AFRICAN TERRITORIES PARTICULARLY UGANDA, and went on to liken these feats to episodes related in the Book of Acts in the Bible and to the rapid and dramatic propagation of our own Faith by the Dawn- Breakers of its Heroic Age. He stated that what was happening in Africa eclipsed even the marvellous accomplishments in Latin America and surpassed the exploits which immortalized the European Crusade. Shoghi Effendi attached great importance to the identity of people; the believers were never an amorphous mass who accepted Baha'u'llah; they were individuals, interesting, like the coloured pieces that make up a beautiful mosaic picture. It was at this moment that the spotlight went to Uganda and was held there till the end of Shoghi Effendi's life. In that same cable he went on to say: NUMBER AFRICANS CONVERTED CAUSE LAST FIFTEEN MONTHS RESIDING KAMPALA OUTLYING DISTRICTS PROTEST ANT CATHOLIC PAGAN BACKGROUNDS LETTERED UNLETTERED BOTH SEXES REPRESENTATIVE NO LESS SIXTEEN TRIBES PASSED TWO HUNDRED. This was the II first blast on the trumpet of entry by troops 11 predicted and so much hoped for by 'Abdu'l- Baha. In that same cable the Guardian announced that no less than nine localities would be qualified in Ri9van to form their Local Assemblies; still more significant, however, was his announcement that he would send to the first of the four Intercontinental Conferences to be held in 1953-which was the African one held in Kampala- a copy of the portrait of the Bab, the showing of which he was confident would bring the new African believers CLOSER SPIRIT MARTYR-PROPHET FAITH AND BESTOW EVERLASTING BENEDICTION ALL GATHERED MEMORABLE SESSIONS EPOCH-MAKING CONFERENCE. It was Enoch, the new Baha'f, who found himself on the Kampala Local Assembly, caught up with veteran believers in making plans for this unique and historic gathering. When Enoch had been disheartened over losing his job, Mr. Bananf in a flight of prophecy, had rallied his spirit, assuring him he would get an even better job-which he later did. The Conference was to be held from February 12th to 18th and the Guardian himself had placed a sum of money in charge of Mr. Bananf to be used exclusively to bring some of the new Baha'is as his guests. As the "mass conversion" was taking place in Teso, this meant that about 200 people would be brought down by bus from this northeastern province, which was a trip of over 200 miles. 'Alf Nakbjavanf went to escort the friends and invite them to be Shoghi Effendi's guests. When the men got on the buses many of the women wept and wailed because they were afraid their men were being taken off to be slaves! In his greeting and message to this "epochmaking" Conference, which the Guardian hailed with "joyous heart", he said "welcome with open arms the unexpectedly large number of the representatives of the pure-hearted and spiritually receptive Negro race" and pointed out that their continent had retained its primitive simplicity and "remained uncontaminated" by what he characterized in scathing terms as the evils of "a gross, a rampant and cancerous materialism undermining the fabric of human society alike in the East and in the West" and "threatening to engulf in one common catastrophic convulsion the generality of mankind". Weighty words containing a weightier warning. In this message Shoghi Effendi outlines the vast amount of work lying ahead for the six sponsoring National Assemblies, the indigenous believers themselves, and their pioneer helpers. No less than thirty-three virgin territories are to be opened to the Faith and three giant Nationalreally regional in nature-Assemblies are to be formed, embracing the continent: Central and East Africa with its seat in Kampala, South and West Africa with its seat in Johannesburg, and North-West Africa with its seat in Tunis. Amongst other additional objectives, the Hand of the Cause for Africa, Mr. B anani, is to nominate during the following Ric;lvan,1954, an Auxiliary Board of nine members to assist in the tasks that lie ahead. Every one of these points touches- on Enoch's own life: it was his people, the Tesos, numbering many tens of thousands, who formed the vast majority of Baha'is in Uganda before the civil war; he responded to the appeal for pio- neers to open the thirty-three territories and himself become a Knight of Baha'u'llah; he was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of North-West Africa; he was appointed a Hand of the Cause in the last contingent of eight elevated to that rank by Shoghi Effendi just before he passed away. Enoch thus became the colleague of Musa Banani, in whose home h.e had accepted the Faith. There can be no doubt, as we look back on his life as a Baha'i, that the experience of Enoch, when he saw the portrait of the Martyr-Prophet of his Faith, did indeed bestow an "everlasting benediction" upon him. Enoch was now established in his new job and his reformed way of life-but a strong wind was blowing, the wind of God calling the souls of the receptive Baha' is to arise and hear the call of their Lord and carry His Message to far places. As Enoch's father had once arisen to carry the Christian Faith to another territory, so now Enoch and two other new Ugandan believers arose to leave family, home, job and country to carry the glad tidings of Baha'u'llah across the continent to West Africa, to some of those waiting, unopened countries. Mr. Banani, the Spiritual Conqueror of Africa, as Shoghi Effendi called him, had recently bought a small Peugeot station-wagon which he placed at their disposal. Originally the trip had been planned to take Violette to visit a Baha'i family in the Congo, but now its character entirely changed when the ever-faithful and ever-enthusiastic 'Alf volunteered to drive the three would-be pioneers across the continent in his capacity of spiritual pilot and physical chauffeur. The five set off, on 27 August 1953, with not too much money and almost no information about the route that lay ahead, on probably the most abominable roads in the world, in a passenger car certainly not equipped to cope with them. Their consolation then, and throughout the entire journey, was a cable received from their beloved Guardian on the eve of their departure: LOVING, FERVENT PRAYERS ACCOMPANYING YOU. About a week later Samson Mungono was dropped off in Kamina, in what was then the Belgian Congo (now Za'ire), which already had two non-African believers living in different parts of the country; by 26 September Max Kenyerezi, the Knight of Baha'u'llah for French Equatorial Africa (now Congo Republic), had been established in Brazzaville. The longest and hardest part of the journey, however, still lay ahead through the deep tropical jungles of Gabon; passing through a disease-decimated area, plagued by insects, constantly getting stuck in the mud, 'Alf or Enoch had to walk many miles to get help from villagers to lift their car out of the bog; so difficult was the road that in one day, during sixteen hours, they progressed only 100 kilometres. On the next day they made only 25 kilometres in fourteen hours; finally the car really broke down; Enoch volunteered to walk ahead 50 miles, with a villager as a guide, to get help from a town that reputedly had a garage; separating from Enoch distressed the N akhjavanis even more than their own plight; 'AH-no mechanic-at last succeeded in repair- ing the car's clutch sufficiently to limp along on Enoch's trail, constantly breaking down, but eventually managing to overtake him the following day after Enoch had walked 35 miles; he was exhausted from bad dysentery; in pain and very worried over them; on reaching the town 'Ali, who had been badly bitten by tsetse flies-the dread carrier of sleeping sicknessand Violette, who had also been bitten by them, went to the hospital for tests and treatment, but Enoch was so ill he was hospitalized for two days and could not travel for a week. When they had overtaken Enoch he told them that the night before, when he was alone with only strange Africans around him with whom he could not talk, afraid for his safety and the money he was carrying, full of misgivings and doubt, asking himself why he had left home and family on such a mad undertaking, he dreamed of Shoghi Effendi, who took him in his arms and held him close, and into him had poured comfort and reassurance; this dream restored his strength and affected him so profoundly he cried out in his heart to the Guardian that he was willing to go through such hardships for him every day of his life! Finally, on 10 October, the little party crossed into French Cameroons, but Enoch's objective was British Cameroons, a goal which he was to fill on behalf of the British National Spiritual Assembly. The main bridge between the two countries was down; by a long and agonizing detour the party at last drove into Mamferushing for the post office there to cable the Guardian that British Cameroons was now opened by Enoch's arrival. It was 4 p.m. and the postmaster was closing up, but 'Ali begged him to re-open so that this important cable could get off before the Holy Year ended on that very night of 15 October. On the 16th they arrived in Victoria, on the coast, where Enoch was to live for the coming ten years before returning permanently to his homeland in East Africa. The Africa of those days was still under colonial administration; reluctantly the Nakbjavanis and Enoch agreed that their association might place in jeopardy the object of so much effort and sacrifice because Victoria was only a small town and two white orientals and a black U gandan were far too conspicuous a combination. The first problem was where to find lodging for Enoch; tribalism, even today, makes one group very suspicious of any other; no one wanted to take in a man from another people 3,000 kilometres away, the other side of Africa. Finally, through the familiar odd series of circumstances \\hich seem so often to open doors for Baha'i pioneers, a young man working in the local library got into conversation with Violette, found she was worrying over how to find accommodation for a "young Ugandan we know", and asked to meet Enoch. The upshot was Enoch became a lodger in the home of David Tanyi, who not only accepted the Faith through him, becoming the first believer in the entire Cameroons, but later became the Knight of Baha'u'llah for French Togoland. The Nakh- javanis removed to nearby Douala, in the French Cameroons, where they could still be close to Enoch without arousing the suspicions of the local authorities in Victoria because they wanted to be sure he would get his residence visa and was safely settled in his pioneering post before they returned to Uganda. Enoch himself discreetly but eagerly began to teach new friends. The period of the Guardian's World Crusade was indeed a time of flame. A holy enthusiasm to teach the Cause of God to humanity spread far and wide. Shoghi Effendi, greatly encouraged by the remarkable trek across Africa which had already led to the opening of two new countries, now encouraged Enoch to do the seemingly impossible and raise up, from among his new converts, pioneers to go forth and open other virgin territories. When one realizes that Enoch himself was a new Baha'i and a recent pioneer, his success was almost miraculous. In a letter addressed to Leroy Ioas dated 15 April 1954-exactly six months after his arrival in the British Cameroons-Enoch wrote: "Praised be to God that our Beloved Guardian's admonition to assign and get pioneers settled in the five virgin territories has through Beloved' s Boundless Grace been fulfilled. We prayerfully raise up our suppliant hands and voices of praise to Baha'u'llah for His guidance and confirmations, and I believe very firmly that He will assuredly assist and guide these new and young soldiers in His triumphant Army, and render them victorious for, according to my little un- derstanding and belief, they have in them such a rare spirit of love and devotion to His Best Beloved Cause." At first, he wrote, it looked almost impossible to get any of the new believers to leave their homes and move to-foreign lands: "...but I knew very well that the Beloved Guardian, who is actually watching the world and all the believers, could not have asked for the impossible. As soon as the news reached their attentive and sensitive ears the believers reacted in such a manner that a spectator could take them for drunkards ...they really became intoxicated with the choice wine of His loveá and of submissiveness and obedience to the call of their Best Beloved. Pioneering offers poured in like locusts and clear signs of obedience to move the next minute were made manifest, forgetting their property and loving relatives and families." Indeed, so many offers to pioneer were made that in the end they had to draw lots to see which five would be chosen to go. 'AH flew back to Victoria to help make the arrangements for visas and transportation-in those days a much more complicated matter than today in independent Africa. "When 'AH arrived," Enoch wrote, "not a single moment was wasted. Off they flew like very mighty eagles in the heavenly sky. Such are the soldiers of Baha'u'llah. 0 ! How I wish I accompanied them! May Baha'u'llah sustain them and guide their footsteps along the glorious path of spiritual understanding and selfless sacrifice so that they may grow into trees whose fruits will be the food for the hungry ones. My constant prayer is that they may find means of settlement. I know the Beloved Guardian's fervent prayers are with them." Enoch also reports that the letter of Shoghi Effendi to David Tanyi, received on the eve of his departure to pioneer, was indeed a remarkable coincidence and that David had said he was going to frame it. At the airport, while relatives dissolved in tears, the pioneers cheerfully marched to the plane, a contrast which to Enoch crowned "the pioneering of these gallant and stalwart soldiers of the Ancient Beauty". In answer to his letter Enoch was assured that the Guardian "was deeply moved by the reports which you sent and the manner in which the friends received his call to pioneer in the virgin areas. He feels this is truly historic, because it means that people who have been Baha'fs for only a short period, have arisen to carry the Glad Tidings to peoples of new lands. The manner in which the Faith has spread in Africa is truly remarkable, and overshadows the manner it has spread in other parts of the world. It indicates how glorious will be the future of the Faith in that great continent." The names of these precious and distinguished spiritual children of Enoch, who received each the title, like himself, of Knight of Baha'u'llah, are as follows: David Tanyi, French Togoland; Edward Tabe, British Togoland; Samuel Njiki, French Cameroons; Benedict Eballa, Ashanti Protectorate; Martin Manga, Northern Territories Protectorate. Two months later, on 14 June 1954, Enoch wrote his first letter to Shoghi Effendi; as far as records go it seems this was his only one, hence I will quote it in full as it well reflects his love, his respect, his obedience to the Head of his Faith and the one who had become the focal point of his life: My Well-Beloved Guardian, I must first thank my Well-Beloved Guardian for continually praying for my spiritual welfare as well as of those who are now serving the Ancient Beauty, and for the Beloved Guardian's guidance, without which the present spiritual achievements of our beloved Faith would not have been possible. Furthermore, I very humbly beg to assure my dearly loved Guardian of my unreserved loving devotion to the Cause of Baha'u'llah, and my submissiveness to every one of the Guardian's admonitions in the way of promoting the fundamental interests of our Faith, which is now overshadowing the entire world. May I also be permitted to express the joy and delight which the letters received by the individual Baha'fs from the Beloved Guardian have brought to the hearts of all the believers of this nascent community. These letters, like the fervent prayers of the Beloved Guardian, do wonders here. Our daily prayer and hope is that God, the All-Compelling, the All-Protecting may prolong the days of our Beloved Guardian's unbroken service to His Cause and mankind. As my Beloved Guardian may be aware, an Assembly was elected here last Ri9van, and through Beloved's Grace the coming Riqvan may bring a number of local Assemblies. I have just returned from a two weeks' teaching trip which took me right inside the country where. I had quite thrilling and exciting experiences; especially when I had to live among the villagers who believe in witchcraft and potency of "Juju" (fetish, I think) practices. Quite terrifying it was to hear very frightful stories told by "Juju" adherents, but with much confidence in Baha'u'llah I was never deterred. Fortunately enough a few of them were enabled to see the Truth of the Message of Baha'u'llah-rnay my life, soul and spirit be a sacrifice unto the lowliest of His servants! It may please my Beloved Guardian to know that ten new centres have been opened to the Faith, making a total of twelve centres in British Cameroons. We want to develop all the eleven towards Assembly status before the next Riqvan. We really need our Well-Beloved Guardian's special prayers for success in this somewhat ambitious project. We receive very encouraging letters from all our five pioneers who have gone to open virgin territories. They all seem very happy there and are waiting for the doors of success to be opened for them. We all hope and pray that in time they will find jobs they can do. This is not only because they will thereby be able to support themselves, but also because they will feel so much more happy arid settled when they have jobs of work to do. They will take root and feel they belong. We always encourage them to remain there as much as we can when we write to them. My Well-Beloved Guardian may be interested to know that the number of believers is increasing very rapidly in British Cameroons. The present situation is: accepted believers, up to 30; declarations, up to 40; centres now opened to the Faith, 12. Please, my Beloved Guardian, I know how much busy you are, therefore I shall not dwell on inconsequentialities. I very reverently beg to send my loving greetings and best wishes to my Beloved Guardian and all members of family. With warmest Baha'f Love from Victoria believers, I beg to remain, my Beloved Guardian, Your devoted servant, Enoch Olinga It was not the custom of the Guardian to keep copies qf his wide correspondence; we do know, however, that this letter was answered by him on 9 August but, unfortunately, the original has not been found. In those days the Baha'fs throughout Africa were few and far between but part of the great Ten Year Plan of Shoghi Effendi was to create not only Local Spiritual Assemblies but bodies to fulfil the functions of National Spiritual Assemblies; he solved the problem of too few believers in any one country to justify an independent National Assembly by constituting, in 1956, a number of giant administrative units so that Baha'fs could learn to think and function in an administrative manner. The biggest group -united under the umbrella of the National Spiritual Assembly of North-West Africa, with its secretarial seat in Tunis, Tunisia-comprised no less than 25 territories, namely, Algeria, Ashanti Protectorate, British Cameroons, British Togoland, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, French Cameroons, French Morocco, French Togoland, French West Africa, the Gambia, Gold Coast, Liberia, Madeira, Morocco (International Zone), Nigeria, Northern Territories Protectorate, Portuguese Guinea, Rio de Oro, St. Thomas Island, Sierra Leone, Spanish Guinea, Spanish Morocco, Spanish Sahara and Tunisia. In spite of this impressive list there were only about 1,000 Baha'fs in this vast area and the National Body rested on 38 Local Assemblies; thanks to Shoghi Effendi, however, Tunis had its own National Baha'f Headquarters, and Bomi Hills, in Liberia, was the proud possessor of the only endowment; Enoch Olinga was elected chairman of this new Body.* It seems unbelievable that in the brief *Enoch Olinga was elected member of this Body. The chairman of the Regional Spiritual Assembly was Miss Elsie Austin. space of three years, of the thirty-three virgin territories throughout Africa to be opened to the Faith, twenty-nine had already received p10neers. In the heart of Enoch burned the great desire to make the pilgrimage to the World Centre and meet his beloved Guardian in person. Permission was finally asked and granted by Shoghi Effendi who, as was his custom, set a date by week, in other words Enoch was informed he would be welcome as a pilgrim in the first week of February 1957. Dr. Ugo Giachery, Hand of the Cause and member-at-large of the International Baha'f Council at Haifa, was residing in Rome; he has given us this endearing image of Enoch: he arrived from Tunis the morning of 1 February 1957, "he was young, lean, lovable at first sight and believing that this Hand of the Cause could perform miracles. He had an old English passport that had expired some years before, and practically not a penny (of any currency) in his pocket. I took him to the British ...Consulate. The wax-moustached Consul, for a solid twenty minutes, denied the possibility to renew the passport. I had told Enoch not to say anything but recite the Remover of Difficulties ... When I said that Mr. Olinga had been called by the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, to Haifa, the Consul opened a drawer of his desk, took a voluminous dossier with blue pages, leafed them with great attention and then said: 'I think I can do it.' With the valid passport in hand we rushed to the Israeli Embassy for the visa, which was granted immediately. Then I thought that Enoch could be hungry and asked him if he was. 'Yes', he said; he had not eaten from the night before ...Dear, dear Enoch, he had stolen our hearts!" Enoch, in his wide travels all over the world, often had recourse to the "Remover of Difficulties". I remember once his telling me that at the end of a long trip, as he went to embark for Uganda, the air company employee who was weighing him in said he was overweight and must pay so and so much excess baggage; Enoch said he was on his way home after a long trip and just did not have the money; she said he must either pay or leave his luggage behind. Whereupon, standing there in the airline queue, he drew out his prayer book and began to read a prayer to himself. The girl said, "What are you doing!" Enoch said: "I am praying, what else can I do?" She was so non-plussed by this she waved him and his baggage on with no extra payment. On 3 February Enoch arrived in Haifa and left on the 13th; he stayed in the Oriental Pilgrim House near the Shrines on Mount Carmel, which meant Shoghi Effendi was going to treat him as an oriental pilgrim; the men who stayed there had the privilege of not only taking walks in the gardens with the Guardian but the great blessing of always visiting the Shrines with him and hearing him chant the Tablets of Visitation in his wonderfully melodious voice; to add to this privilege Enoch was most of the time alone; naturally Shoghi Effendi spoke to him in English. Sometimes Enoch would recall his first impressions, how anxiously he waited to be called to the presence of his Guardian, how he could not imagine what Shoghi Effendi would be like or how he would look but then discovered with what majesty he spoke and that when he saw him walking "he walked like a king" and one knew it was his to command, that he held the authority. Enoch told his children Shoghi Effendi was like a lion, but at the same time very gentle; he reported an experience common to a great many pilgrims, that he found before he had a chance to ask his questions, Shoghi Effendi had answered them. Unlike most pilgrims, however, when the Guardian said goodbye to him he kissed him on both cheeks. Few pilgrims, indeed, left the Holy Land without their visits to the Shrines and their meetings with the Guardian beginning to work a change in them; Enoch was no exception; the love showered upon him by Shoghi Effendi, the illuminating quality of his conversation, profoundly affected Enoch's whole life; whereas before he was a needle jumping about in the direction of north, he now became like an adjusted compass oriented firmly to the Centre of his Faith, his Guardian, his true king. He went back to West Africa enkindled, reassured, more mature. Excerpts from two of Enoch's letters to me, written in 1956 and 1957, vividly reflect the depths of his attachment to Shoghi Effendi: "Please, will you remember me to the beloved Guardian and tell him how much we all love him"; "Having visited and prayed in the Blessed Shrines, gazed on the holy face of our Guardian and heard his melodious voice, I am sure a new day has dawned upon me!" A letter written on 15 February 1957, on behalf of the Guardian to Musa Bananf, expressed "his pleasure with the visit ori his pilgrimage of the first African Baha' f of the Ten Year Crusade-in fact, the first Negro Baha'f from Africa. Enoch Olinga has achieved many victories for the Faith; first in his work in Uganda; then by pioneering in the British Cameroons, becoming a Knight of Baha'u'Ilah there. Five of his spiritual children went from the Cameroons, to virgin areas of the Ten Year Crusade, thus becoming themselves, Knights of Baba' u' llah. He himself has confirmed 300 souls, with five Assemblies. The Guardian considers this unique in the history of the Crusade, in both the East and West; and he has blessed the one who so selflessly served, and won these victories for the Cause of God, by naming him 'Abu'l-Futub', the 'Father of Victories'. The Guardian felt you and Ali would be pleased to know this, as he was Ali's spiritual child." For various reasons, economic and otherwise, Enoch's wife and children had remained in East Africa; now, however, with his election to the North-West African National Spiritual Assembly and his ever-increasing teaching activities, it seemed he was permanently settled in West Africa, and shortly after his return from pilgrimage he went back to Uganda to fetch them. It was on 2 October 1957, at the time of this visit, that Mr. Bananf received a cable from Shoghi Effendi requesting him to inform Enoch Firstfimr native Balui 'is,~[ Uganda, 1952. From left to right, C/1ri,\pia11Kajubi (Muganda by tribe), Enoch O/inga (Etesot by tribe), Fred Bigabwa (Mutooro by tribe), Peter ll1usol