Uganda

From Bahaikipedia

Uganda
House of Worship, Kampala, Uganda
Statistics:
Number of Bahá'ís
-	Outside source	19,000
History: Firsts
-	Local Bahá'í	Fred Bigabwa Chrispin Kajubi
-	Local Assembly	Kampala, 1952

The Bahá'í Faith in Uganda started to grow in 1951 and in four years time there were 500 Bahá'ís in 80 localities, including 13 Local Spiritual Assemblies, representing 30 tribes, and had dispatched 9 pioneers to other African locations.^[1] Following the reign of Idi Amin when the Bahá'í Faith was banned and the murder of Bahá'í Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga and his family,^[2] 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.

Contents 1 Early phase 2 Developing community 2.1 House of Worship 2.2 Continued development 3 Multiplying involvements 4 Demographics 5 See also 6 References 7 External linds

[edit] Early phase

On August 3rd, 1951 Mr. and Mrs. Músá Banání, Mr. and Mrs. Ali Nakhjavani, formerly from Iran and their baby daughter Bahiyyih and Philip Hainsworth arrived in Kampala. After receiving the news that Hand of the Cause Louis Gregory had died previously on July 31st, 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 December, the first two native Ugandans had converted to the Bahá'í Faith — Fred Bigabwa (Mutoro tribe) and Chrispin Kajubi (Muganda tribe).^[3] While Banání was on pilgrimage War War II veteran Enoch Olinga (of Teso and Atesot tribes) who had been attending classes taught by Nakhjavani in Kampala was the third Ugandan to become a Bahá'í and swore off alcohol though his alcoholism had already cost him his government job.^[2]

The first Bahá'í 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.^[4] In 1952, Músá Banání was also appointed as a Hand of the Cause.^[1] By April 1953 nine more Assemblies were elected.^[2] In 1954 Olinga went on to Cameroon and was honoured with the title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh.^[3]

[edit] Developing community

Wide scale growth in the religion across Sub-Saharan Africa was observed to begin in 1950s and extend in the 1960s.^[5] In 1954 Uganda had 500 Bahá'ís in 80 localities, including 13 Local Spiritual Assemblies, representing 30 tribes, and had dispatched 9 pioneers to other African locations.^[1] In 1956 Olinga was elected as Chairman of the North West regional Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly and the Ugandan Bahá'í community came under the newly formed regional National Spiritual Assembly of Central & Eastern Africa,^[6] of which Nakhjavani was the Chairman.^[7] In early 1957 Olinga attended the laying of the foundation stone of the first House of Worship of Africa (which was in Uganda) and in the fall he was appointed a Hand of the Cause.^[3] Conversions to the Bahá'í 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."^[8]

[edit] House of Worship

The House of Worship in Uganda, named as the Mother Temple of Africa, is situated on Kikaya Hill on the outskirts of Kampala; it was dedicated on 13 January 1961. 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. The walls of the temple are of precast stone quarried in Uganda and the timber used for making the doors and benches was also from Uganda. The fifty acre property includes the House of Worship, extensive gardens, a guest house, and an administrative center.^[9] Both Hands of the Cause Enoch Olinga and Músá Banání are buried near the Temple.^[2]

[edit] Continued development

Before 1963 a number of Bahá'í schools were setup — two Louis Gregory Bahá'í Schools, one in Tilling, the home town of Olinga,^[10] and the other in Dusai, as well as a Bahá'í publishing trust.^[11] In 1963 Nakhjavani was elected to the Universal House of Justice,^[7] the governing body of the worldwide Bahá'í community, while Olinga chaired the first World Congress which announced the election to the world.^[2] In 1964 the regional Assemblies were re-assigned and Uganda joined with the Central African Republic.^[6] Rapid expansion of the religion in the late 1960s was most particularly true in Uganda, Vietnam and Indonesia.^[12]

Six conferences held in October 1967 around the world presented a viewing of a copy of the photograph of Bahá'u'lláh on the highly significant occasion commemorating the centenary of Bahá'u'lláh's writing of the Suriy-i-Mulúk (Tablet to the Kings), which Shoghi Effendi describes as "the most momentous Tablet revealed by Bahá'u'lláh".^[13] After a meeting in Edirne (Adrianople), Turkey, the Hands of the Cause travelled to the conferences, 'each bearing the precious trust of a photograph of the Blessed Beauty, which it will be the privilege of those attending the Conferences to view.' Hand of the Cause 'Ali Akbar Furutan conveyed this photograph to the Conference for Africa at Uganda..^[14]

Other singular events included Bahá'í Dwight W. Allen winning an Award of Merit for the establishment of the Tororo Girls School in 1972,^[15] and the daughter of the first African-American woman Bahá'í, Zylpha Mapp-Robinson, who had pioneered in many places and who lived in Uganda nine years, was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Uganda in 1976.^[16]

As part of a sweep across several Sub-Saharan countries, the Bahá'í Faith was banned in the 1970s in several countries: Burundi, 1974; Mali 1976; Uganda 1977; Congo, 1978; Niger, 1978. Uganda had had the largest Bahá'í community in Africa at the time and Olinga returned and sought the protection of the community during this difficult time when Idi Amin's regime ruled Uganda.^[2] See also Uganda under Idi Amin.

"This was principally the result of a campaign by a number of Arab countries. Since these countries were also by this time providers of development aid, this overt attack on the Baha'is was supported by covert moves such as linking the aid money to a particular country to the action that it took against the Baha'is. This was partially successful and a number of countries did ban the Baha'is for a time. However, the Baha'is were able to demonstrate to these governments that they were not agents of Zionism nor anti-Islamic and succeeded in having the ban reversed in all of these countries except Niger."^[12]

During the rule of Idi Amin, on the evening of Sunday, September 16, 1979, five soldiers entered Olinga's home and killed Olinga and all his family.^[2] After the Uganda-Tanzania War and when the ban on the religion being rescinded, Ugandan Bahá'ís re-formed their National Spiritual Assembly in 1981,^[6] though the Ugandan Bush War dragged on. In 1986-7 Dwight W. Allen returned to Uganda and was the project coordinator for the Donors' Conference for the Rehabilitation of Makerere University.^[15]

[edit] Multiplying involvements

The Ugandan Bahá'í community has been involved in a wide range of projects many of which benefit the nation. In 1993 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Uganda set up a project to develop a middle-level management training program for community level primary health care workers. The focus was on prevention of childhood diseases, maternal-infant health care, and community building.^[17] Later, the Uganda Bahá'í Institute for Development set up a project introducing use of the latrine, immunization, with nets to fight off malaria-bearing mosquitoes, and people learned the importance of clean water in a Ugandan village.^[18] In 2000, the Bahá'ís of Uganda shared their activities in the areas of education, family health, moral training for children, publishing, and collaboration with other non-governmental organizations at a national United Nations Day celebration held at the Muguluka Primary School near Jinja.^[19] After receiving her Ph.D. at age 78, Zylpha Mapp-Robinson returned to Uganda at age 86 in the year 2000 to create the Ugandan Institution for the advancement of Women.^[16] In 2002 a National Conference in Guyana on "Spiritual Approach to the Challenge of HIV/AIDS" sponsored by the Varqa Foundation, UNICEF, & Bahá'í International Community highlighted experiences in Uganda dealing with the AIDS epidemic by including the role of the spiritual training of children on virtues like humility, reverence, kindliness, respect and courtesy, and unity in diversity so that they would lead moral lives and overcome not only AIDS but alcohol and drug abuse, violence, crime, prejudice, hatred, intolerance and poverty.^[20] In 2004 the Bahá'í based Uganda Program of Literacy for Transformation helped participants acquire the skills, knowledge, and incentive for a “lifelong self-improvement plan” — coupled with an emphasis on moral education and inter-religious harmony.^[21]

The Ugandan Bahá'í community has also encouraged the practice of the arts. Eighteen youth from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania joined together to form Youth in Motion, a Bahá'í Workshop aimed at expressing the message brought by Bahá'u'lláh. The group traveled for four months, performing before a total of more than 50,000 people in three countries.^[22] In 1998 Bahá'í Margaret Nagawa held a showing at the Ugandan National Museum,^[23] and award winning Bahá'í Edel'Akongu Ekodelele Eyperu died in 2002.^[24]

In 2001 a week-long celebration featuring a statement by Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, some 2000^[25] of the Ugandan Baha'i community commemorated the 50th anniversary of its founding.^[26]

The Bahá'ís of Uganda have continued to be involved in social issues; in 2007 a movie on development issues in Uganda was produced by the Bahá'ís named "Opening a Space - The Discourse on Science, Religion and Development in Uganda"^[27] and on 25 November 2007 the Bahá'í House of Worship was a rallying point on for the "Speak out! Stand out!" campaign on preventing violence against women.^[28] Bahá'í delegates from Uganda and 14 other countries convened in New York from February 23 – March 7 for the 52nd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2008.^[29]

Ugandan Bahá'ís have also participated in recent international Bahá'í events. Ugandan youth were among the 149 assembled at the National Bahá’í Center in Burundi in August 2006.^[30] In 2007 Bahá'ís in Entebbe helped organize World Religion Day commemorations.^[31] In 2008 one of the delegates from Uganda was one of the 19 tellers who counted the secret ballots for the election of the Universal House of Justice.^[32]

[edit] Demographics

During the years of 2000-2002 estimates of the Ugandan Bahá'í community ranged widely; while the official cencus counted almost 19,000 Bahá'ís,^[33] other sources range from 66,000^[34] to 105,000 Bahá'ís in the country.^[35] By 2005 US Dept. State statistics estimated Hinduism, the Bahá'í Faith, and Judaism together formed 2% of the national population.^[36] About 300 Bahá'í believers were in Kampala.^[37]

[edit] See also

• All articles relating to Uganda

[edit] References

• "Bahá'í Faith in Uganda" (2008-06-23). Retrieved on 2008-06-23.

[edit] External linds

• Ugandans study approaches to development a film on Ugandan development issues.
• The Louis Gregory Project