Bahá'í Faith in Tanzania
Encyclopedia
The Bahá'í 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 Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1952 of Tanganyika in Dar es Salaam
. In 1956 a regional Bahá'í Assembly
which included Tanganyika was elected. Later each of the constituent countries successively formed their own independent Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly and Tanganyika, with Zanzibar, formed its own in 1964 and it and the country was renamed Tanzania
. Since 1986 the Bahá'ís have operated the Ruaha Secondary School as a Bahá'í school
. In 2005 Bahá'ís were estimated at about 163,800 adherents.
. In 1964 Zanzibar
was brought under governance with Tanganyika after which the country was renamed Tanzania
by merging the two names. This article will follow the timeline of name usage.
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. `Abdu'l-Bahá mentions Bahá'ís 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…."
The first Bahá'í to visit Tanganyika may have been Shoghi Effendi
, head of the religion after the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá. Rúhíyyih Khanum
, his wife from 1921, shared in 1961 that Shoghi Effendi, with a male companion from the holy family, travelled from Capetown to Cairo in the early 1920's, at the end of the traditional safari
s and the beginning of safaris done by car: "He found an English hunter who took him from one point to another through the bush in East Africa - in Uganda, Kenya, or Tanganyika."
After World War II
Bahá'ís began to move to the region. In 1950 the British Bahá'í community
was called upon by Shoghi Effendi to spearhead and co-ordinate five national Bahá'í communities in a Two Year Plan to spread the religion in Africa. Claire Gung, a German-born Bahá'í who had joined the religion in Torquay, left in 1950 to pioneer
to Tanganyika
as the region was called then. She was hired as an assistant teacher at a school in the Usambara Mountains
region at Lushoto
. For this she earned the title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh. Jalal Nakhjavani (and family), the first contemporary Persian pioneer to settle in Africa, brother of Ali Nakhjavani
, entered Tanganyika in January 1951. Hasan and Isobel Sabri left for Tanganyika in July 1951 from Egypt. After Louis George Gregory
, the first Hand of the Cause of African descent, died on 30 July 1951, Tanganyikan Bahá'ís were among those who sent cablegrams for his memorial service. By August there were five pioneers. The first declaration of an indigenous Tanganyikan was noted on 21 August in the person of Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele. During the formative years of Bahá'í communities in East Africa, the area received eighty pioneers, forty of whom were Persians. Forty percent of the these were women. Tanganyika attracted the greatest number of Persian Bahá'ís, at eighteen. Wide scale growth in the religion across Sub-Saharan Africa was observed to begin in 1950s and extend in the 1960s. In 1952 the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Tanganyika is established in Dar es Salaam
. Its members were: Jalal Nakhjavani, Isobel Sabri, Hassan Sabri, Darakshandeh Khanum Nakhjavani, Leslie Matola, Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele, Frahang Naimi Gopalkrishnan Nayer, and Eustace Mwalimu - Matola was of the Yao tribe and Mwalimu was of another tribe. In the summer of 1952 Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele became the first pioneer to come from Tangayika when he moved to Nyasaland
, now Malawi.
established a 10 year plan called the Ten Year Crusade
. Waves of pioneers fanned out in a great effort to spread the religion. Ottilie Rhein pioneered to Mauritius
, where she was named a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh, after having visited Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika. After a regional conference in 1953 the first pioneer from Uganda went to Mwanza
, Tanganyika and native Tito Wanantsusi joined him there. An early pioneer to Zanzibar was Salisa Karikal before the end of 1953.
In 1954 Dr. Farhūmand left Tehran and settled in the country with his three children; his wife followed. Dr. Farhūmand was particularly noted for his founding a multiracial clinic in Dar es Salaam and eventually served as personal physician to the first president of Tanzania. The death of a Persian Bahai, Mrs. Afrūḵta, widow of a professor of medicine at Tehran University, provided the opportunity for the still emerging Bahai community of Dar es Salaam to establish the first multiracial cemetery in that city.
By January 1956 the first Bahá'í arrived on Pemba Island. Later in 1956 Shoghi Effendi called for the establishment of regional national assemblies of Bahá'ís to supervise the developing communities in regions of Africa. In the case of central and east Africa the regional assembly included many countries whose names have changed since then but at the time they were known as Belgian Congo, Kenya, Tanganyika, Comoro Is., Ruanda-Urundi, Uganda, French Equatorial Africa, Seychelles, Zanzibar, were part of the regional national assembly for Central & East Africa. The convention was held in Kampala Uganda and delegates from Tanganyika and Zanzibar attended. Hasan Balyuzi, then Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom, whose task it was to target pioneers to Tanganyika, and Hand of the Cause Músá Banání represented Shoghi Effendi at the event. The members of the first regional national assembly were Ali Nakbjavani, Philip Hainsworth, Hassan Sabri, Oloro Epyeruj, Aziz Yazdi, Jalal Nakhjavani, Tito Wanantsusit, Sylvester Okurut, and Max Kenyerezi.
The regional assembly established short term schools - Tanganyika held its first weekend school in 1957. The school started on a Saturday afternoon with an opening devotional program and the first class, followed by dinner and an evening of social activity. Sunday morning and part of the afternoon was devoted to more classes, panel discussions, demonstrations of the various procedures of Baha'i administrative life, such as elections and consultations, and question and answer sessions, and ending with a devotional. In early 1957 Gung moved from Tanganyika to Uganda where she founded a multi-racial kindergarten nursery. In April the Local Spiritual Assembly of Dar es Salaam obtained their civic registration according to the Trustee's Incorporation Ordinance of Tanganyika. The community of Tanganyika held three weekend schools in 1959. Four Tanganyikan's attended the centralized school held in Kampala in 1960. Conferences on the progress of the religion were held in 1960 at Mashi and Tunga with attendance by Hand of Cause Músá Banáni.
In 1961 the Bahá'í House of Worship
for Africa was dedicated. Over 1500 people attended. Among the Bahá'ís were some 225 African Bahá'ís from Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Ruanda Urundi, Ethiopia, Northern Rhodesia, Swaziland, and South Africa; some 90 Persian Baha'is, sixty-two of whom flew from Tehran; the British national assembly, the mother assembly to that of Central and East Africa, sent one believer from each of its regions - England, Scotland and Wales, as well as one from Ireland; the American national assembly sent one of its members, Amos Gibson, himself a pioneer among the American Indian peoples. Following the dedications Rúhíyyih Khanum
traveled through the area for a few months spending part of February in Tanganyika.
The growth in the religion across the regional assembly of Central and East Africa was called "the most spectacular" by the Custodians
who carried on the work of the religion between death of Shoghi Effendi and the election of the Universal House of Justice
. In 1962 there were many Bahá'ís in Central and East Africa (over 42,000). Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga
toured the region in 1962 and addressed gatherings at variety of locations in Tanganyika such as Usambara Estate, where about 1,400 people heard him; at Dar es Salaam, where two meetings were held; at Kivukoni College and at Mnazi Mmoja attended by over 150 people.
, the Bahá'í populations across the African countries began to form their own National Spiritual Assembly: In 1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar and nearby islands together formed their own assembly in time with the civic changes (including the new name of Tanzania) while others across sub-Saharan continued to form up to the 1990s. The national convention for the Bahá'ís of Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Mafia Island
, and Pemba Island was held on May 1 though train breaks downs and flooded roads limited attendance by about half the delegates. The second half arrived the next morning reaching a total of 42 delegates. Hand of the Cause Músá Banání represented the Custodians and the newly elected Universal House of Justice at the convention. Many messages from Bahá'í communities arrived congratulating the Tanzanians from throughout the world which gave the delegates a grasp of breadth of the world wide community. Those elected to the first national assembly were: H. S. Akida, Allen Elston, Mary Elston, Lamuka Mwangulu, Jalal Nakhjavani, Wallace NgaUomba, Glory Nyirenda, Ruhulah Yazdani and Jamsheed Samandari. As of 1965 there were 75 local assemblies and Bahá'ís in about 265 localities. The Bahá'í assembly of Karachi, Pakistan was host to A. A. Badii of the Sokoine University of Agriculture
campus of Morogo
and a member of the national assembly of Tanzania in August 1967 and the national center buildings was finished in 1968. Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga attended the 1968 convention at the new center. In 1969 the national assembly was officially recognized as a religious institution by the government.
reprised her briefer tour from 1961 but this time took the month of September to tour through Tanzania as part of a trip through eastern Africa. She visited Tanga, Dar es Salaam spoke to an audience of over two hundred, a ten-minute interview on the Tanzania government radio station, and meta member of the Tanzanian Supreme Court, the Rotary Club, then to Mafia Island where a meeting was held in the municipal hall, down to eastern and southern parts of the country. In part she visited places she visited in 1962 including Mwami where a big tree served as shade for a meeting. In April 1972 a campaign to present the religion in the town of Arusha
had posters, fliers, pamphlets, books, culminated in a talk, songs by a choir, and prayers all with translations in Swahili with invitations to followup informational meetings. In June the Hand of the Cause Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir
visited Malaysia and while there encouraged Inparaju Chinniah to go to Africa as a travelling teacher where he spent six months in Tanzania on leave without salary and made a contribution to the work of the Faith there. In October celebrations for United Nations Day
were carried out in three Baha'i communities in Tanzania with talks and films. In November an Indian Bahá'í, A. K. Forudi, toured the deep countryside near the border with Kenya promulgating the religion and offering classes on the religion to the Bahá'ís there. He returned in January 1973 and toured more villages. In early 1973 Ruhíyyíh Khanúm again visited in Tanzania. In July 1973 a delegation from the national assembly was able to meet with then President William Tolbert of Liberia during his visit to a conference in Tanzania and in the same month there was an informational booth at the fair held on Saba Saba Day
. By the end of 1973 children's classes are being taught in Magamba-Kwalonge village.
In 1976 the national assembly produced a document Loyalty to Government: The Baha'i Viewpoint as well as participated in a national conference on the progress of the religion as part of a broad review across the region kicked off by an international conference held in Kenya. 1976 also saw the national assembly of Swaziland, Mozambique and Angola printing translations of Bahá'í prayers
into the Yao language spoken in southern Tanzania and beyond. A Tanzanian delegation also met with Rashidi Kawawa
and presented volume XIV of Bahá'í World.
The Uganda-Tanzania War
broke out in 1978 and Ugandan President Idi Amin
was overthrown by early 1979. This precipitated the conditions resulting in the murder of Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga
in September though details of the event weren't shared widespread until May 1980. The news of his murder was conveyed to the African office of the Continental Counselors
by Claire Gung. Claire Gung herself died in 1985 entitled Knight of Bahá'u'lláh and Mother of Africa. Amidst the tragedy in October 1979 the Bahá'ís of Tanzania hosted meetings at the national center for United Nations Day
as well as a national conference on the progress of the religion in the country.
In 1986 the Universal House of Justice asked several African countries to develop audio-visual Mobile Teaching Institutes including Tanzania. The community also hosted a public meeting for the International Year of Peace
at Dar es Salaam on November 29, 1986 called "Perspectives on Peace". In 1987 the sixth National Youth Conference in Kenya drew attendees from Tanzania among other places. In September 1987, the national assembly met with various institutions to plan two campaigns - one in the Kasulu
district of the Kigoma region on Lake Tanganyika and the other in the Morogoro
region in central Tanzania which including a traveling youth choir and slide show. By July 1988 several new local assemblies and Bahá'ís resulted. Back in June a Tanzanian national youth conference was hosted at the Ruaha Secondary School. A May 1989 campaign took place in the Same District
aimed particularly at public school teachers.
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. In 1979 in Tanzania the Bahá'í community participated in a seminar on alcoholism and drug abuse organized by the Karibu Tanzania Project under the Ministry of National Culture and Youth. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. This was the beginnings of ecological preservation projects by Bahá'ís began in this era. And a review looking past 1987 focused on deepening women in the understanding of the Bahá'í Faith because widens their perspective and gives them self-confidence. This can be done by holding women's conferences at local, regional, and perhaps, national levels to both deepen them in the Bahá'í teachings and to provide a forum for discussion of women's ideas and concerns. As a follow-up, the production and circulation of a women's magazine, focusing on the same topics as the conferences, and with special emphasis on nutrition education, would be helpful. A 1986 review noted three larger projects in Tanzania - a carpentry workshop, and a nursery school were up and running and plans for a technical/agricultural school were initiated. This school developed into the Ruaha Secondary School (see below.) Additionally, a program to train volunteer community health educators was conducted. In 1989 a Bahá'í expert and businessman in using appropriate technology
from Swaziland traveled through six southern and eastern African countries including Tanzania training local people in the manufacture of several kinds of fence-making machines and other technologies in building, agriculture and water programs. The 10-day training courses were organized by the National Spiritual Assemblies in each of the six countries.
A succession of newsletters relates the advancement of the implementation of the Ruhi Institute
and other recent developments in Tanzania. The November 2001 newsletter reviews the recent plans affecting Bahá'í development from 1996. The March 2002 edition reviews the books of the Ruhi Institute and the role of tutors. The June 2002 focuses on the role of the tutor. The September 2002 newsletter calls for a campaign for more tutors especially in four regions of Tanzania as well as the opportunities and limitations of being a tutor. The February 2003 newsletter related the number of Ruhi Books and the categorization of a cluster, celebrated tutors who had facilitated many courses as well as news that some of the general public had taken part in study circles. The August 2003 newsletter focused on the case of the Nyaruyoba Cluster, found in Kibondo District (Kigoma) and noted it was the fastest advancing cluster in Tanzania. It also reviewed with some detail which locations had proceeded further through the books and goals to look forward to.
The Bahá'ís worked with other religious leaders through the Christian Social Services Commission to work with people in the villages and sub-villages (vijiji and vitongoji) in preventing malarla.
An article by a university scholar in the Encyclopedia of Peace Education noticed that Bahá'ís contribute to peace through involvement in interfaith activities and dialogue to encourage religious tolerance, freedom of belief and elimination of religious prejudice and presented the efforts of the Baha’i community in Tanzania to hold a day for all religions to pray for peace on November 9, 2005.
In 2006 the Dar es Salaam Union Student Organization and the Bahá'í community of Tanzania sponsored a symposium which examined the theme "The Role of Family and Youth in Establishing Brighter Communities." The event was held on United Nations Day
and placed a number people on panels to discuss issues - Baha'is, government officers, Christian NGO leaders, youth leaders, an author, and a university professor and similar groups were in the audience.
The General Assembly of the United Nations, in its resolution 61/221 of 20 December 2006, (OP. 14) decided to convene in 2007 a high-level dialogue on interreligious and intercultural cooperation with formal and informal meetings. The President of the General Assembly appointed a Civil Society 'Task Force' to assist in the selection of participants and in identifying the sub-themes of the hearing. Bahá'ís were among the twenty speakers who represented a variety of cultural (all continents) and religious (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Jain, Baha'i) traditions. The second panel discussion addressed the theme of "Best Practices and Strategies of Interreligious and Intercultural Cooperation Going Forward". The Representative of the Bahá'í International Community
in Tanzania underscored that the freedom to hold belief of one's choosing and to change it, was an essential attribute of the human conscience, and recommended concrete strategies to overcome ignorance and fanaticism.
run by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Tanzania. Its development reaches back to 1985 when Bahá'í funds began the construction of the site, that the town of Iringa had donated using bricks that were fired onsite. With the approval of the Tanzanian Ministry of Education classes began on March 27, 1986. It added a year of school per year it was open aiming to include technical college level course work. By 1988 the school had 300 students. The curriculum, which is determined by the Ministry, includes English, Swahili, geography, history, agriculture, chemistry, physics, biology, political science, mathematics and religion - Christian, Islamic and Bahá'í studies included, by representatives of different religions. Each student takes part in regularly scheduled activities in self-reliance such as carrying bricks, planting bananas, digging foundations, watering and weeding his own trees, etc. Several of the founding staff were pioneers to Tanzania - one from Iran, one from Lebanon, one from Australia, and three from America. There was also local staff hired as teachers. The school is affiliated with a local teacher training college and also provides services to the local community.
In 1992 a paper was presented examining implementing computer technologies in an African context. In 1999 the school advertised for teachers and staff for Accounts/Computers and English/oral Education Teacher and was associated with the local Baha'i nursery school. It also advertised for Bahá'í Youth Year of Service opportunities. It also received a two-year, US$122,000 grant to build a new girls' dormitory capable of housing 120 students. The grant, for 141,630 Euros, was given by the Unity Foundation, a Bahá'í-inspired development agency in Luxembourg. The first installment of the grant was sent in 2001. The rest arrived by October 2002.
One of the unique aspects to the school culture is the total absence of caning
. Instead the school emphasizes promoting virtues like patience, diligence, courtesy, trustworthiness, compassion and justice, while at the same time helping students developed the capacities, attitudes and skills - such as knowledge of appropriate agricultural techniques, computer literacy and basic commerce. The school also has a strong sense of mission when it comes to educating girls and proudly note its record of academic excellence. As part of the student government of the school, the Environmental Ambassadors project acts as a force in keeping the environment in pleasant condition. In every Form
there are a number of Environmental Ambassadors chosen from volunteers.
In more recent years it has had support from Mona Foundation
. A site master site plan was evolved with help from architect Ben Hufford, of Yost Grube Hall Architectural Firm in Portland, Oregon in February 2006. In August 2006 two trainers were sent to give a workshop for selected staff in the use of Microsoft Unlimited Potential curriculum. The foundation has contributed funds for construction of a boys’ hostel (120 bed capacity), a kitchen/dry foods store, a water system (borehole well) and for purchase of a generator to provide electricity during outages.
estimated some 140,600 Bahá'ís in Tanzania. In 2005 Association of Religion Data Archives
, based on World Christian Encyclopedia, estimated some 163,800, Bahá'ís (0.4% of the national population.)
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
, Claire Gung, arrived in 1950 in what was then called Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
. With the first Tanganyikan to join the religion in 1952 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1952 of Tanganyika in Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
. In 1956 a regional Bahá'í Assembly
Bahá'í administration
The Bahá'í administration or Bahá'í administrative order refers to the administrative system of the Bahá'í Faith.It is split into two parts, the elected and the appointed...
which included Tanganyika was elected. Later each of the constituent countries successively formed their own independent Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly and Tanganyika, with Zanzibar, formed its own in 1964 and it and the country was renamed Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Since 1986 the Bahá'ís have operated the Ruaha Secondary School as a Bahá'í school
Bahá'í school
A Bahá'í school at its simplest would be a school run officially by the Bahá'í institutions in its jurisdiction and may be a local class or set of classes, normally run weekly where children get together to study about Bahá'í teachings, Bahá'í central figures, or Bahá'í administration...
. In 2005 Bahá'ís were estimated at about 163,800 adherents.
Early history
For much of the history of the country it was known as TanganyikaTanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
. In 1964 Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
was brought under governance with Tanganyika after which the country was renamed Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
by merging the two names. This article will follow the timeline of name usage.
`Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan
`Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan
Tablets of the Divine Plan
The Tablets of the Divine Plan collectively refers to 14 letters written between September 1916 and March 1917 by `Abdu'l-Bahá to Bahá'ís in the United States and Canada. Included in multiple books, the first five tablets were printed in America in Star of the West - Vol. VII, No. 10, September 8,...
. The eighth and twelfth of the tablets mentioned Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
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
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Spanish flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
. The tablets were translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
Mírzá Aḥmad Sohráb was a Persian-American author and Bahá'í who co-founded the New History Society and the Caravan of East and West in New York, and was excommunicated from the Bahá'í Faith in 1939 by Shoghi Effendi.-Early life:...
on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West
Star of the West (Bahá'í magazine)
The Star of the West was a Bahá'í periodical which began publication on March 21, 1910 and ended publication under this title in March of 1935....
magazine on December 12, 1919. `Abdu'l-Bahá mentions Bahá'ís 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…."
The first Bahá'í to visit Tanganyika may have been Shoghi Effendi
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghí Effendí Rabbání , better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957...
, head of the religion after the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá. Rúhíyyih Khanum
Rúhíyyih Khanum
Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum , born Mary Sutherland Maxwell was the wife of Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921–1957. She was appointed by him as a Hand of the Cause, and served an important role in the transfer of authority from 1957–1963...
, his wife from 1921, shared in 1961 that Shoghi Effendi, with a male companion from the holy family, travelled from Capetown to Cairo in the early 1920's, at the end of the traditional safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
s and the beginning of safaris done by car: "He found an English hunter who took him from one point to another through the bush in East Africa - in Uganda, Kenya, or Tanganyika."
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Bahá'ís began to move to the region. In 1950 the British Bahá'í community
Bahá'í Faith in the United Kingdom
The Bahá'í Faith in the United Kingdom started in 1898 when Mrs. Mary Thornburgh-Cropper , an American by birth, become the first Bahá'í in England. Through the 1930s, the number of Bahá'ís in the United Kingdom grew, leading to a pioneer movement beginning after the Second World War with sixty...
was called upon by Shoghi Effendi to spearhead and co-ordinate five national Bahá'í communities in a Two Year Plan to spread the religion in Africa. Claire Gung, a German-born Bahá'í who had joined the religion in Torquay, left in 1950 to pioneer
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
to Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
as the region was called then. She was hired as an assistant teacher at a school in the Usambara Mountains
Usambara Mountains
The Usambara Mountains are a mountain range in North-East Tanzania, approximately long and ranging from 20 to in width. Mountains in the range rise as high as 8,000 ft ....
region at Lushoto
Lushoto
Lushoto is one of the eight districts of Tanga Region in Tanzania. It is bordered to the northeast by Kenya, to the east by the Muheza District, to the northwest by the Kilimanjaro Region and to the south by the Korogwe District.During the German colonial period from the 1890s to 1918 the area was...
. For this she earned the title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh. Jalal Nakhjavani (and family), the first contemporary Persian pioneer to settle in Africa, brother of Ali Nakhjavani
Ali Nakhjavani
Alí-Yulláh Nakhjavání served as a member of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá'í Faith, between 1963 and 2003....
, entered Tanganyika in January 1951. Hasan and Isobel Sabri left for Tanganyika in July 1951 from Egypt. After Louis George Gregory
Louis George Gregory
Louis George Gregory was a prominent member of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1951 he was posthumously appointed a Hand of the Cause, the highest appointed position in the Bahá'í Faith, by Shoghi Effendi.-Early years:He was born on June 6, 1874 to African-American parents liberated during the Civil War...
, the first Hand of the Cause of African descent, died on 30 July 1951, Tanganyikan Bahá'ís were among those who sent cablegrams for his memorial service. By August there were five pioneers. The first declaration of an indigenous Tanganyikan was noted on 21 August in the person of Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele. During the formative years of Bahá'í communities in East Africa, the area received eighty pioneers, forty of whom were Persians. Forty percent of the these were women. Tanganyika attracted the greatest number of Persian Bahá'ís, at eighteen. Wide scale growth in the religion across Sub-Saharan Africa was observed to begin in 1950s and extend in the 1960s. In 1952 the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Tanganyika is established in Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
. Its members were: Jalal Nakhjavani, Isobel Sabri, Hassan Sabri, Darakshandeh Khanum Nakhjavani, Leslie Matola, Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele, Frahang Naimi Gopalkrishnan Nayer, and Eustace Mwalimu - Matola was of the Yao tribe and Mwalimu was of another tribe. In the summer of 1952 Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele became the first pioneer to come from Tangayika when he moved to Nyasaland
Nyasaland
Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....
, now Malawi.
Ten-Year Crusade
In 1953 Shoghi EffendiShoghi Effendi
Shoghí Effendí Rabbání , better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957...
established a 10 year plan called the Ten Year Crusade
Ten Year Crusade
The Ten Year World Crusade was launched by Shoghi Effendi in an effort to facilitate an organized expansion of the Bahá'í Faith....
. Waves of pioneers fanned out in a great effort to spread the religion. Ottilie Rhein pioneered to Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, where she was named a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh, after having visited Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika. After a regional conference in 1953 the first pioneer from Uganda went to Mwanza
Mwanza
Mwanza is a mid-sized port city on the southern shores of Lake Victoria in northwestern Tanzania. With an urban population of 1.2 million and a metropolitan population of 2 million, it is Tanzania's second largest city, following Dar es Salaam and ahead of other major Tanzanian cities of Arusha,...
, Tanganyika and native Tito Wanantsusi joined him there. An early pioneer to Zanzibar was Salisa Karikal before the end of 1953.
In 1954 Dr. Farhūmand left Tehran and settled in the country with his three children; his wife followed. Dr. Farhūmand was particularly noted for his founding a multiracial clinic in Dar es Salaam and eventually served as personal physician to the first president of Tanzania. The death of a Persian Bahai, Mrs. Afrūḵta, widow of a professor of medicine at Tehran University, provided the opportunity for the still emerging Bahai community of Dar es Salaam to establish the first multiracial cemetery in that city.
By January 1956 the first Bahá'í arrived on Pemba Island. Later in 1956 Shoghi Effendi called for the establishment of regional national assemblies of Bahá'ís to supervise the developing communities in regions of Africa. In the case of central and east Africa the regional assembly included many countries whose names have changed since then but at the time they were known as Belgian Congo, Kenya, Tanganyika, Comoro Is., Ruanda-Urundi, Uganda, French Equatorial Africa, Seychelles, Zanzibar, were part of the regional national assembly for Central & East Africa. The convention was held in Kampala Uganda and delegates from Tanganyika and Zanzibar attended. Hasan Balyuzi, then Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom, whose task it was to target pioneers to Tanganyika, and Hand of the Cause Músá Banání represented Shoghi Effendi at the event. The members of the first regional national assembly were Ali Nakbjavani, Philip Hainsworth, Hassan Sabri, Oloro Epyeruj, Aziz Yazdi, Jalal Nakhjavani, Tito Wanantsusit, Sylvester Okurut, and Max Kenyerezi.
The regional assembly established short term schools - Tanganyika held its first weekend school in 1957. The school started on a Saturday afternoon with an opening devotional program and the first class, followed by dinner and an evening of social activity. Sunday morning and part of the afternoon was devoted to more classes, panel discussions, demonstrations of the various procedures of Baha'i administrative life, such as elections and consultations, and question and answer sessions, and ending with a devotional. In early 1957 Gung moved from Tanganyika to Uganda where she founded a multi-racial kindergarten nursery. In April the Local Spiritual Assembly of Dar es Salaam obtained their civic registration according to the Trustee's Incorporation Ordinance of Tanganyika. The community of Tanganyika held three weekend schools in 1959. Four Tanganyikan's attended the centralized school held in Kampala in 1960. Conferences on the progress of the religion were held in 1960 at Mashi and Tunga with attendance by Hand of Cause Músá Banáni.
In 1961 the Bahá'í House of Worship
Bahá'í House of Worship
A Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of Mashriqu'l-Adhkár ,is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Bahá'í Faith...
for Africa was dedicated. Over 1500 people attended. Among the Bahá'ís were some 225 African Bahá'ís from Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Ruanda Urundi, Ethiopia, Northern Rhodesia, Swaziland, and South Africa; some 90 Persian Baha'is, sixty-two of whom flew from Tehran; the British national assembly, the mother assembly to that of Central and East Africa, sent one believer from each of its regions - England, Scotland and Wales, as well as one from Ireland; the American national assembly sent one of its members, Amos Gibson, himself a pioneer among the American Indian peoples. Following the dedications Rúhíyyih Khanum
Rúhíyyih Khanum
Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum , born Mary Sutherland Maxwell was the wife of Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921–1957. She was appointed by him as a Hand of the Cause, and served an important role in the transfer of authority from 1957–1963...
traveled through the area for a few months spending part of February in Tanganyika.
The growth in the religion across the regional assembly of Central and East Africa was called "the most spectacular" by the Custodians
Custodians
The Custodians is terminology in the Bahá'í Faith, which refers to nine Hands of the Cause assigned specifically to work at the Bahá'í World Centre in attendance to the Guardian of the Faith...
who carried on the work of the religion between death of Shoghi Effendi and the election of the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
. In 1962 there were many Bahá'ís in Central and East Africa (over 42,000). Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga
Enoch Olinga
Enoch Olinga was born to an Anglican family of the Iteso ethnic group in Uganda. He became a Bahá'í, earned the title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh and was appointed as the youngest Hand of the Cause, the highest appointed position in the religion. He served the interests of the religion widely and...
toured the region in 1962 and addressed gatherings at variety of locations in Tanganyika such as Usambara Estate, where about 1,400 people heard him; at Dar es Salaam, where two meetings were held; at Kivukoni College and at Mnazi Mmoja attended by over 150 people.
Survey
In 1963 a survey was accomplished of the religion. In Tanzania it identifies there were 41 assemblies, 65 groups between 1 and 9 adults, and 48 isolated individuals.- The assemblies included those from BukobaBukobaBukoba is a town in northwest Tanzania on the western shore of Lake Victoria. It is the capital of the Kagera region. Population estimate: 100,000...
, Dar es SalaamDar es SalaamDar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
, MakuyuniMakuyuniMakuyuni is an administrative ward in the Monduli district of the Arusha Region of Tanzania. According to the 2002 census, the ward has a total population of 12,267....
, MkomaziMkomazi, Tanzania- References :...
, Pemba MnaziPemba MnaziPemba Mnazi is an administrative ward in the Temeke district of the Dar es Salaam Region of Tanzania. According to the 2002 census, the ward has a total population of 5,190....
, MoshiMoshiMoshi is a Tanzanian town with a population of 144,739 in Kilimanjaro Region. The town is situated on the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, a volcanic mountain that is the highest mountain in Africa....
, MorogoroMorogoroMorogoro is a city with an urban population of 206,868 in the southern highlands of Tanzania, 190 km west of Dar es Salaam. It is the capital of the Morogoro Region...
, and MwanzaMwanzaMwanza is a mid-sized port city on the southern shores of Lake Victoria in northwestern Tanzania. With an urban population of 1.2 million and a metropolitan population of 2 million, it is Tanzania's second largest city, following Dar es Salaam and ahead of other major Tanzanian cities of Arusha,...
.
- Registered groups of Bahá'ís included those from ArushaArushaArusha is a city in northern Tanzania. It is the capital of the Arusha Region, which claims a population of 1,288,088, including 281,608 for the Arusha District . Arusha is surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks...
, DodomaDodomaDodoma , officially Dodoma Urban District, population 324,347 , is the national capital of Tanzania, and the capital of the Dodoma region. In 1973, plans were made to move the capital to Dodoma...
, IringaIringaIringa is a city in Tanzania with a population of 112,900 . It is situated at a latitude of 7.77°S and longitude of 35.69°E. The name is derived from the Hehe word lilinga, meaning fort....
, Kanga, KilomeniKilomeniKilomeni is a village in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania and is situated in the Pare Mountains. Kilomeni is home to a Roman Catholic parish, a secondary school, and a primary school...
, MbeyaMbeyaMbeya is a city located in southwest Tanzania, Africa. Mbeya's urban population was 280,000 in 2005. Mbeya is the capital of the surrounding rural Mbeya region ....
, MikumiMikumiMikumi is a town in Central Tanzania. It is near the larger town of Kidodi. Kidodi is located near a railway station and junction of the Tanzania Railway Corporation.- See also :* Transport in Tanzania* Railway stations in Tanzania* Mikumi National Park...
, MusomaMusomaMusoma is a city located in northern Tanzania. It is the capital of Mara Region. It has a population of 103,497 . Musoma sits on the eastern edge of Lake Victoria not far from the Kenyan border. There are boats that take you across Lake Victoria from Musoma.- Geography :The town is sited in a...
, Pongwe Pogwe, RuvuRuvu- Transport :The town is served by a junction station on the Central Railway of Tanzania Railways Corporation. The branch proceeds cross country to the Tanga line.- References :...
, ShinyangaShinyangaShinyanga, also known as Shinyanga mji in the local Swahili language, is a city in northern Tanzania. The city is the location of the regional headquarters of Shinyanga Region as well as the district headquarters of Shinyanga Urban District...
, SongeaSongeaSongea is the capital of the Ruvuma Region in southeastern Tanzania. It is located along the A19 road. The city has a population of approximately 130,000, and is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Songea. Between 1905 and 1907 the city was a centre of African resistance during the Maji...
, TukuyuTukuyuTukuyu is a small, of 50,000 inhabitants, hillside town that lies about south of the city of Mbeya, at an elevation of around in the highland Rungwe District of southern Tanzania, East Africa. The local language is colloquial Nyakyusa together with the national language Swahili. Secondary and...
, Ukerewe IslandUkerewe IslandUkerewe is the largest island in Lake Victoria and the largest inland island in Africa, with an area of approximately 530 km². Part of Tanzania, and location of the Ukerewe District, it is situated 45 km north of Mwanza to which it is linked by ferry, but a shorter vehicle ferry crossing of only...
and Zanzibar CityZanzibar CityZanzibar City is the capital and largest city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. It is located on the west coast of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago, roughly opposite to Dar es Salaam across the Zanzibar Channel...
.
A national community
Following the election of the Universal House of JusticeUniversal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
, the Bahá'í populations across the African countries began to form their own National Spiritual Assembly: In 1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar and nearby islands together formed their own assembly in time with the civic changes (including the new name of Tanzania) while others across sub-Saharan continued to form up to the 1990s. The national convention for the Bahá'ís of Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Mafia Island
Mafia Island
Mafia Island is part of the Tanzanian Spice Islands, together with Unguja and Pemba. As one of the six districts of the Pwani Region, Mafia Island is governed from the mainland, not from the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar, of which it has never been considered to be a part.According to the...
, and Pemba Island was held on May 1 though train breaks downs and flooded roads limited attendance by about half the delegates. The second half arrived the next morning reaching a total of 42 delegates. Hand of the Cause Músá Banání represented the Custodians and the newly elected Universal House of Justice at the convention. Many messages from Bahá'í communities arrived congratulating the Tanzanians from throughout the world which gave the delegates a grasp of breadth of the world wide community. Those elected to the first national assembly were: H. S. Akida, Allen Elston, Mary Elston, Lamuka Mwangulu, Jalal Nakhjavani, Wallace NgaUomba, Glory Nyirenda, Ruhulah Yazdani and Jamsheed Samandari. As of 1965 there were 75 local assemblies and Bahá'ís in about 265 localities. The Bahá'í assembly of Karachi, Pakistan was host to A. A. Badii of the Sokoine University of Agriculture
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Sokoine University of Agriculture is a university in Tanzania, specializing in agriculture.-Introduction:INTRODUCTION TO SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE...
campus of Morogo
Morogo
Morogo, also known as wild or African spinach, refers to a group of at least three different dark green leafy vegetables found throughout Southern Africa and harvested for human consumption. It is considered a traditional South African dish and forms an important part of the staple diet in rural...
and a member of the national assembly of Tanzania in August 1967 and the national center buildings was finished in 1968. Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga attended the 1968 convention at the new center. In 1969 the national assembly was officially recognized as a religious institution by the government.
Developments within and without
In 1970 Hand of the Cause Rúhíyyih KhanumRúhíyyih Khanum
Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum , born Mary Sutherland Maxwell was the wife of Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921–1957. She was appointed by him as a Hand of the Cause, and served an important role in the transfer of authority from 1957–1963...
reprised her briefer tour from 1961 but this time took the month of September to tour through Tanzania as part of a trip through eastern Africa. She visited Tanga, Dar es Salaam spoke to an audience of over two hundred, a ten-minute interview on the Tanzania government radio station, and meta member of the Tanzanian Supreme Court, the Rotary Club, then to Mafia Island where a meeting was held in the municipal hall, down to eastern and southern parts of the country. In part she visited places she visited in 1962 including Mwami where a big tree served as shade for a meeting. In April 1972 a campaign to present the religion in the town of Arusha
Arusha
Arusha is a city in northern Tanzania. It is the capital of the Arusha Region, which claims a population of 1,288,088, including 281,608 for the Arusha District . Arusha is surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks...
had posters, fliers, pamphlets, books, culminated in a talk, songs by a choir, and prayers all with translations in Swahili with invitations to followup informational meetings. In June the Hand of the Cause Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir
Rahmátu'llah Muhájir
Raḥmatu'lláh Muhájir was a prominent fourth generation Bahá'í, born on 4 April 1923 in the town of 'Abdu'l-'Azím, Iran. In 1954, Dr Muhájir married Írán Furútan, the daughter of `Alí-Akbar Furútan, and together they pioneered to the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia...
visited Malaysia and while there encouraged Inparaju Chinniah to go to Africa as a travelling teacher where he spent six months in Tanzania on leave without salary and made a contribution to the work of the Faith there. In October celebrations for United Nations Day
United Nations Day
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which "shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for" its work.In 1971 the...
were carried out in three Baha'i communities in Tanzania with talks and films. In November an Indian Bahá'í, A. K. Forudi, toured the deep countryside near the border with Kenya promulgating the religion and offering classes on the religion to the Bahá'ís there. He returned in January 1973 and toured more villages. In early 1973 Ruhíyyíh Khanúm again visited in Tanzania. In July 1973 a delegation from the national assembly was able to meet with then President William Tolbert of Liberia during his visit to a conference in Tanzania and in the same month there was an informational booth at the fair held on Saba Saba Day
Saba Saba Day
Saba Saba Day on July 7 celebrates the 1954 founding of the Tanzanian political party, TANU, the Tanganyika African National Union...
. By the end of 1973 children's classes are being taught in Magamba-Kwalonge village.
In 1976 the national assembly produced a document Loyalty to Government: The Baha'i Viewpoint as well as participated in a national conference on the progress of the religion as part of a broad review across the region kicked off by an international conference held in Kenya. 1976 also saw the national assembly of Swaziland, Mozambique and Angola printing translations of Bahá'í prayers
Prayer in the Bahá'í Faith
Prayer in the Bahá'í Faith refers to two distinct concepts: obligatory prayer and devotional prayer . Both types of prayer are composed of reverent words which are addressed to God, and the act of prayer is one of the most important Bahá'í laws for individual discipline...
into the Yao language spoken in southern Tanzania and beyond. A Tanzanian delegation also met with Rashidi Kawawa
Rashidi Kawawa
Rashidi Mfaume Kawawa was the Prime Minister of Tanganyika in 1962 and of Tanzania in 1972-77. He was the effective ruler of the country from January to December 1972 while Julius Nyerere toured the countryside. Kawawa was a strong advocate of economic statism...
and presented volume XIV of Bahá'í World.
The Uganda-Tanzania War
Uganda-Tanzania War
The Uganda–Tanzania War was fought between Uganda and Tanzania in 1978–1979, and led to the overthrow of Idi Amin's regime...
broke out in 1978 and Ugandan President Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
was overthrown by early 1979. This precipitated the conditions resulting in the murder of Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga
Enoch Olinga
Enoch Olinga was born to an Anglican family of the Iteso ethnic group in Uganda. He became a Bahá'í, earned the title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh and was appointed as the youngest Hand of the Cause, the highest appointed position in the religion. He served the interests of the religion widely and...
in September though details of the event weren't shared widespread until May 1980. The news of his murder was conveyed to the African office of the Continental Counselors
Institution of the Counsellors
The Counsellors are part of the administrative order of the Bahá'í Faith, and are part of a greater administrative branch called the Institution of the Counsellors, established by the Universal House of Justice in 1968....
by Claire Gung. Claire Gung herself died in 1985 entitled Knight of Bahá'u'lláh and Mother of Africa. Amidst the tragedy in October 1979 the Bahá'ís of Tanzania hosted meetings at the national center for United Nations Day
United Nations Day
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which "shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for" its work.In 1971 the...
as well as a national conference on the progress of the religion in the country.
In 1986 the Universal House of Justice asked several African countries to develop audio-visual Mobile Teaching Institutes including Tanzania. The community also hosted a public meeting for the International Year of Peace
International Year of Peace
- Recognition :1986 is recognized as International Year of Peace in December 1986, in the UNESCO headquarter, Paris, France.- Actions Taken by the Red Cross:...
at Dar es Salaam on November 29, 1986 called "Perspectives on Peace". In 1987 the sixth National Youth Conference in Kenya drew attendees from Tanzania among other places. In September 1987, the national assembly met with various institutions to plan two campaigns - one in the Kasulu
Kasulu
Kasulu is one of the 4 districts of the Kigoma Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the North by Burundi, to the East by the Kibondo District and to the South by the Kigoma Rural and Kigoma Urban Districts....
district of the Kigoma region on Lake Tanganyika and the other in the Morogoro
Morogoro
Morogoro is a city with an urban population of 206,868 in the southern highlands of Tanzania, 190 km west of Dar es Salaam. It is the capital of the Morogoro Region...
region in central Tanzania which including a traveling youth choir and slide show. By July 1988 several new local assemblies and Bahá'ís resulted. Back in June a Tanzanian national youth conference was hosted at the Ruaha Secondary School. A May 1989 campaign took place in the Same District
Same District
Same is one of the six districts of the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Mwanga District, to the northeast by Kenya, to the south and southeast by the Tanga Region, and to the west by the Manyara Region....
aimed particularly at public school teachers.
Service for society
Since its inception the religion has had involvement in socio-economic developmentSocio-economic development (Bahá'í)
Since its inception the Bahá'í Faith has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and...
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. In 1979 in Tanzania the Bahá'í community participated in a seminar on alcoholism and drug abuse organized by the Karibu Tanzania Project under the Ministry of National Culture and Youth. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
Bahá'í teachings
The Bahá'í teachings represent a considerable number of theological, social, and spiritual ideas that were established in the Bahá'í Faith by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the religion, and clarified by successive leaders including `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son, and Shoghi Effendi, `Abdu'l-Bahá's...
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. This was the beginnings of ecological preservation projects by Bahá'ís began in this era. And a review looking past 1987 focused on deepening women in the understanding of the Bahá'í Faith because widens their perspective and gives them self-confidence. This can be done by holding women's conferences at local, regional, and perhaps, national levels to both deepen them in the Bahá'í teachings and to provide a forum for discussion of women's ideas and concerns. As a follow-up, the production and circulation of a women's magazine, focusing on the same topics as the conferences, and with special emphasis on nutrition education, would be helpful. A 1986 review noted three larger projects in Tanzania - a carpentry workshop, and a nursery school were up and running and plans for a technical/agricultural school were initiated. This school developed into the Ruaha Secondary School (see below.) Additionally, a program to train volunteer community health educators was conducted. In 1989 a Bahá'í expert and businessman in using appropriate technology
Appropriate technology
Appropriate technology is an ideological movement originally articulated as "intermediate technology" by the economist Dr...
from Swaziland traveled through six southern and eastern African countries including Tanzania training local people in the manufacture of several kinds of fence-making machines and other technologies in building, agriculture and water programs. The 10-day training courses were organized by the National Spiritual Assemblies in each of the six countries.
Internal developments
Savanna Georgia native Mike O'Neal and son Darrell took on a multi-nation tour of Africa on behalf of the Universal House of Justice as part of a delegation of other African-American Bahai's who visited Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in January 1999.A succession of newsletters relates the advancement of the implementation of the Ruhi Institute
Ruhi Institute
The Ruhi Institute is an educational institution, operating under the guidance of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'í Faith in Colombia. The general idea of an institute in Bahá'í terms originates with the beginning of the Nine Year Plan designated by the Universal House of Justice...
and other recent developments in Tanzania. The November 2001 newsletter reviews the recent plans affecting Bahá'í development from 1996. The March 2002 edition reviews the books of the Ruhi Institute and the role of tutors. The June 2002 focuses on the role of the tutor. The September 2002 newsletter calls for a campaign for more tutors especially in four regions of Tanzania as well as the opportunities and limitations of being a tutor. The February 2003 newsletter related the number of Ruhi Books and the categorization of a cluster, celebrated tutors who had facilitated many courses as well as news that some of the general public had taken part in study circles. The August 2003 newsletter focused on the case of the Nyaruyoba Cluster, found in Kibondo District (Kigoma) and noted it was the fastest advancing cluster in Tanzania. It also reviewed with some detail which locations had proceeded further through the books and goals to look forward to.
Multiplying interests
The Universal House of Justice released a letter "to the world's religious leaders" in April 2002. In Tanzania, the Baha'i community conveyed this letter to about 30 leaders. Some of the responses were positive - for example, Biharilal Keshavji Tanna of the Hindu Council of Tanzania wrote: "I have read the document with great interest and feel that it contains a supremely important message not only to the leaders of the faith groups, but to all thinking individuals, who must shoulder the duty and responsibility of breaking down barriers amongst the various groups of the family of mankind."The Bahá'ís worked with other religious leaders through the Christian Social Services Commission to work with people in the villages and sub-villages (vijiji and vitongoji) in preventing malarla.
An article by a university scholar in the Encyclopedia of Peace Education noticed that Bahá'ís contribute to peace through involvement in interfaith activities and dialogue to encourage religious tolerance, freedom of belief and elimination of religious prejudice and presented the efforts of the Baha’i community in Tanzania to hold a day for all religions to pray for peace on November 9, 2005.
In 2006 the Dar es Salaam Union Student Organization and the Bahá'í community of Tanzania sponsored a symposium which examined the theme "The Role of Family and Youth in Establishing Brighter Communities." The event was held on United Nations Day
United Nations Day
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which "shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for" its work.In 1971 the...
and placed a number people on panels to discuss issues - Baha'is, government officers, Christian NGO leaders, youth leaders, an author, and a university professor and similar groups were in the audience.
The General Assembly of the United Nations, in its resolution 61/221 of 20 December 2006, (OP. 14) decided to convene in 2007 a high-level dialogue on interreligious and intercultural cooperation with formal and informal meetings. The President of the General Assembly appointed a Civil Society 'Task Force' to assist in the selection of participants and in identifying the sub-themes of the hearing. Bahá'ís were among the twenty speakers who represented a variety of cultural (all continents) and religious (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Jain, Baha'i) traditions. The second panel discussion addressed the theme of "Best Practices and Strategies of Interreligious and Intercultural Cooperation Going Forward". The Representative of the Bahá'í International Community
Bahá'í International Community
The Bahá'í International Community, or the BIC, is an international non-governmental organization representing the members of the Bahá'í Faith; it was first chartered in March 1948 with the United Nations, and currently has affiliates in over 180 countries and territories.The BIC seeks to "promote...
in Tanzania underscored that the freedom to hold belief of one's choosing and to change it, was an essential attribute of the human conscience, and recommended concrete strategies to overcome ignorance and fanaticism.
Ruaha Secondary School
The Ruaha Secondary School, is a Bahá'í schoolBahá'í school
A Bahá'í school at its simplest would be a school run officially by the Bahá'í institutions in its jurisdiction and may be a local class or set of classes, normally run weekly where children get together to study about Bahá'í teachings, Bahá'í central figures, or Bahá'í administration...
run by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Tanzania. Its development reaches back to 1985 when Bahá'í funds began the construction of the site, that the town of Iringa had donated using bricks that were fired onsite. With the approval of the Tanzanian Ministry of Education classes began on March 27, 1986. It added a year of school per year it was open aiming to include technical college level course work. By 1988 the school had 300 students. The curriculum, which is determined by the Ministry, includes English, Swahili, geography, history, agriculture, chemistry, physics, biology, political science, mathematics and religion - Christian, Islamic and Bahá'í studies included, by representatives of different religions. Each student takes part in regularly scheduled activities in self-reliance such as carrying bricks, planting bananas, digging foundations, watering and weeding his own trees, etc. Several of the founding staff were pioneers to Tanzania - one from Iran, one from Lebanon, one from Australia, and three from America. There was also local staff hired as teachers. The school is affiliated with a local teacher training college and also provides services to the local community.
In 1992 a paper was presented examining implementing computer technologies in an African context. In 1999 the school advertised for teachers and staff for Accounts/Computers and English/oral Education Teacher and was associated with the local Baha'i nursery school. It also advertised for Bahá'í Youth Year of Service opportunities. It also received a two-year, US$122,000 grant to build a new girls' dormitory capable of housing 120 students. The grant, for 141,630 Euros, was given by the Unity Foundation, a Bahá'í-inspired development agency in Luxembourg. The first installment of the grant was sent in 2001. The rest arrived by October 2002.
One of the unique aspects to the school culture is the total absence of caning
Caning
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks or hand . Application of a cane to the knuckles or the shoulders has been much less common...
. Instead the school emphasizes promoting virtues like patience, diligence, courtesy, trustworthiness, compassion and justice, while at the same time helping students developed the capacities, attitudes and skills - such as knowledge of appropriate agricultural techniques, computer literacy and basic commerce. The school also has a strong sense of mission when it comes to educating girls and proudly note its record of academic excellence. As part of the student government of the school, the Environmental Ambassadors project acts as a force in keeping the environment in pleasant condition. In every Form
Form (education)
A form is a class or grouping of students in a school. The term is used predominantly in the United Kingdom, although some schools, mostly private, in other countries also use the title...
there are a number of Environmental Ambassadors chosen from volunteers.
In more recent years it has had support from Mona Foundation
Mona Foundation
Mona Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports grassroots initiatives focused on education and raising the status of women and girls in the US and abroad...
. A site master site plan was evolved with help from architect Ben Hufford, of Yost Grube Hall Architectural Firm in Portland, Oregon in February 2006. In August 2006 two trainers were sent to give a workshop for selected staff in the use of Microsoft Unlimited Potential curriculum. The foundation has contributed funds for construction of a boys’ hostel (120 bed capacity), a kitchen/dry foods store, a water system (borehole well) and for purchase of a generator to provide electricity during outages.
Demographics
In 1993, just over 50 years from the start of the presence of the religion in the region, there were an estimated 223,000 Bahá'ís in East Africa and 1,268 Bahá'í local spiritual assemblies. Bahá'ís could be found in 508 localities, of which 191 have spiritual assemblies in Tanzania. In 2000 - the World Christian EncyclopediaWorld Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia is a reference work published by Oxford University Press, known for providing membership statistics for major and minor world religions in every country of the world, including historical data and projections of future populations.The first edition, by David B. Barrett,...
estimated some 140,600 Bahá'ís in Tanzania. In 2005 Association of Religion Data Archives
Association of religion data archives
The Association of Religion Data Archives is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997, and online since 1998, the archive was initially targeted at researchers interested in American religion...
, based on World Christian Encyclopedia, estimated some 163,800, Bahá'ís (0.4% of the national population.)