Enoch Olinga
Encyclopedia
Iteso
The Teso are an ethnic group in eastern Uganda and western Kenya. Teso refers to the traditional homeland of the Iteso, and Ateso is their language.-Uganda:...
ethnic group in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
. 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 especially in Africa. He returned to Uganda during a time of turmoil and ultimately was murdered with his family.
Early history
The second son to Samusan Okadakina and Eseza Iyamitai, his father was a catechist and missionary for the Anglican church. In 1927, Enoch's family moved to the village of Tilling where he was educated in missionary schools. He studied economics and learned several languages enough to be work as a translator. Eventually he learned six languages and published three books on language issues. In 1941 Olinga joined the British Royal Army Educational Corps and served in NairobiNairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, capital of Kenya and beyond. On return to Uganda in 1946 he soon married and began having children (eight.) Around 1950, he moved to Kampala. and encountered the Bahá'í Faith in 1951. Though Olinga had already lost a government job from alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
he attended classes taught by Nakhjavani and became the third Ugandan to become a Bahá'í and swore off alcohol in February 1952. He did so at the forefront of a period of large scale growth in the religion. It was also the year he published Kidar Aijarakon, a translation of the New Testament in Ateso. By October 1952 Olinga's father joined the religion.
Father of victories
In 1953 he became the first Bahá'í pioneerPioneering (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 British Cameroon, and was given the title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh
Knights of Bahá'u'lláh
The title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh was given by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, to Bahá'ís who arose to open new territories to the Faith during the Ten Year Crusade....
for that country. 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....
, and his wife along with Olinga and two other Bahá'ís travelled from Uganda to Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
- the other Bahá'ís were dropped along the way in other countries. As the number of Bahá'ís grew in Cameroon new Bahá'ís left the immediate region to pioneer in other surrounding areas, each becoming a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh including Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, and Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
. Because of the successive waves of people becoming Knights of Bahá'u'lláh, Enoch Olinga was entitled "Abd'l-Futuh", a Persian name meaning "the father of victories" by Shoghi Effendi. In 1954 a Bahá'í book belonging to Olinga, Paris Talks
Paris Talks
Paris Talks is a book transcribed from talks given by `Abdu'l-Bahá while in Paris. It was originally published as Talks by `Abdu'l-Bahá Given in Paris in 1912. `Abdu'l-Bahá did not read and authenticate the transcripts of his talks in Paris, and thus the authenticity of the talks is not known...
, became the basis of a Baha'i Church in Nigeria in Calabar
Calabar
Calabar is a city in Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria. The original name for Calabar was Atakpa, from the Jukun language....
which operated in 1955-56. The church was disconnected from the Bahá'í community but applied 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...
with virtually all of the Cameroonian men on one large palm plantation. The church was established, flourished, and then collapsed utterly unrecognized and unknown to the Bahá'ís and to the international Baha'i community until one of the founders tried to return the book. Both leaders of the church later officially joined the religion and helped form the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Calabar in 1957 and served in other positions.
A biography published in 1984 examined his impact in Cameroon and beyond. The first person in Cameroon to join the religion withstood beatings to persevere in his choice. The first woman to become a Bahá'í in Cameroon did so from his impact on her life though she had been an active Christian before - both she and her husband converted and were among the first to move to Togo and then Ghana. Another early Bahá'í, the first of the Bamiliki tribe, moved to what was then French Cameroon to help there. Another early contact joined the religion later but his wife was the first Bahá'í of Nigeria. The researcher again found that there was an emphasis not on rooting out cultural traditions among the peoples but instead focusing on awareness of the religion and awareness of scientific knowledge should not relate to social class. There were accusations of political intrigue of which Olinga was acquitted. It was judged that Olinga was always sincere and never belittled.
World wide service and travels
In February 1957, in four years, Olinga traveled on Bahá'í pilgrimageBahá'í pilgrimage
A Bahá'í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Akká, and Bahjí at the Bahá'í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá'ís do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage....
for 10 days. Immediately afterwards he was able to visit back to Uganda to attend the laying of the foundation stone of the first 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...
of Africa. In October 1957 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...
appointed him as a Hand of the Cause of God at the age of 31. He was the only native African named as a Hand of the Cause. In November news of the death of Shoghi Effendi spread though Olinga was unable to attend the funeral in London. However Olinga was in attendance for the first Conclave of the Hands in Bahjí on November 18, 1957 to review the situation and the way forward leading to the election of the Universal House of Justice.
Ebony magazine
Ebony (magazine)
Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African-American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945...
covered a conference in Uganda in January 1958 which Olinga and his wife attended and pictured him on page 129. However Olinga did not stay in Uganda - he returned to Haifa where he served at the Bahá'í World Center until 1963 when Olinga chaired the opening session of the first Bahá'í World Congress
Bahá'í World Congress
The Bahá'í World Congress is a large gathering of Bahá'ís from across the world that is called irregularly by the Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the Bahá'ís...
in 1963 which announced the election of the first 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...
. He then returned to live in East Africa and found he was estranged from his wife Eunica. They separated and divorced; he moved to Nairobi with his second wife, Elizabeth and all of his children and he continued to travel widely. After fellow Hand of Cause Músá Banání died, Enoch purchased his home in Kampala. Additional travels after 1968 were extensive, including a tour of Upper West Africa in 1969 and later that same year, South America, Central America, passing through the United States, then the Solomon Islands, and Japan. In 1977, Olinga represented the Universal House of Justice at the International Conference held in Brazil
Bahá'í Faith in Brazil
The Bahá'í Faith in Brazil started in 1919 with Bahá'ís first visiting the country that year, and the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly in Brazil was established in 1928. There followed a period of growth with the arrival of coordinated pioneers from the United States finding national Brazilian...
and then attended another one in Mérida, Mexico.
His co-religionist Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
wrote a song named Olinga; and it was the title track of an album by Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...
, produced by Creed Taylor
Creed Taylor
Creed Taylor is an American record producer, best known for his work with CTI Records, which he founded in 1968. Taylor’s career also included work at Bethlehem Records, ABC-Paramount, Verve, and A&M Records...
, recorded in 1974 and re-issued in 1988 and covered by Judy Rafat on her tribute album to Gillespie in 1999. Olinga was also a song released by Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Williams wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, and recorded more than one hundred records...
in 1995.
Return to Uganda
In September 1977 the administrative institutions of the religion in Uganda had been disbanded by the government along with over two dozen other groups. Soon the Uganda-Tanzania WarUganda-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 President Amin was overthrown by early 1979. Olinga returned to Uganda to protect the community as much as he could.
The country was in a period of street violence from 1978. In March 1979 the Olinga home was robbed though the temple was undisturbed and there was a suspicious accident where Olinga's car was rammed and forced down a hill by a troop transport vehicle, where he was robbed and left for dead, and Olinga's son George was disappeared for a week by soldiers of Amin. Death threats perhaps simply because of his prominence came to Olinga from his home town. Meanwhile after President Amin fled in April the religion began to re-organize. After a night of area bombardment when Olinga spent the night praying in the temple and it and he emerged undamaged the organization of the religion began though his house was being plundered upon his return. First was the re-opening of the Bahá'í House of Worship again, and the beginning of reforming the national assembly in August. Olinga chaired its first organizational meeting.
Murder
Neighbors and a garden servant boy bore witness mostly by hearing events of the execution of the Olinga family. On the evening of Sunday, September 16, 1979, the birthday of one of Olinga's daughters and planned as a day of a family reunion of which a few could not arrive in time, after 8pm local time five soldiers entered Olinga's home while one stood guard at the household gate and killed Olinga, his wife, and three of their five children. Trails of blood went from the kitchen to the back of the house and one of the children had been hurt and roughly bandaged before the family was executed. Enoch himself was killed out in the yard where he had been heard weeping after perhaps witnessing his dead family in the very same house he had joined the religion in. The news was conveyed initially by the garden servant to a member of the national committee that had been appointed and then to a 79 year old pioneer, Claire Gung, who called internationally. Ultimately news reached the Universal House of Justice, the head of the religion, while it sat in session on the 17th. All the dead were buried in the Bahá'í cemetery on the grounds of the Ugandan Bahá'í House of WorshipBahá'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...
on the 25th while civil war and terrorism continued. The funeral included hundreds of Bahá'ís who could make the trip and several members of the government of Uganda.
Commemorations
One Olinga's surviving sons, George Olinga, in about February 1985 made a return trip to Uganda where he and another gave a talk at one the primary schools about the religion and the institutions of the religion. Also in 1985 Claire Gung died.- Since 1996 the Olinga Foundation for Human Development has offered training in remote primary and junior secondary schools in Ghana's Western Region. In 2009 Enlightening the Hearts Literacy (EHL) Campaign of the Olinga Foundation is an educational programme reaching more than 400 schools across rural Ghana. Its two main goals are to improve literacy rates of children aged 9 –15 through better literacy instruction and to increase capabilities of teachers and children through moral education and personal transformation. The programme is a 2009 finalist for Emerging ChangeMakers NetworkEmerging ChangeMakers NetworkEmerging ChangeMakers Network is an organization dedicated to research, , training and leadership development. The organization is often thought of as a talent scout for the social justice community because it finds up and coming leadership and connects them to issues, ideas, people and...
Champions of Quality Education in Africa competition.
- An online university, The Enoch Olinga College of Intercultural Studies, Inc. (ENOCIS) was founded in his name seeking to promote globalistic approach to the problem of poverty.
- The Olinga Academy in Australia seeks to promote and carry out social and economic development, in primarily rural and indigenous communities, through projects and training.
- A documentary, Enoch Olinga, was conceived in 1986, begun in December 1996 and finished in April 2000 as a four-part, 144-minute video. This was showcased at the Dawn Breakers International Film FestivalDawn Breakers International Film FestivalDawn Breakers International Film Festival is an international film festival that is held in various cities throughout the world. The festival originated in 2007 and debuted in Phoenix, Arizona on December 2008. It was held in Zurich, Switzerland in 2009, San Diego in 2010 and Houston in 2011...
.
External links
- Excerpts from a documentary entitled Enoch Olinga, Baha’i Hand of the Cause of God
- Enoch Olinga, Hand of the Cause of God, Father of Victories by N. Richard Francis
- Excerpts from the lives of early and contemporary believers on teaching the Bahá'í Faith: Enoch Olinga, Hand of the Cause of God, Father of Victories. Instructor: N. Richard Francis
- Youtube video of performance of Olinga by Milt Jackson
- Graveite at Findagrave.com