Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Cecilia Mkize Nodada
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CECILIA MKIZE NODADA
1917—1980
Cecilia Mkize Nodada, whose nickname ‘Zimbili’ means ‘two’ in her native Zulu tongue, was born on 21 November 1917 in Inanda, a
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village near Durban, South Africa. She studied nursing and worked in this profession for thirty-eight years. She was considered an exemplary nurse by her professional colleagues. In 1949 she married Baptin Nodada, a Xhosa, and they had eight children, four of whom later became Bahá’ís. Cecilia and her husband constantly stressed the importance of education to the youth and, giving concrete form to their thought, they helped to pay the college fees of two young men who were distant relatives.
Cecilia was introduced to the Bahá’í Faith through her father’s sister, Bertha Mkize, who presented her with a copy of The New Garden; and Ruth Kubone, a member of the Auxiliary Board, also came to Umtata, Transkei, to further her knowledge of the teachings. She finally signed her declaration card in Umtata on 23 August 1966, her aunt countersigning it as her teacher. At first Cecilia’s heavy responsibilities as a nurse prevented her from being very active in Bahá’í community life. She was also, in her own words, ‘one of those sleepy Bahá’ís who need deepening in order to become fully aware of the significance of the Faith”. This desirable deepening came in about 1974 as the result of a visit to Transkei of two distinguished African teachers, Robert Mazibuko and Joyce Dwashu. As a result, Cecilia became enkindled with love for the Faith. She visited and deepened some of the friends in Northern Transkei, especially those near the village where she lived after retirement. She was fluent in Zulu, Xhosa and English, and was fond of both reading and writing. She loved to teach but, unfortunately, she became ill when Ishe did much travelling or walking. This was probably an early sign of the cancer that would later develop.
She greatly enjoyed teaching children’s classes—employing songs and plays—and strongly encouraged others to establish classes and showed them what to do. She tried very hard, especially by example, to demonstrate to the friends in the rural areas how they could produce goods that could be later sold for cash to give to the Bahá’í Fund. For instance, she grew beans and offered them for sale at the National Convention. She encouraged the friends to use their money to go out and teach others about the Faith; at times she would also pay the bus fares of friends who wished to
THE BAHA’
1’wORLD
Cecilia Mkize Nodada
make local teaching trips.
Cecilia was deeply loved by the friends in Transkei because of her warm and loving spirit. She was a quiet, modest and affectionate soul who was always surprising people with little gifts and presents. When she was not knitting for the Fund she was knitting special little gifts for the believers—right up to the last few weeks of her life. When friends forgot to write reports for the national committees, or hesitated to do so because of their poorskill in English, Cecilia would generously offer to do it for them. The friends felt that they had in Cecilia a kind friend who was concerned for their welfare and happiness and who loved them.
In 1976 the National Spiritual Assembly of
South and West Africa appointed her to the
National Teaching Committee. She served on
this body, even though it required her making
long trips to Johannesburg, until, in 1977, she
was appointed a member of the Auxiliary
Board for Propagation. However, just two
years later she became very ill with cancer
against which she battled valiantly for more
than two years; to the limit of her strength she
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was active right up to the last few months of
her life. Her absence from the first national
convention of Transkei was so deeply felt that
Counsellor William Masehla paid her a visit,
hoping to transport her in a car. This was not
possible because of the advanced stage of her
illness; it was apparent that she had only a few
weeks of earthly life left. One of her Bahá’í
daughters remarked that throughout her illness Cecilia took comfort from the Bahá’í
song Angene Ndibuyele Umva whose lyric
attests ‘I’ll never turn back from being a
Bahá’í’. Finally, less than two weeks after the
election of the first National Spiritual Assembly
of Transkei, on 12 May 1980, in Dangwane
village, our dear Cecilia followed the Messenger of Joy and departed for the next world.
The news of her passing saddened the whole
Bahá’í community of this region, especially
Transkei and its newly-formed National Spiritual Assembly, all of whose members attended
her funeral on 16 May. There were hundreds
of people present on that day. A bus—load of
nurses in uniform attended, some of whom
composed a guard of honour during the
funeral while others made short addresses
about her excellent work as a nurse. Two
Christian ministers were present, both of
whom offered prayers and praised her character. Even in death Cecilia Nodada, the first
Bahá’í of Northern Transkei, was teaching;
even two years after her funeral people who
were present on that occasion are enquiring
about the Faith she had espoused. Her life
was an enactment of her favourite song,
Angene Ndibuyele Umva.
On 13 May the Universal House of Justice cabled:
GRIEVED LEARN PASSING CECILIA NODADA KINDLY EXPRESS OUR LOVING SYMPATHY FAMILY FRIENDS. OFFERING PRAYERS SACRED SHRINES PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.
NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF TRANSKEI