Bahá’í World/Volume 30/Anniversaries of Bahá’í Communities

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[Page 113]

Anniversaries of Bahá’í Communities

In 2001-02, Bahá’í communities in Hawaii, Uganda, and Sarawak celebrated significant anniversaries connected to the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in their lands.

Unlike much older Faiths, which measure milestones in centuries or millennia, adherents of the Bahá’í Faith still see ample significance in the few years and decades since the founding of many national Bahá’í communities. The passing years are characterized internally by growth and consolidation and externally by an increasing recognition from governments, civil organizations, and other religions.

In 2001, two communities, Uganda and Sarawak, each celebrated 50 years of the Bahá’í Faith within their countries, while the Bahá’ís of the Hawaiian Islands celebrated a full century of progress in the Pacific region.

These anniversaries chart from the time each location is "opened" to the Bahá’í Faith-when the first Bahá’í takes up residence there. In each country, it was the efforts of individual "pioneers" that sparked the growth of these communities, which are now thriving, in the years since the introduction of the message of Bahá’u’lláh to their people. [Page 114]

Hawaiian Islands

The first Bahá’í to set foot in the Hawaiian Islands was Hand of the Cause of God Agnes Alexander, who was born in Hawaii and was the granddaughter of missionaries. Miss Alexander first heard about the Bahá’í Faith while on a trip to Europe, and when she returned home as an adult, on 26 December 1901, she was the first to bring word of the Bahá’í Faith to the Hawaiian Islands― and, indeed, the entire Pacific region. Though she herself had been a Bahá’í for just over a year at that time, she ultimately devoted her life to spreading the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the Pacific and during her travels to Canada, China, Europe, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States.

Miss Alexander passed away in 1971 in Honolulu, Hawaii. There, almost exactly one hundred years after she had brought the Bahá’í teachings to the Islands, more than 1,000 Bahá’ís from some 53 countries gathered in Honolulu from 20 to 23 December 2001 for the four-day "Fire in the Pacific" celebration. They came from all over the Pacific, from Canada, Europe, Latin America, the United States, and even from as far away as Asia and Africa to celebrate the centenary of the Bahá’í Faith in the Hawaiian Islands.

The first local Bahá’í community formed in 1902, a year after the introduction of the Faith to Hawaii. The National Spiritual

Princess To'oa Tosi Malietoa, who read a message to the anniversary gathering in the Pacific from her father, His Highness Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II, the king of Western Samoa, who is a Bahá’í. [Page 115]

ANNIVERSARIES

A few of the 1,000 people who came from Bahá’í communities around the world for the celebration in Honolulu.

Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands, with its seat in Honolulu, was established in 1964. Today, the Bahá’í community of the Islands includes more than 3,500 people in nearly 30 local communities with 22 Local Spiritual Assemblies.

External recognition of a century’s worth of growth and achievement came in the form of extensive media coverage and attendance by a number of prominent people. Her Highness Susuga To’oa Tosi Malietoa extended greetings at the opening session on behalf of her father, His Highness Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II, the head of state of the independent nation of Western Samoa. Ka’ulu Kukui Thomas, retired Hawaii State Court Judge and trustee for the Queen Liliuokalani Trust, welcomed the participants on behalf of the Hawaiian people. Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris greeted conference attendees during the plenary session on Saturday morning, and Honolulu’s top-rated television station KHON gave extensive coverage to a parade from the burial place of Hand of the Cause Martha Root to the cemetery where Hand of the Cause Agnes Alexander is buried. [Page 116]A choir performing at the anniversary celebration, which featured dramatic and musical performances.

Drama, music, and other sarts were an essential part of the conference, with numerous presentations by Bahá’í artists highlighting the event. Musician and Grammy-winner K.C. Porter performed with local musicians; Australian actor Philip Hinton presented "Portals to Freedom," the story of Howard Colby Ives; and Nadema Agard, a community service outreach specialist with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, presented a workshop on the sacred feminine presence in the arts of Native Americans. Also part of the celebration was a tribute to Miss Alexander, when some 600 people visited her final resting place to remember her and her contributions to the community a century earlier.

On Sunday, 23 December, the conference sponsored a traditional outdoor Ho'olaule'a, or festival, at the McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Beach Park. The Ho'olaule'a featured top local entertainers Amy Hanaiali'i, Hapa's Barry Flanagan, Martin Pahinui, Sean Na'auao, and Ernie Cruz, as well as Mr. Porter. The event also showcased entertainment by dancers from other Pacific Islands, along with arts, crafts, and traditional Hawaiian food.

In addition to reflecting on the history of the community, the conference focused on issues relevant to the Pacific region, highlighting moral and spiritual education for children, the situation of indigenous peoples and their contribution to world society, and the use of the arts as a means for positive social change.

In total, the conference featured more than 80 workshops, lectures, and performances. Session topics ranged from a presentation on the successes of a Bahá’í vocational school in Kiribati [Page 117]to discussions on the use of consultation in Bahá’í community life.

The conference brought together a view of both the past and the future, and in plenary sessions the focus was largely on how Bahá’ís can use the teachings of the Faith-such as the equality of women and men and the recognition of humanity’s essential oneness to continue making positive contributions to communities in the Pacific region.

Uganda

The message of the Bahá’í Faith was first carried to Uganda by a small group of Bahá’ís who arrived there on 2 August 1951. Hand of the Cause of God Musa Banani, his wife Sami’ih, their daughter Violette and her husband ‘Alí Nakhjavání, and Philip Hainsworth¹ arrived in Kampala with the intent of establishing the Faith in that country.

The first Ugandans became Bahá’ís later in 1951, and the following year, Enoch Olinga became the third native Ugandan to declare his belief in the Bahá’í Faith. Within months, he was elected as a member of the first Local Spiritual Assembly formed in Kampala. In 1957, Mr. Olinga was appointed as a Hand of the Cause of God and through his tireless activity became instrumental in the spread of the religion throughout his own country and the whole of Africa.

The principles of unity and social progress offered by the Faith soon won acceptance from individuals in every region of Uganda and most major tribal groups. Within two years the community had expanded to nearly 300 members in some 25 localities who represented 20 tribes. In the 50 years since those beginnings, the Faith has grown to include an estimated 105,000 members in nearly 3,000 localities.

In 1955, though the Faith had been introduced in the country scarcely four years before, Shoghi Effendi announced plans to construct a House of Worship in Kampala. Construction of the

¹ See pp. 304-05 for Mr. Hainsworth’s obituary. [Page 118]Some of the 2,000 people who gathered at Uganda's 50th anniversary Jubilee, in front of the House of Worship in Kampala.

nine-sided Temple began in 1957 and was completed in January 1961.

Like most of the rest of Uganda, the Bahá’í community suffered in the 1970s during the repressive regime of Idi Amin. Along with many other religious groups, the Bahá’í Faith was banned in 1977. After Amin was ousted in 1979, it was legally reconstituted, allowing the community to continue its development.

"The time from 1977 to 1981 was a period of great trial for the Ugandan community generally, and there are stories of many heroic feats and sacrifices by Bahá’ís during this time," said John Anglin, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Uganda. "But the 1990s were a period of rebuilding our former capacity and strength."

The Bahá’ís commemorated the anniversary of their community in a week-long Jubilee that featured a statement by Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, which was read on 2 August 2001 by Capt. Michael Mukula, State Minister for Health, before a crowd of some 2,000 people at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Kampala. The President's message praised the Faith's record of promoting harmony and development in a country that has often been divided by tribalism. [Page 119]

ANNIVERSARIES

"In Uganda we are constantly fighting against ethnic and religious sectarianism and our politics were played out and polarized along those major fault lines for a very long time," wrote President Museveni, explaining that his government has sought to "bring all the people together irrespective of their faith, race, color, or ethnicity."

"We have been doing what you in the Bahá’í Faith began to do a long time ago," his message continued. "Yours is a very useful message and can contribute greatly to nation building."

President Museveni also said that his government shares a commitment to bring about equality between women and men, writing, "I appeal to members of the Bahá’í Faith, who hold the equality of rights and opportunities for women and men as an act of faith and as their basic principle, to join in our crusade for the empowerment of women."

Among other highlights of the anniversary festivities, which began on 31 July in Kampala and ended on 5 August in Tilling, Kumi District, in Eastern Uganda, were the presence of four of the founding members of the community, the attendance of various officials in the Ugandan government, and extensive coverage of the celebration in the Ugandan media.

‘Alí Nakhjavání, who is currently a member of the Universal House of Justice, and his wife Violette were both among the founding members of the Bahá’í community who attended the

Capt. Michael Mukula, State Minister for Health in Uganda, reads President Museveni's message to the Bahá’ís gathered for the anniversary festivities. [Page 120]event. Mr. Nakhjavání spoke at several events during the week on the theme "The Spiritual Destiny of Africa."

Philip Hainsworth, another of the founders who returned for the celebration, spoke about the importance of the Bahá’í community of Uganda in the expansion of the Faith to other African nations in the 1950s and 1960s, in the community's hosting of various international conferences, and in its choice as the site of the House of Worship, a well-known landmark in Kampala.

The Ugandan Bahá’í community is also known for its sponsorship of social and economic development projects. The Faith operates two primary schools, in Odusai in Pallisa District and in Tilling in Kumi District. With close to 1,000 students and a solid reputation for excellence, the school in Tilling is now considered to be the top one in the district. The Bahá’í-inspired nongovernmental organization UPLIFT operates a literacy project in the northern region of Uganda, where literacy rates are low. The project is focused around the town of Packwach in Nebbi District and serves close to 200 people in six communities.

In recognition of initiatives such as these, government officials present at the Jubilee events commended the Ugandan Bahá’í community's contribution to the country's development. At the

George Olinga (left) and Capt. Michael Mukula (center) sit with founding members of the Ugandan Bahá’í community, ‘Ali and Violette Nakhjavání. [Page 121]

ANNIVERSARIES

Philip Hainsworth, one of the first Bahá’ís in Uganda, with his wife Lois in front of the House of Worship in Kampala at the 5 anniversary festivities.

opening ceremony on 31 July, the Honorable Zoë Bakoko Bakoru, the Minister of Gender, Labor, and Social Development, was the featured speaker. Ms. Bakoko Bakoru praised the Bahá’ís for their unity and for their support of equal rights for women. She urged the Bahá’í community to work harder to spread such teachings and to undertake more development work. The Minister was also present on 5 August at the closing event in Tilling.

At a Jubilee event on 3 August at the Bahá’í center in Bweyeyo, Luwero District, the guest of honor was Edward Masiga, the Resident District Commissioner. The local Bahá’í community there operates a community school with about 40 students. Mr. Masiga urged the Bahá’ís to spread their principles "aggressively," adding that he hoped they would undertake more development projects like the school.

At least three major television stations (CTV, UTV and WBS) carried two- to three-minute segments on their evening news broadcasts. The government newspapers The New Vision and Etop carried articles with color photographs of Jubilee events. The newspapers Monitor and Sunrise and numerous radio stations also covered the celebrations.

"Now, over the next ten years, we expect to see steady growth both in numbers and also in capacity and maturity," said Mr. [Page 122]Anglin. "The successful conclusion of the Jubilee events is one of the signs of this new capacity and new willingness to achieve."

Sarawak

The dawn of the Bahá’í Faith in the Malaysian state of Sarawak came in 1951, when a group of Bahá’ís arrived to settle in the city of Kuching. Two years later, the first Local Spiritual Assembly formed in Kuching and the Spiritual Assembly of Malaysia formed 12 years later, with jurisdiction over Sarawak, as the Bahá’í community there continued to grow.

In 1998, the Universal House of Justice announced the formation of the Spiritual Assembly of Sarawak. Though the state is politically a part of Malaysia, its Assembly has a separate jurisdiction.

The celebration of the Bahá’í community's 50th anniversary- its "golden jubilee"-comprised three events, the centerpiece of which was a reception in the Majlis Bandara Kuching Selatan City Hall in Kuching. More than 500 people attended the gathering, held on 11 November 2001. The community invited Bahá’ís who had been among the first in Sarawak, including Jamshed and Paravati Fozdar. The Fozdars, who now live in Singapore, were the first Bahá’ís to settle in Kuching in 1951, and they contributed to the celebration by sharing stories of the history of the Bahá’í Faith in Sarawak. Others who were early Bahá’ís in the state, many of whom still reside in Sarawak, also attended, as did Zena Sorabjee of the Continental Boards of Counsellors in Asia and representatives from the neighboring communities of Indonesia, Malaysia, Sabah, and Singapore.

In addition to stories about the formation and growth of the Faith in Sarawak, the gathering was enhanced by the contributions of some of the youth of Sarawak, who organized performances of songs and dances and chanted prayers.

The youth performed again later that same evening at the Grand Ballroom of the Kuching Hilton Hotel, where the Bahá’ís hosted a dinner and reception that showcased the progress of the Faith in Sarawak progress easily demonstrated by the spread of the Faith to more than 30,000 believers within the state in some 1,400 [Page 123]local communities. The community now includes more than 100 Local Spiritual Assemblies and 65 local Bahá’í centers.

Other communities throughout Sarawak, notably Miri and Kampong Mujat, also held receptions to commemorate the anniversary, with the Kampong Mujat event bringing together more than 300 people and the Miri celebration attracting more than 250.