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PAPYAS NDELEMA
1942—1993
Papyas Ndelema was born on December 12, 1942. He worked in the Meteorological Department of the Malawi Government at Mzuzu, which was then a small town in the Northern Region of the country.
He met Donald Makonyola, a Malawian Bahá’í, who introduced him to the Faith. Donald remembers first imparting the Message of Bahá’u’lláh to the late Papyas when they were in Karonga on relief duties. Papyas was then a strong Christian belonging to the Catholic Church—a person opposed to the Faith. He was given to read Release the Sun, flicfin t/ye Night, and Wine ofAstom’sbmmt—books by the Hand of the Cause William Sears. Papyas could not reconcile himself to Bahá’u’lláh’s claim. How could Ballé’u’llah be the Promised One when He was born to a noble family in Persia and did not descend from the heaven of Christ in the clouds? Donald explained to him that it is the Holy Spirit which descends from heaven to occupy the Chosen One. With Christ it happened in the River Jordan at His baptism; with Bahá’u’lláh the first intimation was in the Siyah—C_hal (the Black Pit) of Tihran. Once he grasped this, Papyas accepted Baha’u’llah, and he enrolled in the Bahá’í Faith on September 14, 1969, while working at Mzuzu. He later recalled that as a boy, his grandmother related a prophecy that there would come teachers with a new
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Message from God just as the Christians had done.
Papyas became a tireless teacher of the Bahá’í Faith, and he served on the first National Spiritual Assembly of Malawi. He was also appointed to serve as a member of the first National Teaching Committee there. He and Donald translated the first Bahá’í prayer book into Chichewa for use by the Malawi Bahá’í community.
Papyas privately studied radio engineering and got a diploma, which led him to resign from the Meteorological Service and to take up a new job in the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation. After his retirement he lived at Domasi with his wife, Lexa Ndelema, and their children. Lexa, also a Bahá’í, loved him and helped him when they were together. He passed away to the Abhá Kingdom on August 8, 1993, at his home. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Zomba conducted a Bahá’í funeral that was attended by some of the National Spiritual Assembly members and other Bahá’ís including those from Blantyre and Lilongwe. It was touching to hear his children firmly singing Bahá’í songs at his funeral. May his soul continue to progress in the Abhá Kingdom.
Luka Mzungu and Donald Ma/eonyo/rz
