Claire Gung
Claire Gung | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | November 3, 1904 Gladbeek, Germany |
| Died | February 6, 1985 Kampala, Uganda |
Claire Kleine-Gung (November 3, 1904 - February 6, 1985) was a German Bahá’í who was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and she also served the Bahá’í community of Uganda establishing a kindergarten and school. Shoghi Effendi referred to her as the Mother of Africa.
Biography[edit]
Gung was born in Gladbeek, Germany, in 1904 being the third of fourteen children born into her family. She attended a Catholic convent school as a child and studied briefly at a domestic science college after graduating. She left home in 1924 and began working as a children's nurse and housekeeper spending time in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Belgium, and Holland before moving to England in 1930.[1]
In 1939 Gung was introduced to the Bahá’í Faith while working providing care for Muriel Ward, who was terminally ill with cancer, in Torquay and she declared in December that year. During the Second World War she lived in Eastleigh, Cheltenham, and Manchester working in children's nurseries and she taught the Faith wherever she lived. In 1946 she pioneered to Northampton where she was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly and she became a British citizen in 1947.[1]
Gung later pioneered to Cardiff, Wales, where she served on the cities inaugural Local Spiritual Assembly and then to Belfast in Northern Ireland.[1] In 1950 Shoghi Effendi launched the African Campaign to coordinate the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in Africa and Gung pioneered to Tanganyika, arriving in January, 1951, where she secured employment as a matron at a boys boarding school in Lushoto.[2] She later pioneered to Nairobi, Kenya, where she helped establish and served on the inaugural Local Spiritual Assembly,[2] and in 1953 she attended the Intercontinental Teaching Conference held to launch the Ten Year Crusade and in October she pioneered to Southern Rhodesia where she settled in Salisbury.[3]
Gung went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in January 1955 and met with Shoghi Effendi and in March that year Moses Makwaya and Berard Toni became Bahá’ís in Southern Rhodesia with the Local Spiritual Assembly of Salisbury being established that year. In April, 1956, she pioneered again to Nyasaland living there until July, 1957, when she pioneered to Kampala, Uganda where she began working at the Aga Khan Nursery School.[3] In 1958 she established Auntie Claire's Kindergarten in Kampala which grew to provide early education to one hundred and ninety children.[2]
In 1968 Gung utilized her personal savings to establish a school in Uganda.[4] She remained in the country as the political situation in the country deteriorated and she had a dream about danger to Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga which she warned him of shortly before he was murdered in 1979.[5]
In 1984 Gung moved to Nairobi, Kenya, after breaking her hip in a fall on a bus and spent several months in the city before returning to Kampala, Uganda, where she suffered a stroke. She passed away a fortnight after her stroke in 1985.[5] The Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message after her passing:
DEEPLY GRIEVED NEWS PASSING DEVOTED MAIDSERVANT GOD KNIGHT OF BAHAULLAH CLAIRE GUNG. HER DISTINGUISHED RECORD SERVICES HOLY CAUSE AS FIRST PIONEER LEAVE HER HOME COMMUNITY SIGNALIZING INAUGURATION AFRICAN CAMPAIGN IN RESPONSE BELOVED GUARDIANS CALL WON HER ACCOLADE MOTHER OF AFRICA. HER NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS IN PIONEER FIELDS IN UNITED KINGDOM TANZANIA KENYA ZIMBABWE MALAWI AND UGANDA DESERVE HIGH PRAISE PARTICULARLY HER CONTRIBUTIONS T0 EDUCATION CHILDREN IN SPIRITUAL HEART AFRICA. PRAYING HOLY SHRINEs PROGRESS HER NOBLE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. MAY VALIANT SOULS ARISE FROM AFRICAS FERTILE SOIL FOLLOW IN HER FOOTSTEPS.[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 654. View as PDF.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 655. View as PDF.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 102
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 656. View as PDF.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 657. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 653. View as PDF.
