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Equatorial Guinea

From Bahaipedia
 Equatorial Guinea
Bahá’í Choir of Equatorial Guinea performing at 50th Anniversary Celebrations, 2004.
Location of Equatorial Guinea
National AssemblyEquatorial Guinea
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 1,634,466
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 5,460
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Bahá'í 1954, José Ramos Espinosa 
 -  Pioneers 1954, Elise Schreiber 
 -  Local Assembly 1968, Santa Isabel 
 -  National Assembly 1973 
How to contact:
 -  Email nsa.secretaria@gmail.com
 -  Address Apartado de Correos 995
Malabo 
Official Website https://www.bahai.org/national-communities/equatorial-guinea
Related media
Categories: Equatorial Guinea • People

The Republic of Equatorial Guinea is a nation located on the coast of Central Africa. The official languages of the country are Spanish, French, and Portuguese, but several native regional languages are also recognized.

The region has been inhabited since prehistory. Portugal established contact with the region in the 15th century and established the colony of Rio Muni. The Dutch East India Company also established a base on the island of Bioko in the 15th century. Spain seized control of Rio Muni in the 18th century, and between 1926 and 1959 Bioko and Rio Muni were merged as the colony of Spanish Guinea. In 1963 the region gained autonomy and in 1968 it achieved independence as the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.

The Bahá’í Faith was first present in Equatorial Guinea in 1954 however the community had to be re-established in the 1960s. The Bahá’í community became firmly established in the 1980s and in 1990s it began to make efforts to contribute to social and economic development in the country remaining active to the present day.

History[edit]

In 1953 Shoghi Effendi launched the Ten Year Crusade, an international teaching plan to establish Bahá’í communities across the world, and Spanish Guinea was named a goal territory for a Bahá’í pioneer to settle. Elise Schreiber arrived in the country in May, 1954, and by June, 1954, José Ramos Espinosa, a Spanish writer and businessman, had become a Bahá’í through her. In June, 1954, she visited Corisco, an island off the coast of Spanish Guinea, where she proclaimed the Faith to the King of the Benga people with both the King and his nephew becoming Bahá’ís. On June 29, 1954, Schreiber's visa expired and she was deported to Barcelona, Spain, and she lost contact with the early converts to the Faith.[2]

As of 1963 there were no known Bahá’ís in Spanish Guinea,[3] and it was not until 1966 that the Universal House of Justice announced the country had been reopened to the Faith.[4] Cameroonian Bahá’ís Joseph Enonguene, Bassey Ime, and Johanna Ngompex served as pioneers in the 1960's,[5][6] and through their efforts the first Local Spiritual Assembly in the country was established in Santa Isabel in 1968 with smaller Bahá’í communities existing in five additional localities.[7][8][9] In 1969 Hans Ayukangu, a Bahá’í from Santa Isabel, pioneered to Fernando Po Island, now Bioko, settling in Biapa where four people declared after a short time.[10]

In 1973 an independent National Spiritual Assembly of Equatorial Guinea was formed,[11] however government restrictions resulted in the body disbanding in 1976,[12] with the country coming under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of Cameroon.[13] Teaching efforts continued and in 1982 the first Bahá’í of Annabon, a coastal island of Equatorial Guinea, declared.[13]

In 1984 the National Spiritual Assembly of Equatorial Guinea was re-established,[14] and the same year Equatorial Guinea's Minister of Information invited the Assembly to participate in the first International Hispanic African Congress of Culture.[15] In the mid 1980's the Bahá’í community of Equatorial Guinea secured a nine-sided Bahá’í National Center with the establishment of the building receiving considerable media attention.[16]

In 1994 the National Spiritual Assembly organized two five-day seminars on the importance of family life, education within the family, and the equality of men and women which received television coverage,[17] and from 1996 to 1997 the Bahá’í community of Equatorial Guinea funded a functional literacy course for women in Malabo and Bata and offered courses on reproductive health, nutrition, and basic mathematics at Bahá’í Centers across the country.[18]

As of 2004 there were four Local Spiritual Assemblies across the country and that year the 50th Anniversary of the Bahá’í Faith was celebrated in Equatorial Guinea with Elise Schreiber returning to the country for the first time since 1954 to attend the event.[19]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, p 89
  3. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 288. View as PDF.
  4. ↑ 1966 Ridvan message of the Universal House of Justice
  5. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/330/
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1968). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 443, Pg(s) 20. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 147. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ Baha'i News (1969). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 459, Pg(s) 18. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ Baha'i News (1969). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 456, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ Baha'i News (1969). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 459, Pg(s) 18. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 141. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ Baha'i News (1976). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 542, Pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Baha'i News (1982). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 617, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ Baha'i News (1983). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 630, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ Baha'i News (1984). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 643, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 151. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 59. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 132. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2006). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 33 (2004-2005), Pg(s) 47. View as PDF.
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