Navigation
In other projects
Learn more
Core topics
Bahá’í Faith
Central Figures
Teachings
Practices

Uganda

From Bahaipedia
 Uganda
House of Worship, Kampala, Uganda
Location of Uganda
National AssemblyUganda
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[2] 45,853,778
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source 105,000[1] 
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 130,140
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Bahá'í Fred Bigabwa
Chrispin Kajubi 
 -  Pioneers 1951, Músá Banání
1951, Samiheh Banání
1951, Alí Nakhjavání
1951, Violette Nakhjavani 
 -  Local Assembly 1952, Kampala 
 -  National Assembly 1970 
How to contact:
 -  Phone 256 (0) 393 262 681 
 -  Email nsasecretariat@bahaiug.org
 -  Address P.O Box 2662
Kampala 
Official Website https://bahaiug.org/
Related media
Categories: Uganda • People

The Republic of Uganda is a nation in East Africa. English and Swahili are the official languages and Christianity is the predominant religion.

The region has been inhabited since prehistory. In 1894 the British Empire colonized the region and established the Protectorate of Uganda. In 1962 it achieved independence and there have been several violent conflicts for power in the country since.

The Bahá’í community of Uganda was established in 1951 and experienced sudden extreme growth in 1952. It continued to progress until the 1970's when turmoil in the country prevented the community from conducting activities and in 1977 it was banned along with many other religious groups. In 1979 the ban was lifted with the community having regained its capacity by the 1990's and it remains active to the present day.

History[edit]

In 1950 Shoghi Effendi launched the African Campaign, a teaching plan aiming to establish Bahá’í communities across Africa. Uganda was opened to the Faith during the plan with Músá and Samiheh Banání, and their daughter Violette, her husband Alí Nakhjavání, and their infant child Bahíyyih, arriving and settling in Kampala on August 8, 1951. Alí spearheaded teaching efforts attempting to proclaim the Faith to people in a nearby park however he found little success. After seven months two Ugandans had become Bahá’ís,[3] and in early 1952 Enoch Olinga became the third Ugandan Bahá’í.[4]

In April, 1952, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Kampala was established, with the country having twelve Bahá’ís including the pioneers,[5] and a period of intense growth of the Bahá’í community began. Enoch Olinga made a trip to his home village of Tilling from Kampala to visit family and he actively taught the Faith in every town he stayed in during his journey with many people deciding to join the Faith as a result. After arriving in Tilling he wrote to Alí Nakhjavání to request assistance in teaching as around ninety people had become Bahá’ís during his journey but he did not know how to answer their questions. Olinga and Nakhjavání began undertaking travel teaching trips together which resulted in hundreds of people accepting the Faith.[4]

In February, 1953, a major Bahá’í Intercontinental Conference was held in Kampala, Uganda, to launch the Ten Year Crusade and three Ugandan Bahá’ís, including Enoch Olinga, volunteered to pioneer to establish the Bahá’í Faith in other countries after learning about the goals of the Crusade at the Conference.[6] A goal of the Crusade announced at the Conference was the construction of a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Kampala.[7] By April, 1953, there were 290 Bahá’ís in Uganda,[8] and an additional twelve Local Spiritual Assemblies were established across the country.[9] By 1955 the number of Bahá’ís had increased to 900 and seventeen Local Spiritual Assemblies were established that year.[10] In 1956 the National Spiritual Assembly of Central and East Africa was established which assumed responsibility for administrating the Bahá’í community of Uganda.[11]

In 1957 efforts began to prepare land owned by the Faith for construction of a House of Worship in Kampala.[12] In 1958 a second Intercontinental Conference was held in Kampala to mark the mid point of the Ten Year Crusade and at which Rúḥíyyih Khánum represented her husband Shoghi Effendi, having been assigned to do so by him before his passing the previous year,[13] and during the Conference she laid the foundation stone of the Kampala Temple.[14] In 1959 the superstructure of the Temple was completed, with the construction as a whole being completed in 1960,[15] and in January 1961 Rúḥíyyih Khánum returned to Uganda to dedicate the Kampala Temple with a teaching conference being held after the dedication.[16]

As of the completion of the Crusade in 1963 there were 554 Local Spiritual Assemblies in Uganda.[17] In 1964 the Central and East Africa Assembly was disbanded and a National Spiritual Assembly of Uganda and Central Africa was established with its seat in Kampala.[18] Growth continued throughout the 1960's with the Ugandan community having 853 Assemblies by 1968.[19] A third Intercontinental Conference was held in Kampala in 1967.[20]

In 1970 the independent National Spiritual Assembly of Uganda was established. In 1971 the Ugandan community began to focus on Bahá’í youth activities holding a series of seminars at Makerere University which stimulated intensive youth activity and a Bahá’í newsletter was established the same year. General Idi Amin assumed power in Uganda in 1971 and initially fostered friendly relations with the Faith inviting the Bahá’í community to participate in several religious conferences and attending an event at the Kampala House of Worship.[21] Three Bahá’í Teacher Training Institutes had been established by the early 1970's in Mbale, Gulu, and Kampala, and two schools had been established by the Bahá’í community which were named after Enoch Olinga and Louis Gregory.[21]

Government restrictions in Uganda resulted in the Bahá’í community of Uganda ceasing almost all activities from 1973 to 1974 and Enoch Olinga made a six month travel teaching trip across the country to support the Bahá’ís and in 1975 he secured a letter from the governments Secretary of Religious Affairs stating that the Faith was not prohibited to practice in Uganda.[22] Despite the assurance in September, 1977, the Bahá’í Faith was banned in Uganda along with twenty-six other religious organizations and in accordance with the ruling the National Spiritual Assembly and all 1550 Local Spiritual Assemblies disbanded.[23][24]

In 1979 Amin was overthrown,[23] and in April 1979 the ban on the Faith was lifted,[25] however the Universal House of Justice directed that an interim administrative body would be formed to oversee the Ugandan Bahá’í community to prepare for the National Spiritual Assembly being re-elected. The Uganda Administrative Committee met for the first time in August, 1979.[26] Violent looting broke out in Kampala as a result of the regime change and Enoch Olinga and his family were murdered by unknown gunmen in their home in September, 1979.[27]

In 1981 the National Spiritual Assembly of Uganda was re-established,[28] and registered with the new government.[29] Teaching resumed in the 1980's with hundreds of people joining the Faith in the Bundibugyo region of western Uganda by 1986,[30] and in March that year Bahá’í marriage was officially recognized by the government.[31] In 1989 the Bahá’í community participated in a National Seminar for Religious Leaders called by the President of Uganda and contributed a statement on the importance of the equality of men and women, harmony of science and religion, and work as worship.[32]

By the early 1990's the Ugandan Bahá’í community was conducting health education programs which involved training volunteer health educators to teach people about hygiene and sanitation, immunization, and child health, nutrition, and first aid.[33] In 1994 Uganda's government began drafting a new constitution and the National Spiritual Assembly submitted a statement to the Constitutional Committee.[34] In 1996 an international Bahá’í Youth Conference was held in Kampala.[35]

In 2000 the Bahá’í community of Uganda was invited to send representatives to a workshop held in Uganda on religious tolerance participating in discussions on the importance of religious unity.[36] There were 105,000 Bahá’ís in Uganda living in 3,000 localities across the country as of 2001 and that year the 50th Anniversary of the Faith in the country was celebrated at the House of Worship in Kampala.[37]

In 2011 the 50th Anniversary of the Kampala House of Worship was celebrated,[38] and in 2013 a major International Youth Conference was held in Kampala.[39] In 2020 Bahá’ís in rural Uganda began a radio broadcast to encourage prayer while places of worship were shut down due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.[40]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Baha'i Community of Uganda celebrates its 50th anniversary. Baha'i World News Service, 2001
  2. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  3. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa, Brill: Leiden, 2011, p 138
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa, Brill: Leiden, 2011, p 141
  5. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa, Brill: Leiden, 2011, p 154
  6. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa, Brill: Leiden, 2011, p 159
  7. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 705. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 12 (1950-1954), Pg(s) 70. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ Anthony A. Lee, The Baha'i Faith in Africa, Brill: Leiden, 2011, p 72
  10. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 285. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ Baha'i News (1954). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 285, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 708. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 317. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ {[citebw|13|710}}
  15. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 712. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 713. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 287. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 96. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 149. View as PDF.
  20. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 222. View as PDF.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 204. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 146. View as PDF.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 81. View as PDF.
  24. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 141. View as PDF.
  25. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 141. View as PDF.
  26. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 631. View as PDF.
  27. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 632. View as PDF.
  28. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 163. View as PDF.
  29. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 108. View as PDF.
  30. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 149. View as PDF.
  31. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 94. View as PDF.
  32. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 249. View as PDF.
  33. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 183. View as PDF.
  34. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 123. View as PDF.
  35. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 67. View as PDF.
  36. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2001). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 28 (1999-2000), Pg(s) 58. View as PDF.
  37. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2003). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 30 (2001-2002), Pg(s) 110. View as PDF.
  38. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/806/
  39. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/community-news/youth-conferences/kampala.html
  40. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1409/
Retrieved from "https://bahaipedia.org/index.php?title=Uganda&oldid=133385"
Powered by MediaWiki