Bahá'í Faith in Kenya

Before the coming of the Bahá'ís

Following the events of World War I, where Richard St. Barbe Baker had served in France, St. Barbe went to Cambridge University and earned a degree in Forestry at Caius College. He then went to Kenya in 1920 to serve under the Colonial Office as Assistant Conservator of Forests. There he saw wide scale deforestation going on. St. Barbe also intervened in a case of a colonial officer against a Kikuyu worker – taking a blow aimed at the worker, which would eventually alienate him from the service. He developed a plan for re-forestation where food crops were planted between rows of young native trees. Because of lack of funds, St. Barbe consulted with the Kenyans themselves, approaching the Kikuyu Chiefs and Elders, and together they arranged for three thousand tribal warriors to come to his camp and, with the assistance of the Chiefs, fifty were selected to be the first Men of the Trees. They promised before Ngai, the High God, that they would protect the native forest, plant ten native trees each year, and take care of trees everywhere. Immediately then leaving Kenya, St. Barbe offered a paper at a Congress of Living Religions in the Commonwealth about the Bantu religion, following which he was introduced to the Bahá'í Faith because "his genuine interest in another's religion struck a sympathetic chord with the Bahá'í principles." On going to British Mandate of Palestine for pilgrimage he engaged leaders of religions in the Men of the Trees initiative, including then head of the Bahá'í Faith Shoghi Effendi, the Chancellor of the Hebrew University, the Grand Mufti of the Supreme Muslim Council as well as Orthodox and Catholic patriarchs. St. Barbe returned to Kenya briefly in 1976 when he acted as a special adviser to the Bahá'í delegation at a UN conference in Nairobi, in 1976.

In 1941 Uganda's Enoch Olinga joined the British Royal Army Educational Corps and served in Nairobi, capital of Kenya. On return to Uganda he married and encountered the Bahá'í Faith in 1951. He would later become a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh, pioneering to Cameroon, then serving on National Spiritual Assemblies and being named the youngest Hand of the Cause. For his role in waves of Knights and the pace of the expansion of the religion in Sub-Saharan Africa, he was named "Father of Victories" by Shoghi Effendi. See also Bahá'í Faith in Uganda.

Establishment

After Mrs. Marguerite Preston's arrival in Kenya in 1945 the next phase of the Bahá'í Faith in Kenya was part of the wide scale growth in the religion across Sub-Saharan Africa. There was an intensive series of plans and goals of pioneers across Sub-Saharan Africa. Particular plans to bring the religion to Uganda began in 1950 involving the cooperation of American, British, Egyptian, and Persian Bahá'í communities and reached a level of coordination and detail that materials were translated into languages widely used in Africa before most pioneers reached Africa. In 1950-1 the Bahá'ís in the United Kingdom pioneered to Tanganyika, Uganda, Kenya. For example, in 1951 Ted Cardell left on 7 October as pioneer for Nairobi after the untimely death of Mrs. Preston's husband. In September 1951 youth Kimani Waiyaki is noted as visiting Green Acre Bahá'í School in the United States. Ted Cardell was perhaps the next pioneer to arrive in Kenya by April 1952. After receiving the news that Hand of the Cause Louis George Gregory had died previously on 31 July, a commemorative meeting for Gregory was held in Kampala at which Kenyan pioneers joined with those from Uganda) and twelve Africans. Mrs Preston and her eldest child were killed in a plane flight in early 1952 near Sicily. In December 1952 Persian pioneer 'Aziz Yazdi was able to settle in Nairobi and was joined by his wife and children by February 1953. Ursula Samandari, also a former member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom, was elected to the nine-member Local Spiritual Assembly of Nairobi in 1953. By 1955 there were eight assemblies in Kenya.

Growth

The Kenyan Bahá'í community came under the newly formed regional National Spiritual Assembly of Central & Eastern Africa in 1956, of which Nakhjavani was the chairman, and 9 more assemblies were elected in Kenya in 1957 along with three weekend schools. In Dec. 1958 – January 1959 the first seven-day school in Kenya was held near Kimilili in western Kenya covering topics on Bahá'í administration, Bahá'í history and Bahá'í teachings. Correspondence courses followed by June. By December there was progress in getting permanent centers established from among the assemblies. Extraordinary number of enrollments in Uganda and Kenya had reached the point that the institution of the Hands of the Cause were noting there were not enough Baha'is to keep up with the work of checking the enrollments. In the case of Kenya, almost nearly twelve hundred people joined the religion in less than a year. Four regional conferences on the progress of the religion and weekend schools were held by early 1960. Hand of the Cause Musa Banani was the first Hand to visit Kenya in early 1960. Nine Kenyans were among the attendees at advanced training in 1960 though classes now used chapters from Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era by John Esslemont while in November 1960 Hands of the Cause John Robarts and Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir toured Kenya leading up to the dedication of the mother Bahá'í House of Worship of Africa in Uganda in January 1961. Kenyans were among the over 1500 people who attended. Following the dedication, Hand of the Cause Ruhiyyih Khanum and chairman of the regional National Assembly Ali Nakhjavani embarked on 15 days of visiting Bahá'ís through Uganda and Kenya including seeing three regional conferences on the progress of the religion, staying in homes of fellow believers, and other events. Khanum talked to audiences about the future of African Bahá'ís and their role in the religion. The convention for the 1961 election of the regional national assembly of central and east Africa included 35 delegates from Kenya. In September 1961 a permanent Bahá'í school was set up in Kenya where courses emphasized homecraft and child rearing mixed with presentations on the religion and men supported women taking the courses. News of the openings was covered in Jet Magazine. By the end of 1961 conversions among pygmies brought the membership of the community to about 4000 and a total of 134 assemblies. Samandari was elected to the regional National Spiritual Assembly of North East Africa (1961–70) before moving to Cameroon where she later died. In 1962 the Kenyan government took steps to officially recognize Bahá'í holy days for employees. In May Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga visited for one week in Kenya as part of an extended tour of many African countries. He spoke in Tiriki, Nandi, Nyangore, Kisii, Nairobi, Mombasa and Wundanyi. He then returned in August for another week's stay this time in Kabras. In October in addition to the permanent school weekend courses were offered emphasizing homecraft and child rearing mixed with presentations on the religion in Malakisi and Kimilili, while a permanent center was opened in South Kabras.

By January 1963 the building at the Bahá'í center in Nairobi was rebuilt and planned on hosting advanced courses on the religion. In 10 years from the founding of the first local assembly, there were 118 Local Assemblies, 346 groups, and 131 isolated Bahá'ís in early 1963. Locations for Assemblies included Nairobi, Kilifi, with smaller groups in locations like Bungoma, Busia, Eldoret, Embu, Kakamega, Kericho, Kisii, Kitale, Machakos, Malindi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nyeri, Thika, Voi, Webuye, and Wundanyi. By the end of 1963 a total of 134 assemblies and 4000 Bahá'ís had held steady since 1961. Upcoming for the community was the election of its own National Spiritual Assembly.

National organization

Form the founding the national assembly the Bahá'ís of Kenya the growing community of Bahá'ís have had a diversity of projects and activities the community have undertaken. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Kenya was first elected in 1964. Its members were: James Wasilwa, Aziz Yazdi, Elamu Muswahili, Taherih Ala'i, Festas Mulkalama, Bonaventure Wafula, Julius Makanda, Frank Mnkoyani, and Christopher Musambai. From mid-December 1964 to mid-January 1965 a traveling Bahá'í from the Bahá'í World Center visited the Nairobi community and was interviewed on a national television program which lead to a public exchange on a national newspaper. In 1966 the National Assembly incorporated, took up ownership of the national center, and the Bahá'í Holy days were registered with the government. In 1967 Hand of the Cause William Sears dedicated the first teaching center for western Kenya. Henry Luke Duma, after joining the religion in 1965 gained a scholarship for attending college in Mississippi, USA, where he took active part in promulgating the religion. In March 1969 members of the national print media attended a public information gathering with talks and receptions following which articles were printed in English and Swahili and in June the National Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Kenya were invited to the Madaraka Day observance by the office of the President of Kenya. In August Hand of the Cause Rúhíyyih Khanum toured Kenya and neighboring countries for an extended visit during which she met with Bahá'ís individually and collectively at regional conferences and civic leaders and was interviewed on a television program. After progressing with the tour in other countries she returned in mid-November where she met with more Bahá'ís and also dedicated Bahá'í centers. In 1972 Bahá'ís organized displays at an All-Africa trade show and held a March youth conference in Nakuru. The youth conference was repeated in August. In early October 1972 Ruhiyyih Khánum and Violette Nakbjavani returned to Kenya after two trips across Africa – arriving in Mombasa and then stayed at week in Nairobi again with meetings for Baha'is and journalists. A one-day conference was quickly assembled for youth. From Kenya they traveled to Malawi and on until their return in spring 1973. At that time they traveled for three weeks through the north east section of Kenya including Maralal, Lake Rudolf, and Marsabit before returning to Nairobi. In 1973 the National Spiritual Assembly of Kenya produced a songbook – "Tuimbe Pamoja, Baadhi ya Nyimbo za Baha'i". Following the convention for electing the national assembly in 1974 a national conference presented opportunities for participants from across Kenya to discuss a number of topics and classes were held on the role of the local assembly.

Stories

Through the 1960s to the 1990s many well known Bahá'ís lived in Kenya and many reported linking their spiritual lives with Kenya as it was when it started with St. Barbe and the Prestons.

From 1966 to 1969 well-known poet Roger White lived in Nairobi as a secretary for William and Margarite Sears and other Hands of the Cause in Africa, and also dealt with a racist theatre troupe.

Attorney Helen Elsie Austin lived in Africa as a US Foreign Service Officer from 1960–1970, serving as a Cultural attaché with the United States Information Agency first in Lagos, Nigeria and later in Nairobi where she was also a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly.

In 1986 North American indigenous Bahá'í Lee Brown gave a talk which was recorded and transcribed – it includes his description of being in Kenya sometime before and linked Native American, especially Hopi, prophecies with the religion of the Kikuyu tribe of Kenya.

Artist Geraldine Robarts of the United Kingdom fled the Blitz to South Africa where she grew to adulthood and became a Bahá'í. Robarts and family fled Apartheid to Uganda where she was a lecturer in the Makerere University but then fled Idi Amin, and then came to Kenya in 1972. She taught and was head of the department of Painting at Kenyatta University. Starting as early as Uganda she worked with groups of artists to have their art appear in museums and developed a project for groups of women to show case their art as well as provide a mechanism for rural development work.

In honor of the Hand of the Cause Louis George Gregory, a number of individuals in Kenya have sought to establish an Award named the Kisii Louis George Gregory Award.

Modern community involvements and character

In the 1990s the Bahá'ís in Kenya participated in a nationwide community health project including vaccinations, maintaining latrines and developing clean water sources. In 2005 the World Christian Database estimated the Bahá'í population at about 429,000 or about 1% of the population.

First local House of Worship

In 2012 the Universal House of Justice announced the first local Bahá'í House of Worship would be built. One of these was specified in Matunda Soy, Kenya.