Bahá'í Faith in Cameroon

The Bahá'í Faith in Cameroon was established when the country was separated into two colonies - British and French Cameroon. The first Bahá'í in Cameroon was Enoch Olinga, who had left his homeland of Uganda to bring the religion to British Cameroon in 1953. Meherangiz Munsiff, a young Indian woman who had moved from Britain, arrived in French Cameroon April 1954 - both Olinga and Munsiff were honoured with the title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh.Citation
last = Mughrab
first = Jan
title = Jubilee Celebration in Cameroon
periodical = Journal of the Bahá'í Community of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
volume=20
issue=5
year = 2004
url = http://www.bahaijournal.org.uk/cameroon.htm ] Currently there are 40,000 adherents of the religion in the country.Citation | coauthors = Bahá'í International Community| title = Cameroon celebrates golden time | newspaper = Bahá'í World News Service| date = 2003-09-23 | url = http://news.bahai.org/story/249 ]

Early history

In 1953, Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahá'í Faith, planned an international teaching plan termed the Ten-Year Crusade. During the teaching plan Ali Nakhjavani and his wife drove by car with two African pioneers from Uganda where the religion was growing very quicklyCitation
last = Smith
first = Peter
authorlink = Peter Smith (Bahá'í)
last2 = Momen
first2 = Moojan
author2-link = Moojan Momen
title = The Baha'i Faith 1957-1988: A Survey of Contemporary Developments
journal = Religion
volume = 19
issue = 01
pages = pp. 63-91
year = 1989
url = http://www.bahai-library.org/articles/smith.momen.html
doi = 10.1016/0048-721X(89)90077-8 ] to open new countries to the religion. The first pioneer in the region was Max Kinyerezi who settled in what was then French Equatorial Africa, and then Enoch Olinga to British Cameroon. In Limbe, through the efforts of Olinga, Jacob Tabot Awo converted to the religion becoming the first Cameroonian Bahá'í. During the following year there were many converts to the religion, many of whom were from the Basel Mission system of Protestant Christians. [cite web | last = Lee | first = Tony | title = Conversions to the Baha'i Faith in Uganda | work = Research Notes in Shaykhi, Babi and Baha'i Studies, No. 5 (August, 1997) | publisher = H-NET List for Bahai Studies at h-net.msu.edu | date = 1997-06-25 | url = http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/notes/uganda1.htm | accessdate = 2008-03-29 ] Meherangiz Munsiff, a young Indian woman, arrived in French Cameroon in April 1954 in Douala after helping to found the Bahá'í Faith in Madagasgar. [Citation | coauthors = Bahá'í International Community | title = Four islands unite in celebrations | newspaper = Bahá'í World News Service | date = 2004-03-29 | publisher = Bahá'í International Community | url = http://news.bahai.org/story/288] By April 21, 1954 a Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was formed. As the number of Bahá'ís grew, in 1954 five young Cameroonian Bahá'ís left the immediate region to pioneer in other surrounding areas, each becoming a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh; the various protectorates they arrived in merged into the modern countries of Cameroon, Ghana, and Togo. Because of the successive waves of people becoming Knights of Bahá'u'lláh, Enoch Olinga was entitled "Abd'l-Futuh", a Persian name meaning "the father of victories" by Shoghi Effendi.

In 1956 a regional Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly of North West Africa was elected with Olinga as the chairman with its seat in Tunis, comprising areas from the Cameroons north to Tunisia and parts west including Islands like the Canary Islands. [Citation | first = N. Richard | last = Francis | contribution = Enoch Olinga -Hand of the Cause of God, Father of Victories | year = 1998 | publisher = Bahá'í Faith Website of Reno, Nevada | url = http://bahai-library.com/index.php5?file=francis_olinga_biography ] In 1957, British Cameroon was noted as having some 300 Bahá'is while the younger community of French Cameroon had between 10 and 20 Bahá'ís and there was a Bahá'í conference on the progress of the religion held in Mutengene, near Tiko. [cite book | last = Effendi | first = Shoghi | title = Messages to the Bahá’í World: 1950–1957 | publisher = US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1971 edition | date = 1973 | pages = p.113 - 115 | url = http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/MBW/mbw-54.html#pg113 | isbn = 0877430365 ]

Growth

By 1963 the following cities in Cameroon had Bahá'ís communities: [cite book| coauthors = Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land | title = The Bahá'í Faith: 1844-1963, Information Statistical and Comparative, Including the Achievements of the Ten Year International Bahá'í Teaching & Consolidation Plan 1953-1963 | publisher = Peli - P.E.C. Printing World LTD. Ramat Gan | date = 1964 | location = Israel | pages = pp. 10, 21, 22, 25, 42, 43, 47, 69, 82| url = http://bahai-library.com/index.php5?file=handscause_statistics_1953-63&chapter=all]

;Local Spiritual Assemblies in Cameroon:

In 1967 the National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) of the Bahá'ís of Cameroon was elected for the first time thus splitting the country off from the regional National Assembly established in 1956. The NSA of the country wrote a document, "Declaration of Loyalty to Government", possibly dated from 1968, which declares the loyalty of the institution to the government of the country.cite web | last = MacEoin | first = Denis | coauthors = William Collins | title = Principles | work = The Babi and Baha'i Religions: An Annotated Bibliography | publisher = Greenwood Press's ongoing series of Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious Studies | url = http://bahai-library.com/books/biblio/principles.html | accessdate = 2008-03-26]

Among those elected to the NSA was Ursula Samandari, who was elected to the institution in the years of 1972-74 and 1975-80, after being elected to the same institution in North East Africa and the British Isles. She had learnt of the Bahá'í Faith from Richard St. Barbe Baker and Hasan Balyuzi in 1936. Among the comments at her 2003 funeral were these from the paramount chief of Buea, HRH Samuel L. Endeley:

"My dear Sister, You lived with us like one of us, you served faithfully and lovingly to win souls into God's redeeming grace. You loved us and our country, Cameroon, and you have demonstrated this in dying here like the good soldier of God you have lived to be. You died with your boots on. We thank God for all you were to us. May your soul rest with the good God, our creator, in perfect peace." [Citation | coauthors = Bahá'í International Community| title = A love for all peoples | newspaper = Bahá'í World News Service | date = 2003-07-17 | url = http://news.bahai.org/story/230 ]

Modern community

By 2001 the National Spiritual Assembly was registered with the Government of Cameroon as one of the few non-Christian religions. [Citation | coauthors = Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor | title = Cameroon - International Religious Freedom Report | date = 2001-10-26 | publisher = U.S. State Department| url = http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2001/5587.htm] In 2003 the Bahá'í community had 40,000 adherents and 58 Local Spiritual Assemblies, (there is another estimate from 2007-8 of more than 130,000 Bahá'is in Cameroon [cite web | coauthors = Religious Intelligence Ltd. | title = Country Profile: Cameroon (Republic of Cameroon)| work = Religious Intelligence | publisher = Religious Intelligence Ltd. | year = 2007-8| url = http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/country/?CountryID=119| accessdate = 2008-03-24 ] and another of members of the religion in 1744 localities in Cameroon. [cite book | coauthors = Taylor & Francis Group | title = Africa South of the Sahara 2004 | publisher = Routledge | date = 2003 | pages = 180 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=jj4J-AXGDaQC&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180&source=web&ots=JHlfw9riwv&sig=EQOUwFp0ecPMF84IDqqzP06O4a8&hl=en#PPA181,M1 | isbn = 1857431839 ] ) Also in 2003 a project had begun to move the seat of the National Spiritual Assembly from Limbe, in the west, to the central capital, Yaoundé, together with the responsibility to acquire a new National Bahá'í Centres for which the Bahá’í community of the United Kingdom has been asked to help.

Involvement in advocacy for women

The Cameroonian Bahá'í community has initiated and cooperated with a number of projects attempting to equalize the position of women, a primary principle of the religion. In 1985 a National Women's Committee of the Baha'is of Cameroon produced a statement "Equal Rights for Women and Men". The Bahá'ís of Cameroon cooperated with an initiative of the Bahá'í International Community in cooperation with UNIFEM on a project to effect a change in the social status of women in village communities in eastern Cameroon and other countries. The changes in the community focused on the role of women but aimed strongly at educating the men. According to Tiati Zock, the national coordinator of the project in Cameroon, a survey done in early 1992 among some 45 families in each of the seven villages reported that the men made virtually all of the financial decisions alone. A follow-up survey, taken in 1993, indicated more than 80 percent of the families now make such decisions in consultation between husband and wife. The number of girls being sent to one village school had increased by 82 percent by 1993. [Citation | coauthors = Bahá'í International Community | title = UNIFEM/Bahá'í Project Raises Community Consciousness - By involving men in women's problems and using traditional media to communicate the results, grassroots changes are effected | periodical = One Country | issue = October-December | year = 1993| url = http://info.bahai.org/article-1-7-6-14.html ] [Citation | coauthors = Bahá'í International Community | contribution = Two Baha'i International Community Projects: Cameroon and Zambia | contribution-url = http://statements.bahai.org/pdf/96-0430.pdf | title = The Emerging Role of NGOs in African Sustainable Development | date = 1996-06-20 | place = New York, USA| publisher = United Nations | url = http://www.un.org/africa/osaa/hardcopy.html | id = BIC-Document Number: 96-0430 ]

Academic and civic forums

The Bahá'í community of Cameroon has been involved in forums for wrestling with social issues in Cameroon in both academic and civic forums. In 2002 the second Cameroon Bahá'í Academy took place at the Regional Bahá'í Centre at Yaoundé with 28 scholars from Buea, Douala, Dschang, Soa, and Yaoundé. The key research paper, "Cameroonian Tribal and Family Meetings and the Bahá'í Teachings," was presented by Chongwain Nkuo, a teacher at the Post and Telecommunication School. It was published in the December 2002 volume of the Cameroon Bahá'í Studies journal. After his presentation there was an evaluation of his work by the members of a jury including David Nkwenti, Head of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Yaoundé. Nkwenti indicated he was going to expand academic interests in studying Bahá'í teachings and anthropological issues. [Citation | first = Enoch N. | last = Tanyi | contribution = Cameroon | contribution-url = http://www.bahai-library.com/east-asia/abs_bulletin82.pdf | title = ABS Bulletin | year = 2003 | month = December | pages = p. 3 | publisher = Association for Bahá’í Studies - North America| url = http://www.bahai-library.com/east-asia/abs_bulletin82.pdf] Also in 2002, for United Nations Day on October 24, members of the Buea religious community gathered for an interfaith panel discussion lead by the Secretary General of the South West Province; the group included members or spokesmen of the Bahá'í Faith, the Muslim Imam, a representative of the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese, and a representative of the Hindu community. [Citation | coauthors = Bahá'í International Community | title = Local Baha'is in Cameroon organize interfaith discussion for UN Day | newspaper = Bahá'í World News Service | date = 2002-11-25 | url = http://www.upliftingwords.org/News/20021125Camaroon.htm] A January 20, 2007 service in Buea at the Bahá'í Centre of Learning commemorated World Religion Day among a similar breadth of representation. [Citation| last = Emmanuel | first = Mohmbah | title = Praying For Peace and Prosperity | newspaper = The Entrepreneur Newspaper | date = 2007-01-31 | url = http://www.entrepreneurnewsonline.com/2007/01/praying_for_pro_1.html]

Jubiliee

Over 600 Bahá’ís and their friends gathered at the Palais des congrès in Yaoundé to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the founding of the Bahá'í community in Cameroon. Mr. and Mrs. Nakhjavani and other guests of honour, went to Limbe to visit the Bahá'í s of the southwest province, and Buea where they were received by the paramount chief, and travelled to Douala.

References

ee also

*History of Cameroon
*Freedom of religion in Cameroon
*Bamileke

External links

* [http://www.buea.blogspot.com Cameroonian Bahá'í Newsletter Synopsis Blog]
* [http://www.myspace.com/bahaisingers Cameroonian Bahá'í Musician Myspace page]