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"lighten and uplift
them, so that they may soar on the wings of the Divine verses"
-Baha'u'llah
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Double
cause for celebrations
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KINSHASA,
Democratic Republic of Congo, 17 September 2003
(BWNS) -- Members
of the Baha'i community here had a double reason
to celebrate this month.
The
Baha'is marked the 50th anniversary of the
Faith's activities in the nation.
It
was also the first time in five years that the
nine members of their national governing body
could meet together in the capital.
The
war that erupted in 1998 prevented members of
the National Spiritual Assembly meeting here
from then until now. |
Members of the Dawn of Carmel Choir, who
performed at the jubilee. (Photo: Violetta Zein)
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Congolese
Baha'i Mayika Manseki described why the community was so
happy to see all the National Spiritual Assembly members
in Kinshasa.
"They
are our liaison with the Universal House of
Justice," Mrs. Manseki said, "and to have this
institution we love so much present here with us is
wonderful -- this is a sign of hope."
The jubilee
celebrations in Kinshasa on 6 and 7 September 2003 began
with the National Spiritual Assembly's message, read by
its chairman, Nshisu Nsunga.
"Today
our country is entering a crucial phase of its
future," the message said.
"If
the Baha'i model that our national community is striving
to build, can in some way contribute to the renewal and
construction of the infrastructures of our country, we
humbly submit it for [the nation's] consideration."
A
reconciliation program is now underway after five years
of turmoil in this country, which was once known as the
Belgian Congo, and then, after independence in 1960, by
a variety of other names, including Zaire.
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A
vast country four times the size of France, it has
a population of 56 million.
Attending
the opening of the 50th jubilee festivities was
senior Government representative, Jean Baptiste
Nsa Lobete, Political and Diplomatic Counselor of
the Governor of Kinshasa. He linked the jubilee to
the rising climate of hope in the nation.
"Because
the social development and the various economic
endeavors of your faith across the country
constitute a point of pride for all its members
and leaders," Mr. Lobete said, "all of
these wonderful results justify the respect that
the authorities of this country feel towards the
Baha'i community in particular when it comes to
answer one or another of your concerns." |
(All members of the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo together at the jubilee. |
Some of the
activities Mr. Lobete referred to include social and
economic development field projects such as adult
literacy initiatives in Kasai and Western and Eastern
Kivu, community health projects in Southern Kivu, and
community farming projects in Katanga and Southern Kivu.
Mr. Lobete
particularly praised the Baha'i contribution to national
education. The Baha'is have established primary and
secondary schools in Katanga and throughout the country,
and centers for the promotion of the status of women and
the education of children in Kinshasa and Katanga.
Nabil Children's Theatre depicting a travel
teaching trip by Mr. Nakhjavani to the Belgian
Congo. The actor at left played the lead role to
Mr. Nakhjavani's amusement. |
The
vice-chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly,
Sefu Lemba, read a message from the Universal
House of Justice that described the community as
"stalwart and valiant" and said in part:
"Despite
years of political strife and adversity that have
severely torn the fabric of the society around
you, the spirits of the believers in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo have remained
unbroken, and you have managed to lay the
foundations of a community whose influence is felt
throughout the continent."
The
program included songs from the Dawn of Carmel
Choir, including performers who won acclaim
throughout the Baha'i world as the Congo Youth
Choir at the opening of the Terraces on Mount
Carmel in Haifa, Israel, in May 2001.
Among
many others to sing were the Navvab Choir, and the
Mona Choir from the neighboring Republic of the
Congo. |
The
Millennium Theatre Troupe presented a play about the
transforming effect of Baha'i teachings on family life.
Participants
at the celebrations also learned more of the community's
history, including the fact that there were esteemed
visitors to their country 13 years before normal Baha'i
activity could commence.
Mr. and Mrs. Nakhjavani. |
Those
visitors were the then Head of the Faith, Shoghi
Effendi and his wife, Madame Ruhiyyih Rabbani, who
in 1940 drove across the eastern region of the
Belgian Congo.
In
1953 Baha'is began formal efforts to start
teaching the Bahai Faith as part of a worldwide
10-year-plan, directed by Shoghi Effendi, to bring
the message of Baha'u'llah to the world.
Before
that time, colonial authorities did not permit the
promotion of the Faith by Baha'i pioneers (people
who moved to the country to establish the Baha'i
community). |
Active
attempts to spread the teachings began in 1953 when Ali
Nakhjavani and his wife Violette, driving across Africa
from Uganda, took Ugandan Baha'i Samson Mungongo to the
city of Kamina. (The Nakhjavanis carried on to the
Middle Congo and British Cameroon.)
Congolese
who had become Baha'is in Rwanda and Burundi moved back
to settle in their home provinces.
The first
Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1957, and there
are now 541 assemblies. The first National Spiritual
Assembly formed in 1970.
Traveling
long distances within the country is often extremely
difficult, so in some regional centers, Baha'is unable
to attend the jubilee festivities in Kinshasa held their
own celebrations in support of the main event.
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Among
the 600 participants at the celebrations in the
capital were three of the first Congolese Baha'is,
Louis Selemani, 81, Remy Kalonji, 83, and Valerien
Mukendi, 83.
They
were joined by a dozen former pioneers from
Europe, North America and other parts of Africa.
One
who could not make it was Ola Pawlowska, 93,
though she participated in the celebrations by
sending from her home in Canada a message of
congratulations and love to a community to which
she devoted three decades of her life. |
Two of the first Baha'is in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Remy Kalonji, 83 (left),
and Louis Selemani, 81. |
Mulmaba
Munanga, 51, a Congolese Baha'i, met Mrs. Pawlowska when
he was a teenager. He has remembered words from her that
changed his life.
"She
would say, 'Mulamba, take this Faith as if it were your
personal belonging because a personal belonging is
something you take care of, something you love,'"
said Mr. Munanga.
"As I
always felt the truth of these words, I have always
taken the Faith as a personal belonging and I have
always wanted to serve as much as I possibly can -- if
Baha'u'llah can give me the time and the strength to do
so -- for the rest of my life."
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Guests
of honor at the jubilee included Mr. Nakhjavani,
former member of the Universal House of Justice,
and Mrs. Nakhjavani, an author, as well as Joan
Lincoln, counselor member of the International
Teaching Centre, and Albert Lincoln,
secretary-general of the Baha'i International
Community. All four had spent many years as
pioneers in Africa.
Mrs.
Nakhjavani greatly moved the audience with her
recollections of early visits she made to the
country with Mr. Nakhjavani and later with Madame
Rabbani. |
The Baha'i Women Group of Lumumbashi, Katanga,
1997. |
Mr.
Nakhjavani spoke at the gathering about the spiritual
destiny of Africa, and answered questions on subjects
ranging from journalism ethics and the finer points of
Baha'i law and scripture, to personal problem solving.
Mrs.
Lincoln updated the Baha'is on current projects and
methods, and paid a tribute: "We now see second and
third generation Baha'is, and this is a true sign of the
future of the faith in this country, and all of this
notwithstanding the years of conflict and
adversities."
In the
internal affairs of the community, the Baha'is have also
made great strides, as pointed out by Laeticia Cigangu,
a Baha'i for 26 years and an Auxiliary Board member.
Mrs.
Cigangu said she remembered when she was the only
Congolese woman in her local community.
Member of Baha'i adult literacy class, Pygmy
development project. Mubambiro, North Kivu, 1989.
(Photo: Glen Egli) |
"Now,"
she said, "a quarter of that same community
is composed of women. And nationwide, a good third
of Baha'is are women."
"With
the arrival of training institutes in our
communities, you have to understand the Faith is
not just something for Baha'is or intellectuals
anymore, the way it was perceived for a long time.
Now the Faith spreads through children's classes,
so the next 50 years are full of hope!"
[Report
and jubilee photographs by Violetta Zein in
Kinshasa.] |
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| Published in Bahá'í
World News Service |
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