Olinga, Enoch
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Richard Francis, Olinga, Enoch, bahai-library.com.
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Olinga, Enoch

Richard Francis

1998

Enoch Olinga was
born on June 24, 1926 as the second son to Samusan Okadakina and Eseza Iyamitai in Soroti
County, Uganda. His parents were
devout Christians and members of the Native Anglican Church of Uganda. He was also a member of the
Atesot tribe, of the Aatekok or Iraraka clan from the Teso region of the north-eastern
part of Uganda.

In 1927, Enoch's family moved to the village of Tilling where he
received his schooling locally and at the nearby town of Ngora. He later attended
high-school in Mbale. In 1941, he joined the British Army Education Corps and went to Nairobi in
Kenya. He later transferred to the East African King's Rifles Corps in South East
Asia, visiting Burma, Bangladesh (then East
Pakistan), Ceylon,
and India. At the age of
twenty, he returned to Uganda and joined the Government Department of Public Relations and
Welfare, stationed in Soroti and Mbale. He wrote two books in Atesot. his native
language, that assisted the Governmental Education Department in the Teso District. Around
1950, he moved to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.

Enoch was now married, with children. He was developing personal
problems and becoming disillusioned with life. The government service that employed him,
despite his long record of service and noted capacities, dismissed him because of
alcoholism.

In 1951, Enoch came into contact with the Bahá'í Faith through `Ali Nakhiavani, the
son-in-law of the Bananis, Persian Bahá'í pioneers; and upon enrollment, he gave up
all alcohol. However, this was too late to save his government career.

Enoch Olinga was the third Ugandan and the first of the Teso tribe
to declare his belief in Bahá’u’lláh. He had become a close friend of
`Ali and regularly was in attendance at Bahá'í meetings at the Banani home, 3 Kitante
Road. On account of his remarkable transformation in conduct, his wife soon became
a Bahá'í. Then many others followed and by Ridván (April 21, 1952) the first of
several Local Spiritual Assemblies in Uganda were formed. Shortly afterward, Enoch
returned to his native village of Tilling to spread the glad tidings of
Bahá’u’lláh. In a few weeks, the mass enrollments begun, the first
trumpet blast of `entry by troops' predicted by `Abdu'l-Bahá. The following year, nine more Assemblies
were formed.

In 1953, the first of four Intercontinental Conferences was held
in Kampala, February 12-18 and Shoghi Effendi hailed with a `joyous heart', the large
number of new believers. The next year, Enoch responded to the appeal for pioneers
to open up new territories and became a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh. He was
also elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of North-West Africa. That same
year,Enoch made a precarious, overland journey to what was then known as Cameroon, becoming the first to open that
country to the Faith, holding this pioneer post for ten years. One of the
outstanding believers who found the Faith through the teaching work of Enoch Olinga was
David Tanyi, the first believer in the entire Cameroon province, later becoming a Knight
of Bahá’u’lláh for French Togoland.
Discretion often had to be used when teaching and making travel plans in order to avoid
arousing the suspicions of the local governmental authorities, for persons of diverse
backgrounds and ancestry were often suspected of covert activities.

It was during this time, Enoch wrote his first letter to Shoghi
Effendi, describing the outcome of the teaching work and asked that he may be permitted to
stay at his pioneering post. In 1956, Enoch was elected chairman of the newly formed National Spiritual Assembly of
North-West Africa, headquartered in Tunis. In the span of three years, twenty-nine of
the thirty-three virgin territories were opened to the Faith.

During February 1957, with the assistance of Dr. Ugo Giachery, Enoch
was, with some difficulty, granted a current passport and visa to visit the Guardian in Haifa, and
arrived in the Holy Land on February 3rd, staying for ten days. The love showered upon him
by Shoghi Effendi affected him for the rest of his life. He returned to West Africa
enkindled with the love of Bahá’u’lláh and made arraignments to move his
family. The teaching work in the British territories of West Africa continued. It was on a
visit to Uganda, October 2, 1957, when he was notified through a cable received by Mr. Banani that he was, along with John Roberts and William Sears, elevated to the rank of Hand of the Cause of God.

Bahá'i Temple of Africa

One month later, he
received the word of the Guardians passing. Enoch was unable to attend Shoghi Effendi's
funeral in London but was in attendance for the first Conclave of the Hands in Bahji on
November 18, 1957.

Rúhíyyih Khánum
recalls one of his most endearing qualities was his: "great joyous, consuming and
contagious laugh." He attended the laying of the foundation stone of the Mother
Temple of Africa at Kampala on February 14, 1957. He worked at the World Center
until 1963. He returned to live in East Africa and found his relation with
his wife Eunica, going from bad to worse. They separated and divorced; he went to
Nairobi with his second wife, Elizabeth and all of his children, facing numerous
difficulties during the dark days after the passing of the Guardian.[1] Finally, he
returned to live in his native village of Tilling in Teso, Uganda and built a house.
Though the loving guidance of the Universal House of Justice, he once again began to
travel teach for the Faith. In the spring of 1963, he was chosen to be chairman of the
opening session of the First Bahá'i
World Congress, held in London.

Enoch met heads of state during his many visits to different
countries, including one with the Dalai Lama in
Dharamsala, India, during October 1968. Over many years of service, often
accompanied by his wife Elizabeth, he traveled and stimulated the Bahá'ís and met with
high officials. He would often bring the Faith before pubic and media. After
Mr. Banani died, Enoch purchased his home in Kampala. Additional travels after 1968 were
extensive, including a tour of Upper West Africa in 1969 and later that same year, South
America, Central America, passing through the United States, then the Solomon Island, and
Japan. In 1977, He represented the Universal House of Justice at the International
Teaching Conference held in Brazil and then attended the International Teaching Conference
in Merida, Mexico where the instructor of this deepening series was given the honor of
meeting and conversing with him. He returned to Uganda that same year to help
protect and preserve the Bahá'i Community there during a civil war.

In September, 1977, the Bahá'í Faith was banned in Uganda by the
new dictatorial government headed by Idi
Amin.[2] All administrative institutions had to be closed. In march of the
same year, Enoch was in a terrible automobile accident when his car was rammed and knocked
down the side of a hill by a troop transport; he was subsequently robbed by the soldiers
and left for dead. He commented that if it weren't for Bahá’u’lláh, he
would have died in that accident. Two days later, his son Badí was kidnapped by
soldiers. He arranged for his wife and youngest child, Tahirih to return to Tilling.
The train they traveled on was strafed by bullets several different times, inflicting many
casualties. However, they were not harmed. Badí returned and Enoch promptly
sent him and his brother Patrick on to Tilling to be reunited with their mother. He
was too weak to make the journey himself because of the accident. Kampala was being
heavily bombarded and Enoch was persuaded to seek refuge on the
Temple property. He made
his way there on foot, under extreme pain, struggling against the crowds of people trying
to flee the city.[3] That night, a fierce artillery battle raged around the Temple
where he spent the night in prayer. The next day, the temple still stood, undamaged.
He soon returned to his house, finding it being looted. He was accused of being one
of Idi Amin's men but somehow was able to convince the mob otherwise. He returned to the
Temple and assisted in its protection.

Gradually, the conditions improved and the Universal House of
Justice was able to appoint an interim administrative body to reorganize the Bahá'í
activities and properties. Enoch spent his days working at the Bahá'í Temple and
assisting the Administrative Committee. He refurbished his home in Kampala and his
family joined him there.

It was on Sunday, September 16, 1979, five soldiers in unmarked
uniforms knocked on the door.

The houseboy recalled: "At about 8:30, I heard someone shaking
the gate to the compound and, looking through the window, saw five armed men walking
towards the back door leading to the kitchen. They shouted `open' and banged on the
door. Lennie opened the door and there was a sound of shots. I fled over the fence
to hide in the neighbor's bushes and remained there in terror all night. I wasn't able to
see anything but heard shooting and other sounds going on for about two hours.
At
dawn, I ventured out of hiding and went to the house, seeing the body of Enoch lying in
the courtyard and inside, all in an inner bedroom, the bodies of Elizabeth, Tahirih, Lennie and Badí, heaped on the floor where they had fallen when shot to death."
[4]

On September 24, 1979, Enoch Olinga was laid to rest in a burial
plot near the Temple, next to that of Musa Banani, his fellow Hand of the Cause of God;
one was designated the `Spiritual Conqueror of Africa' now joined by the `Father of
Victories'.

Notes:

It is often a cultural custom among African tribesmen
to practice polygamy; Enoch Olinga had two wives. (Research by the author).

Idi Amin was making the news almost daily during the
later nineteen seventies. The author recalls the announcement in September 1977 that he had
band several organizations from Uganda, including the Bahá'í Faith, and
it was thought that he stated:
"Such a belief doesn't fit my agenda."( KABL San Francisco).

Numerous stories of brutality have come forth centered
around Idi Amin. One of the most noteworthy was posted in Time Magazine in October
1977: It stated that he killed one of his three wives because he believed she had
conspired to have him poisoned. He then dismembered the corps and arranged the
severed limbs backward. Upon showing the atrocity to his children, he was reported
to remark: " See what happens to bad mothers." (Time Magazine article)

Another story of Idi Amin concerned the Mother Temple
of Africa: He was reported through communication by Bahá'í caretakers to frequently visit
the Mother Temple of Africa, instructing his body guards to wait outside. He would then
enter the Temple alone and remain in solitude for a considerable period of time before
calling to his trusted guards that he was ready to leave. Could the mystical power of God
have comforted his poor, demented soul? (Bobby Nicolas-oral communication,
Gallup, New
Mexico).

The United States State Department has denied it,
but it is speculated by many political scientists that the Central Intelligence Agency was
supporting an effort to overthrow the regime of Idi Amin. He in turn, was receiving
support by the Soviet Union during what has sometimes been termed a "Cold War"
diplomacy. Idi Amin was overthrown in 1978 after Tanzanian troops
invaded Kampala. He fled first to Libya, then Iraq and most recently to
Saudi Arabia. He died in Jeddah's King Faisal Hospital on August 16,
2003 from kidney failure after remaining in a coma for nearly a month.
(Oral communication -Anonymous, VAO News.com ).

This is a common practice used in third world
nations as a terrorist ploy by covert activist and drug lords. Similar activity has
occasionally been practiced by counter cultural groups such as that of Charles Manson in
the United States in 1968. (oral communication)

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-- Olinga, Enoch (Used by permission of the curator)