TO AN OCEAN
The pioneer had returned home after nearly
five decades. He looked across a room full of
his African brothers and sisters. His deep and
passionate voice echoed through the room and
across the crowd.
He was telling them a story about one of the
dearest friends he had ever had. He was telling
them about the great Enoch Olinga, one of the
first African Bahá’ís
“Before Mr. Olinga became a Bahá’í, he was a
drop. Through his service, as a Bahá’í, he
became an ocean. ”
“This is true. It can happen!”
“The question is how? How to go from a little
mosquito to an eagle?”
“Bahá’u’lláh can change us. We must pray to
Him, daily, and beg Him to change us. If our
prayer is sincere – and it’s combined with
action and deeds and purity of motive – bit by
bit, we will change. We can do what Mr. Olinga
did.” Let’s look at Enoch Olinga’s life. See if
you agree with the wise pioneer …
Enoch Olinga was a translator. He was very
good at it. But despite this, he had, over time
become sad and disheartened. To escape his
disillusionment, he turned to alcohol, which
only made him feel worse. He drank so much
that he eventually lost the job he was so good
at.
He didn’t know what to do. How would he
support his family? What would he tell his
parents? He felt hopeless until he heard about
the Bahá’í Faith. At the time, in 1951 there
were few Bahá’ís in Africa.
He began trying to find an answer to his
problem by going to meetings in the homes of
Bahá’í pioneers. One very special evening the
pioneers held a meeting that coincided with the
time that Shoghi Effendi visited the Holy
Shrines in Haifa to pray. Mr. Olinga attended
the meeting and left when it was over, only to
return later.
He asked lots of questions. The most important
one he left for last: “How does one become a
Bahá’í?”
He came back the next morning and brought
with him a letter asking to be accepted as a
Bahá’í. That’s how Enoch Olinga became one of
the first Bahá’ís in the country of Uganda.
When he became a Bahá’í, Mr. Olinga gave up
drinking alcohol immediately. His behavior
changed so remarkably that his wife also
became a Bahá’í. His neighbors also noticed
how he had changed. So they became Bahá’ís
too. Within a few months there were enough
Bahá’ís in Kampala, the city where Mr. Olinga
lived, to form a Local Spiritual Assembly.
He had been so successful in Kampala, that he
decided to travel to his parents’ hometown and
teach the Faith there too. During a short time
nearly 100 people, including Enoch’s own
parents, accepted the message of Bahá'u'lláh.
Within a few years the number of Bahá’ís in
Uganda had reached over 200. Shoghi Effendi
was so happy about this that he wrote a letter
to the entire Bahá’í world praising the success
of Enoch Olinga and his friends.
His success in teaching, served as an example
to his Bahá’í friends – an example of how to
reach the heart through loving kindness and a
cheerful nature. These qualities shone forth from Enoch. Their source was Mr. Olinga’s love
for Bahá’u’lláh and His Teaching, and
obedience to His Laws.
When Shoghi Effendi wrote letters to the
African Bahá’ís encouraging them to travel
around and teach about the Faith, Mr. Olinga
and two of his Bahá’í friends responded
immediately. They decided to make a 3,000
mile trip all the way across the African
continent to carry Bahá'u'lláh’s message to the
British Cameroons.
The trip was hard. Heavy rain turned the dirt
roads on which they drove into rivers of mud.
The travelers’ car got stuck in the mud so
many times that one day it finally gave out and
died. There was nowhere to go. The nearest
city was more than 50 miles away. Enoch
Olinga, who had never lived outside the big
city, told his friends to stay in the safety of the
car and walked away to bring help. He walked
through the wet dangerous jungle, through the
mud that covered his feet up to his ankles, past trees that housed poisonous snakes, and
bushes that hid wild and hungry animals. He
kept on walking until he fell down and passed
out in exhaustion.
Shoghi Effendi had promised that his prayers
would accompany the travelers on the journey.
Now, passed out on the ground in exhaustion,
Enoch Olinga really needed Shoghi Effendi’s
prayers. In this moment of desperation and
need, Shoghi Effendi came to him in a dream.
He helped him to get back up on his feet. Then
he praised and encouraged him and assured
him that he will succeed.
Mr. Olinga woke up a different person. He felt
determined to continue. As he began to walk
again, his friends caught up with him. They
had been able to repair the car and had come
to rescue him.
Two months after they set out, the pioneers
reached their destination. Because there were
no Bahá’ís living there, Mr. Olinga decided to settle down and live in the country we now
know as Cameroon. For this, Shoghi Effendi
gave him the title “Knight of Bahá'u'lláh”.
2
Several years later, Enoch Olinga made a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land to visit the
Shrines, becoming the first black African to
make the pilgrimage. On this visit he also met
his beloved Shoghi Effendi for the first time.
Shoghi Effendi named Mr. Olinga the “Father of
Victories” for his services to the Faith and all
that he had accomplished as a pioneer and
travel-teacher in Africa.
When he returned to Africa, after his
pilgrimage, Shoghi Effendi appointed Enoch
Olinga a Hand of the Cause of God. He was the
youngest of all the Hands and he had been a
Bahá’í for only four years.
As a Hand of the Cause, Enoch Olinga carried
the news of the spread of the Faith to Bahá’ís all over the world. “Are you happy?” he always
asked. He wanted all the believers to be
happy. The believers should be happy, he said,
because they recognized Bahá’u’lláh and His
teachings.
Mr. Olinga traveled around the world. He would
tell all the Bahá’ís he met to carry Bahá’u’lláh’s
special message to others in their families,
their towns, and around the world. He was
reminding them of Bahá'u'lláh’s words: “The
first duty prescribed by God for His servants is
the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of
His Revelation... Whoso achieveth this duty
hath attained unto all good… It behoveth every
one … to observe every ordinance of Him Who
is the Desire of the world. These twin duties
are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without
the other…”
3
Enoch Olinga’s obedience to Bahá’u’lláh’s laws
and teachings changed him from a small and troubled soul to one who influenced thousands
of people around the world.
He transformed himself from a drop into an
ocean. We can do that too…
source : http://www.spiritual-education.org/intro.html
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