My Work at the National Bahá’í Centre of Uganda

I haven’t talked too much yet about the work I’m actually doing here in Uganda. That’s primarily because I haven’t known what all I would be doing. But I’m beginning now to get a grasp, plus I’m learning a lot about “how things work” here in Uganda.

But first some comments and observations about the Ugandan Bahá’í Community in general. If I had not been invited to come here by the National Spiritual Assembly of Uganda to fulfill a specific task, I would feel certain that I am not needed here at all. I am learning so much more than I could possibly be teaching. The Bahá’í Faith has been in Africa in general and Uganda specifically for not quite 60 years. And yet the depth of knowledge and understanding of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh far surpasses anything I can offer. I’ve been dealing primarily with young people, many of whom are third generation Bahá’ís but many are also young people who have been brought to the Faith recently. The capacity of these young people astounds me. They are truly the future of Africa, and indeed all humanity. This week there has been about 20 college age youth from around Uganda attending the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity, a new programme out of the Bahá’í World Centre. Those of you who know the Lamples – their daughter May is co-director of this Institute along with an astounding and energetic young woman name Bushra. Since we keep our windows open in the office, I can hear their conversations and their consultations when they break up into small discussion groups. It does my heart good to hear the depth of their understanding and convictions, the ideas they are developing for taking their country into the future. These are future NSA members, Counsellors, and perhaps even a House of Justice member or two.

I was told upon arrival that I will not be required nor encouraged to go direct teaching in the villages of Uganda. That is left to the Ugandan Bahá’ís, with good reason. The “missionary” approach is no longer needed, and we are not offering any goods or services in exchange for conversions – like early Christian missionaries have done (and probably still do); all we’re bringing to the Ugandans is the Revelation of God for this day – which is everything they need. There are three Regional Bahá’í Councils in Uganda and they have a good system in place for providing the core activities in many of the towns and villages. They send homefront pioneers to many of the villages where there are no or few Baháís, and they are quite up to the task of raising up Bahá’í communities in these areas.

Where the ex-pat Bahá’ís like Carolyn, Wes, Vi and I are most useful is in deepening the young people, or helping with core activities. In Kampala I could attend a core activity every night of the week if I wanted to. When non-Ugandan visitors come to the Temple, I sometimes interact with them. For example there were two young American women who work with NGOs here in Kampala who came to Temple service this past Sunday. I was able to chat with them and explain aspects of the Faith to them.  So in terms of teaching the Faith, that’s where I feel useful.

There are only a handful of non-Ugandans here and none of them really consider themselves pioneers any longer because they’ve lived here so long. The treasurer of the NSA is John Anglin, from Ireland, there are the Americans, myself, Vi Gilbert (who’s been here forever), Wes Baker, and Fred (I don’t know his last name), Hank, who is Norwegian, Carolyn (my hostess) who is American by birth but British by citizenship, and a few others who come and go – they stay for part of the year in Uganda and then go to their homes other parts of the year. John, Fred and Hank are married to Ugandan women. Wes, Vi, and Carolyn are the seniors in the group. I think most retirees find it much easier to live in countries like Uganda where your retirement and social security dollars go much further than they would in the U.S. or Europe.

I was invited to Uganda by the National Spiritual Assembly to serve as the Secretariat Coordinator – someone to manage the office of the Secretary, which previously was done almost entirely by the Secretary him or herself. Grace Ocen has been serving in this capacity to some degree for the past few years, but her home is actually in another town and she wanted to return there. Plus the NSA wanted to find ways to manage the personnel in the Centre, create more effective and efficient ways of operating, and in general get re-organized. I believe the NSA’s thinking is to bring someone like me in to provide these services, get some systems in place, all the while training one of the Ugandans to hold this position when everyone decides I’ve outlived my usefulness. A young woman named Brenda is my assistant and my trainee. As we start new projects or put new systems in place, I’m showing her and then she’ll be able to run the office after I leave.

My contracted tenure is for one year but everyone agreed to leave our options open. Even if I’m no longer needed in the Secretariat, it may be that there are other jobs I can do after this year is up. For example I would like to compile and write a comprehensive history of the Faith in Uganda. If you can believe it– one has never been done that I can ascertain. Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga’s daughter put together a lovely video that covers his life and the history of Uganda, but there’s nothing written. I have an obligation to work on the history of the Nashville Bahá’í community, even while I’m here, but I would like to work on that as well, perhaps a year down the road if all goes well.

It would seem that the timing of my arrival was divinely ordained (isn’t it always?) as just as I arrived the NSA Secretary, who was going to train me, had to take a sudden leave of absence for an unspecified period of time as her husband has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in advanced stages and likely has only 3 to 6 months to live. He is in Canada where he received this diagnosis and so she has gone there to be with him. So it’s been left to Grace (who is leaving today!) and John to help me get up to speed. But I think, or at least I hope, they feel comfortable and confident that I will be able to manage the office in the Secretary’s absence. Plus I think the idea again is to have a permanent coordinator who can carry on the day to day affairs of the office so the Secretary her or himself would not have to do so.

Probably my biggest concern about serving here in the position I’m in is that I’m not Ugandan - I’m white American, and I’m going to be implementing some systems that the staff may not appreciate or enjoy. However, it is at the wish of the NSA that I’m doing so, yet I worry that there’ll be this sense from the Ugandan staff that the white American is coming in to tell them what to do. I’m going to consult with the acting secretary/treasurer John Anglin about my concerns. Since he is also white European, he may be able to offer some counsel on that. For example, the NSA wants some accountability for the comings and goings of the staff. Right now there are several different agencies that are housed in the Centre, and they are used to acting somewhat independently, but as John pointed out, they all ultimately are responsible to the NSA. So I’m to institute a form of signing in and out in which everyone will be accountable for their arrival and departure, being on time, letting someone know when they’re going to be out, etc. That’s pretty common for us in the U.S. and for most big businesses. But the staff here haven’t been used to doing this and there may be some resistance. This will be announced to them at a staff meeting, which is another new phenomenon which they aren’t used to. These are simple things really, and just an attempt to make the Center a more professional place. Wish me luck!

On the one hand I’m tempted to say that it’s just a typical office environment on a typical business day, and to a great extent that is true. However, when on any given day we have to crank up the gas generator to keep the computers and lights going, when we have such a limited operational budget that we can only buy supplies as we absolutely need them, and several offices have to share certain office equipment and even supplies, and when you find the occasional lizard crawling across your office wall, it’s not really all that typical! But it’s definitely interesting!

Photo notes: the first photo is of some of the ISGP youth attending an institute here. The second photo is my office. Following are photos of some of the staff in the Centre: