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Link to original content: https://web.archive.org/web/20070808075439/http://www.bahai.co.zw/html/history.html
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| History of the Zimbabwean Community | |||||||||
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THE BEGINNING The first Bahá'í to set foot on the soil of Zimbabwe was the great grandson of Bahá'u'lláh, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, the Head and Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. He visited this promising land in 1929 in the course of an overland trip from Cape Town to Cairo. In 1940, during the Second World War, Shoghi Effendi again visited Zimbabwe , this time with his wife. He was fascinated by the beauty and power of Victoria Falls. He and Mrs. Rabbani also visited Matupo and the city of Bulawayo. A photograph shows him standing at the grave of Sir Cecil Rhodes. Both fell in love with the beauty of the country and its people CONTINUING DEVELOPMENT The worldwide Bahá'í community has grown as a result of a series of international plans. In April 1953, a Ten Year Global Plan was launched by Shoghi Effendi. He called for Bahá'ís from other parts of the world to concentrate on taking the Bahá'í message to the continent of Africa. Responding to his call many individuals from Iran, the United Kingdom and the United States left their homes and travelled to various countries to carry the Bahá'í message to the African people who Bahá'u'lláh referred to as "'the black pupil of the eye through which the light of the spirit shineth forth!'" Those who responded to the call of the Plan became known as pioneers. Their mandate was to share the Bahá'í message with Africans, to establish in African countries their homes, to learn the culture and tradition of the land and gradually to train and guide the local inhabitants to take the responsibility for the affairs of the Bahá'í community into their own hands.It is important to mention that those individuals who left their jobs, their homes and their countries did so voluntarily and willingly. Almost all of the Bahá'í pioneers used their own financial resources when traveling to other countries. The first Bahá'í pioneer to Zimbabwe arrived two months after the start of the Ten Year Plan (1953). An Iranian citizen, his application for residency was rejected by the authorities of the time and he had to leave the country. However, immediately afterwards some pioneers from the United Kingdom and the United States moved to Zimbabwe and obtained permanent residency. Among these were Dr. Kenneth and Mrs. Roberta Christian who stayed in Zimbabwe for six months before moving on to Greece. Larry Hautz, a Bahá'í from the United States, arrived later and bought a property on Bulawayo Road, opened a motel, a service station, a rose garden and a snake park. In spite of stiff opposition from the government, he succeeded in establishing the first primary school for indigenous children on a supposedly "white-owned" property. Sue and Sylvia Benatar were the first white people to become Bahá'ís in then Southern Rhodesia — they first heard of the Faith from Larry Hautz. In 1955 the first native person from Zimbabwe joined the Bahá'í community and a number of other indigenous people followed his lead shortly thereafter. In April of the same year the first Bahá'í administrative body at the local level was formed. Designated as a "Spiritual Assembly" it consisted of 9 members. It was established in then Salisbury, now the capital city of Harare. Today it is known as The Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Harare.
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