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[Bahá'í World News Service <bwns@bwc.org>]

Baha'i World News Service
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Completing the circle of service
PRAIA, Cape Verde, 8 February 2005 (BWNS) -- A recent visit by three
Baha'is to these islands in the north Atlantic Ocean had its origins in
a decision taken some 50 years earlier.

In January 1954 Howard and JoAnne Menking decided to leave their
comfortable home in the United States to introduce the Baha'i Faith to
Cape Verde, then a poverty-stricken Portuguese colony.

They were among volunteers participating in a decade-long (1953-63)
invitation to establish the Faith in countries where there were no
Baha'is. By the end of the decade the number of national communities had
more than doubled.

The Menkings left Cape Verde in 1956 after the local Baha'i community
was established.

A half-century later, in November 2004, Mr. Menking returned for the
jubilee celebrations of that community, accompanied by his daughter,
Cristina Menking-Hoggatt, and her son, Cheyenne, 13.

Mr. Menking stayed three weeks, during which time he met Baha'is in
various parts of the island of Santiago and spoke about the Faith to
inquirers, some of whom decided to join the Baha'i community.

That warm reception to the teachings of Baha'u'llah was quite different
from the response in the first testing year that Mr. and Mrs. Menking
lived in Cape Verde.

Mr. Menking, now 79, told participants in the jubilee festivities held
on 18 November 2004 about the challenging conditions and slow progress
of the Faith in the islands in 1954.

In fact, so barren were the results of the Menking's initial efforts to
interest local people in the Baha'i Faith that Mr. Menking wrote to the
head of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, and asked about the wisdom of staying
there when the needs of the Baha'is were so urgent on the mainland of
Africa.

Shoghi Effendi replied that victories in a difficult post were more
meritorious than those easily won.

>From that time on, the fortunes of the Faith in Cape Verde improved. The
Menking family was also blessed with their first child. Their daughter
Cristina was born on Christmas Day, 1955.

The first local person to become a Baha'i was a good friend of Howard
Menking. His name Frutuoso (meaning "fruitful") seemed appropriate
because others were soon to follow him into the Faith. They included
Claremundo (meaning "the light of the world"), Inacio Barbosa Amado,
Avalino Barros, Octavio Brito, and Entonio Leon.

By April 1956 there were enough Baha'is in Praia to form the first Local
Spiritual Assembly. It was then that the Menkings returned to the United
States where they continued as active participants in the Baha'i
community. Mrs. Menking passed away in 1988.

For their settling in Cape Verde Mr. and Mrs. Menking received the
accolade of Knight of Baha'u'llah from Shoghi Effendi.

At the jubilee festivities, a spokesman for the Baha'is of Cape Verde,
Poh Chean Chong, delivered a welcoming address, and the chairman of the
Local Spiritual Assembly of Praia, Manuel Jesus Moreno, spoke about the
history of the Faith in Cape Verde.

The secretary of the Cape Verde Baha'i community, Tony Parker Danso,
read congratulatory messages from other Baha'i communities on the
occasion.

Cristina Menking addressed the participants on her Baha'i experiences in
Cape Verde and on the role of women and the importance of the family
life.

Two members of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Africa addressed
the gathering. Beatrica Asare, delivered a congratulatory message from
the Board and Kobina Fynn spoke to the gathering about the future
direction of the community, and invited guests to join with the Baha'is
in study circles, devotional meetings, and children's classes.

Also present were representatives of the Baha'i community of Portugal,
Aminullah Shahidian and Varqa Carlos Jalili. Dr. Jalili addressed the
gathering about the aims and purposes of the Baha'i Faith.

A photographic exhibition included photographs of the first Baha'i
institutions in Cape Verde, the early Baha'is, distinguished Baha'i
visitors to the country, and current activities of the Baha'i community.

Participants enjoyed musical interludes by local Baha'i artists, and
heard songs they had composed.

The National Radio of Cape Verde and Croule FM, a private radio station,
broadcast coverage of the jubilee.  Three newspapers of Cape Verde,
"Expresso das Ilhas," "Horizonte," and "A Semana" published articles
about the celebrations.