David and Esther Tanyi

Adam and Eve of the Baha'i Faith in Cameroon

At just twenty-five, David Tanyi answered the call to serve as one of five Cameroonian Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, journeying to French Togoland in early 1954 alongside Vivian Wesson and Mavis Nymon. His young wife, Esther, and their infant son joined him months later, inaugurating a partnership that would span thirty-five years of pioneering across Togo, Benin and Ghana. Despite severe hardship—poverty, hunger, loneliness and xenophobia—their spirits soared as they witnessed “many pure souls” embrace the Faith, a miracle David described as making his “heart as sweet as sugar.”

Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga dubbed them the “Adam and Eve of the Bahá’í Faith in Cameroon,” for their hospitality and unwavering devotion established the country’s first community and nurtured a generation of pioneers. Praised by Shoghi Effendi as “the honour and glory of Africa,” the Tanyis’ story stands as a powerful testament to courage, sacrifice and the transformative impact of...Show More

Categories:: Biography, Knights of Baháʼu'lláh

Contributors:: Enoch Tanyi (Author)
Format: Softcover & ePub | 256 pages
Dimensions: 127 x 203 x 15 mm
Publisher: George Ronald Publisher, 2017
ISBN: 9780853985976
SKU: TANYI_DAVID

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About Enoch Tanyi (author)

Enoch Tanyi was born in Cameroon in 1954. He went with his parents to Lomé, Togo, at the age of three months and pioneered further with them to Ghana, returning to Cameroon in 1988. An agronomist specializing in Agroforestry, he has worked in Cameroon for the International Council for Research in Agroforestry, now the World Agroforestry Centre in Cameroon; and in Nigeria at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. He also carried out voluntary service as assistant coordinator of a resettlement project of the Bahá'í Agency for Social and Economic Development in the Eastern region of Cameroon.

With wide experience in Bahá'i administration since serving on the first Youth Committee of Ghana, and later on the National Spiritual Assembly of Ghana and as an Auxiliary Board member in that country, as well as on regional and national teaching committees since his return to Cameroon, he now serves on the Spiritual Assembly of Yaoundé V and since 2015 has been a member of the history task force of the National Spiritual Assembly of Cameroon.

He is the author of The Covenant: Daily Readings from the Bahá'í Teachings and The Covenant for Young People. His hobbies include studying the Bahá'í writings; writing, in general, including poems and songs; and watching football on television. He is married to Mary and they have three sons.