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 wholehearted service.