The ‘Youth Heroes’: An Experience from the Mbuji-Mayi Cluster in the DRC

Introduction

A few years ago, I participated in a seminar in Kinshasa focusing on raising institutional capacity for collecting and using statistics. The seminar gathered representatives from Regional Bahá’í Councils (Regional Councils) and Auxiliary Board Members across the DRC. Each shared how they collected and used statistics. The regional statistics officer from the Eastern Kasai, Mr. Jonas Kalonji Mbuyi, introduced the ‘Youth Heroes’ as one of their strategies for collecting data on the Bahá’í population and core activities. I was eager to learn more about these youth heroes, what was heroic about them, and how it all began.

Jonas elaborated that the ‘Youth Heroes’ consist of Bahá’í youth initially from Mbuji-Mayi, a third-milestone cluster sustaining nearly 500 core activities involving over 3,000 participants. They have committed to serve the institutions of the Faith as needed. This includes supporting community-building activities in their cluster, across their adjoining clusters, and the entire region.

The region, which includes the provinces of Eastern Kasai, Lomami, and Sankuru, is divided into 400 clusters. Nearly half of them have passed the first milestone, 150 the second, and 50 the third as of April 2024. The Regional Council has projected that half of its clusters will have moved past the second milestone by the end of the Nine Year Plan. Thus, it has developed and continues to refine strategies for the movement of its clusters, with youth heroes playing a critical role in that regard.

In this blog article, I discuss the genesis of the Youth Heroes in Mbuji-Mayi in the broader context of the Youth Movement in the Bahá’í Faith. Subsequently, I outline their endeavours in the Eastern-Kasai region and how the institutions leverage their contribution to assist other clusters on their development path.

The Youth Heroes in the Context of the Youth Movement in the Bahá’í Faith

Central to the Youth Movement, and thus the Youth Heroes, is guidance from the Universal House of Justice, encouraging youth to serve. Shortly after its first election, it reminded them that crucial figures of the Faith, including the Báb, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and many Knights of Bahá’u’lláh exemplified leadership and sacrifice in their youth.[1] More recently, the House of Justice has highlighted modern sacrifices of Bahá’í youth in Iran. In 1984, it informed Bahá’í youth that among Bahá’ís executed in Shiraz in June 1983, six were young women. Others, including children, are showing astounding fortitude in facing oppression.[2] It did ask Bahá’í youth living in free societies throughout the world:

Might it, then, not be reasonably expected that you, the youth and young adults living at such an extraordinary time, witnessing such stirring examples of the valor of your Iranian fellows and exercising such freedom of movement, would sally forth, 'unrestrained as the wind,' into the field of Bahá'í action?[3]

Furthermore, the House of Justice has consistently commended the exceptional attributes of youth, acknowledging their ability to spearhead any enterprise, that they embody the legacy of early believers “and now standing on their shoulders.”[4]Consequently, heroism should inspire them.[5] As the House states, “All must surge, […] the youth must soar.”[6]

The Youth Heroes’ Movement in Mbuji-Mayi

The Youth Heroes movement is not formally structured. Instead, the Area Teaching Committee coordinates its activities. The Area Teaching Committee of Mbuji-Mayi baptized the youth it deploys as the youth heroes. The movement began with friends who became aware of the challenges facing Bakua Ndaba, a neighbouring cluster where the Bahá’í population was relatively low, and the friends of the Faith maintained most of the core activities. Motivated to strengthen community life and increase the Bahá’í population, the group visited Bakua Ndaba. Today, more than ten other clusters are deploying the youth heroes following the model of Mbuji-Mayi.

In countries experiencing large-scale growth, institutions organize their clusters in groups centered around one reservoir. Ideally, this reservoir is a third-milestone cluster with sufficient resources and structures to support its adjoining clusters. For example, Mbuji-Mayi serves as a reservoir for ten adjoining clusters. It often holds reflection meetings in one of its adjoining clusters as a strategy to disseminate learning. Consequently, participants in these meetings become acquainted with the realities of their own clusters and those of all the clusters in their group. Through such meetings, the youth in Mbuji-Mayi became aware of Bakua Ndaba.

Mr. Serge Ilunga, the Regional Council secretary, noted that their key strategies for advancing clusters involve deploying pioneers, mobile tutors, and travel teachers. Yet, he also stressed the critical role of youth heroes in driving the movement of clusters in the region. Each cycle, Area Teaching Committees deploy youth heroes to multiple clusters within their group, where they engage in various activities tailored to each cluster’s needs. For instance, in clusters lacking robust statistical structures, they assist in gathering data on core activities and the Bahá’í population. In other clusters, they help in organizing teaching and institute campaigns. Recently, as the election period neared, Area Teaching Committees deployed youth heroes to support the election process in select clusters.

Furthermore, the youth heroes work in synergy with the Women’s movement. While “youth heroes” is unique to Eastern Kasai, the Women’s movement spans Central Africa and beyond. It comprises women’s groups in diverse clusters who unite to support community-building activities and provide mutual support in education, agriculture, business, and more. In societies where women traditionally faced barriers to initiating such activities, the Women’s movement reversed the trend. Thus, the Regional Council reported that these two movements were crucial in preparing for the World Conferences during the first cycle of the Nine Year Plan. The Area Teaching Committee of Mbuji-Mayi mobilized and trained over 60 youth and women to assist adjoining clusters in organizing their conferences.

As Bahá’ís strive to release the society-building power of the Faith in ever-greater measures, they can measure success by the increasing number of clusters cultivating intensive programmes of growth. The youth and women in Eastern Kasai are actively contributing to this goal. As the Nine Year Plan progresses, more initiatives like these will spring from the grassroots.

I sincerely thank Jonas Kalonji Mbuji and Serge Ilunga for sharing their experiences, and Susan Flores and Patricia Senoga for their meticulous proofreading. Any remaining errors are solely my responsibility.

Acknowledgments

References

[1] Universal House of Justice, To Bahá’í Youth in Every Land, June 10, 1966.

[2] VOA (Agence France-Press), Executed Women Haunt, Inspire Iranian Baha'is 40 Years Later, June 21, 2023 (https://www.voanews.com/a/executed-women-haunt-inspire-iranian-bahais-40-years-on-/7146282.html).

[3] Universal House of Justice, To the Bahá’í Youth of the World, 3 January 1984.

[4] Universal House of Justice, To the Bahá’ís of the World, Ridván 1982.

[5] Universal House of Justice, To all who have come to honour the Herald of a new Dawn, October 2019.

[6] Universal House of Justice, To the Bahá’ís World, Ridván 2018.

[7] Universal House of Justice, To the Bahá’ís World, Ridván 2024.