He is Particularly anxious to have some of the German Bahá'ís enter the western territories of the Soviet Union not yet open to the Faith, namely: Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, White Russia and Moldavia, and every effort should be made to enable some of the Bahá'ís, German or of other nationality, to go to these countries. The young people in particular may be able to arrange their affairs in such a way as to procure employment in the Soviet Union. This would be a great service, and is part of the work allotted to the German Bahá'ís under the World Crusade. [14 August 1953]

The first leg took them to Samson Mungono's post in Kamina, in the Katanga region of the Belgian Congo. They then took a grueling route to Brazzaville, where Max was dropped off and continued through the thick forests of French Congo and Gabon, hoping to pass through French Cameroons and finally reach the British Cameroons. The car broke down in the tropical forest of Gabon leaving the three remaining friends unable to continue. Enoch volunteered to walk to a town 50 miles ahead through the forbidding jungle to get help. Upon arrival Enoch was so ill he was hospitalized for two days and could not travel for a week. He told of a dream he had in which Shoghi Effendi took him in his arms to comfort and reassure him in his desperation. In mid-October they reached the British Cameroons on the very evening of the conclusion of the Holy Year.

Confirmations of the monumental efforts these first African pioneers made soon followed: Enoch, Max and Samson all successfully brought many local people under the banner of the Greatest Name. [A Brief Account of the Progress of the Bahá'í Faith in Africa Since 1953 by Nancy Oloro-Robarts and Selam Ahderom p4]

In response to their correspondence, an American Bahá'í living in Usumbura, present-day Bujumbura, went to meet these two men. Some time after they met, and after conducting the independent search for Truth, they decided to become Bahá'ís. This is how they began to spread the "new message" to their other colleagues at the Bank, all Congolese living in eastern DRC.

Very quickly, these two young bankers succeeded in finding souls receptive to the message of the Bahá'í teachings. They were 19 in all and constituted the nucleus called "Spiritual Sowers", the founders of the Faith in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [bahai.org; bahai.org; A Remarkable Response Film 4:18]

It was neither her first nor her last pioneer experience. Between 1942 and 1946 she pioneered to Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. After World War II she went to Madrid, Spain where she helped raise the first local spiritual assembly and she did the same thing in Barcelona the following year.

In July of 1953 she went to the Stockholm Intercontinental Teaching Conference where she offered to pioneer to Mallorca in one of the Balearic Islands, She stayed about one year before returning to Barcelona in August of 1954 where she attended the Iberian Teaching Conference that was attended by 60 people. Late that nine, she and nine others were arrested by the police and interrogated for 18 hours. They had thought that the Bahá'í were Communists.

In 1956 she moved to Portugal where she was elected to the first Iberian Regional Spiritual Assembly. After three years she was forced to leave by the authorities because of her Bahá'í activities, holding property and owning a telephone.

She was asked to go to Luxembourg where she spent nine years but made little progress in establishing the Faith. She was then asked to got to Malaga, Spain and by 1972 Malaga had a local spiritual assembly so she pioneered to Margella in 1979.

The National Spiritual Assembly asked her to write a history of the Faith in Spain which was completed in 1980.

As was her wish, she passed to the Abha Kingdom in 1985, still a pioneer. [KoB346-347; Wikipedia]

See also Also see Bahá'í World 19 pages 715-721 or 692-697 in the print version and Bahá'í News #586 January 1980 p2-5.