Our Work - Members in Africa

From members of Theosophical Society in East & Central Africa

Theosophy first came to the East African shores in 1905. Over the 107 years The Theosophical Society in our Section has seen many ups and down in its work of spreading the message of Theosophy. Our East & Central African Section (which consists of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia) was formed in 1947. At its height, in seventies, the number of lodges reached a respectable figure of 60 lodges. The number of lodges and members has since then been decreasing steadily.

To-day Nairobi (Kenya) and Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania) lodges are active in dissemination of Theosophy as well as TOS (Theosophical Order of Service) work.

Over the years Nairobi Lodge has organized regular weekly meetings in English and Gujarati. Its programmes are varied in order to cater for the beginners and older members.  It has kept pace with the changing times and has formulated its programmes which not only gives room to the established speakers but also trains new and upcoming (as well as shy) members. The programmes include book studies, theme based series on philosophy and religion, general subjects where the speakers present subjects of their own choice, inter-active and group discussions, seminars, programme of devotional songs, video presentations and holding public talks to attract new members. All our programmes are free and open to non members.

Our Work - Chris Bolger

Chris Bolger – USA

Working at the A/V and IT departments at the national headquarters for the Theosophical Society in America has given me the unique opportunity to help focus the direction of our internet development with wide reaching potentials. The TSA website development has been the focus of my work over the last two years. 

Now that we have transitioned our website to an open-source software (OSS) content management system (Joomla!) we are in a good position to keep up with the quickly changing technology online and adding more functionality to the website. Open-source philosophy is one of truth, communal development, and the freedom to make necessary changes, and I consider it to be in line with the theosophical world-view, so I try to incorporate using OSS whenever practical. Many times this software is free to use, so this helps us spend money where we can get the most impact with it. In the near future we will be compiling a list of recommended software for lodges or groups to use so they don’t have to redo all the research we did to find it!


Chris at the mixing panel

In addition to website development, I am also involved in the the Audio/Video department. We have a huge inventory of audio and video programs built up over the past 30+ years and much of it has not seen the light of day since it was recorded. This amount of material has been slowly transferred to digital format over the past 7 years and a small percentage has been available online.

Our Work - James and Sally Colbert

[Sally and James Colbert are working together with those chemically addicted in their home/office in Julian, California. Dr. Colbert, a clinical psychologist, has consulted with hospital programs for alcohol addiction recovery programs. Both Sally and Jim were raised in Theosophical families. Sally continues as President and James as Treasurer of International Theosophy Conferences, Inc.]

James and Sally Colbert – USA

In the last seven years International Theosophy Conferences, Inc. has occupied center stage – you might say “our work.” The motivation was straightforward. To us, it was not complicated. The first object of the Theosophical Movement is to “form a nucleus of universal brotherhood.”  The elephant in the living room has multitudinous divisions and “splits” throughout our history. It was like Theosophists believed in universal brotherhood, but not for each other. The King and the Queen had no clothes.


Sally Colbert

Needed, we felt, was something outside of traditional theosophy and an opportunity came. An informal group had been meeting on the USA West coast annually. The founder died. Although it lasted for a few years thereafter a conference organizer did not appear – except us. For some reason, Theosophists of several traditions had been coming to these meetings, and they had been held on a beautiful beachfront along the Oregon coast. And, we felt it had everything. It was not affiliated with any Theosophical tradition yet could stand for all traditions.