kenyankalasingha diaries
the official kenyankalasingha.com blogsikhing to learn
this morning, a gurudwara in nairobi invited students of arya high school as part of their school curriculum to do a field trip and learn about the sikh faith. these students are studying the sikh faith as part of an examinable gcse exam. we were approached by the gurudwara to assist in making a presentation to the students and since i have conducted past tours as well, i was ever ready to grab the opportunity to play a little role in presenting our faith to the students.
about 100 students, most of them hindus and a few sikhs and christians were taken through an interactive talk, questions and answers and in the end, a quiz to test their general knowledge on the sikh faith. i usually do not have any idea how to go about these presntations, but i believe that if you are representing your guru, he leads you through and you don’t even feel it.
i was particularly surprised about the way the presentation went because in the end, the students felt charged up, the teachers were impressed and it turned out to be a successful one. while keeping the focus on the sikh faith, i added in alot of inter-faith elements, to encourage the students to feel proud of their faiths and not to give them the impression that ‘singh is king’ – everyone was special and that was supported by the sikh beliefs and practices.
as they were being introduced to kirtan, i invited them to exhibit their knowledge of the musical instruments. one hindu student played the tune of a hindu bhajan to show everyone how the harmonium. two others also played the tabla for the others.
one particular incident that caught everyone by surprise was when the sikh students were asked to explain the meaning and significance of the kesh. one turbaned sikh, however, said he only wore the turban but had cut his kesh. calling him forward, i ecnouraged him to tell everyone the reason behind this and explained that he had no particular reason. he then said that he would keep his kesh back again after having learned that the sikh and his/her kesh are an integral part of their faith.
one singh also did not know the meaning of ‘kaur’ and he was lovingly taken to task. i asked him if he had a sister and he replied in the affirmative. i then told him to treat his sister like a princess because thatis what a ‘kaur’ is.
as much as these kind of interactive learning seasons are eye-openers for the non-sikhs, i have realised that such one-to-one talks are much needed with our own, too, because they are losing out to liberal parents and inappropriate examples within the community.
overall, the teachers were happy and the students left better informed and more aware about the sikh next door.
one indian’s kenyan nationalism
if you are looking for an alternative take on kenya’s indian community, speak to zahid rajan, editor of awaaz, a magazine focusing on historical, political, and cultural issues in the south asian community in east africa. the local indian community traces its roots to the late nineteenth century laborers imported by the british to build the uganda railway and grow sugarcane and to the generations of traders who settled along the indian ocean coast in mombasa, dar es salaam, and other port towns. the indian community quickly prospered and became managers instead of laborers. in short order, indians built businesses, hired black kenyans to do the work, and banked their considerable profits.
today, the community in kenya is perceived, not without justification, as wealthy and aloof. rajan is critical of what he sees as the community’s lack of engagement with kenya’s many challenges. “the south asian diaspora in kenya is completely nonpolitical,” he says. “it stays behind its security fences in [the nairobi suburb of] parklands.” Read the rest of this entry »
kenya – a love letter
by mukoma wa ngugi
inside looking out, snow is falling and i am thinking | how happy we once were, when promises and dreams | came easy and how when we, lovers covered onlyby a warm eldoret night, you waved a prophecy | at a shooting star and said, “when the time comes | we shall name our first child, kenya” and how i
laughed and said “yes our child then shall be country | and human” and we held hands, rough and toughened | by shelling castor seeds. my dear, when did our
clasped hands become heavy chains and anchors holding | us to the mines and diamond and oil fields? our hands | calloused by love and play, these same hands – when
did they learn to grip a machete or a gun to spit hate? | and this earth that drinks our blood like a hungry child | this earth that we have scorched to cinders – when we
are done eating it, how much of it will be left for kenya? | my dear, our child is born, is dying. tomorrow the child | will be dead.
mukoma wa ngugi, a kenyan poet, author of hurling words at consciousness and co-editor of pambazuka news, shares with us a poem commissioned by the bbc world service on the ongoing crisis in kenya.
kenyankalasingha – raising curiosity already
having posted on a few discussion boards about the kenyankalasingha website, we were pleasantly surprised to get responses from ex-kenyans who now reside in other countries. it is heartening to notice that despite their absence from kenya for many decades, they still hold a soft spot of their former country of birth / residence. even as we try to weather the current political storm sweeping through kenya, many of us still love the country just as much. there is something magical about this place that makes us adore this land so much. only got holds the mystery of that secret, because as far as we are concerned, we simply have no clue why!
check out of the comments made on the kenyankalasingha project across various discussion boards:
lakhvinder singh writes: many years back i was in mombasa, kenya. while walking on the road i was also called kalasingha by africans. i enquired about it and was informed by local sikhs that in early 1900s there was a sikh called kala singh who came to kenya. he was a merchant and in the beginning used to peddle his goods in remote areas of kenya. while on tour he used to take life saving drugs for first aid in treating some illnesses such as malaria, diarrhea etc. he used to distribute these drugs free to the needy persons. in other words, he was a moving red cross for those who had no access to medicines in those parts. he became a sviour for them. africans started loving him. that is the reason he is still adored. all sikhs in kenya are called by that name. Read the rest of this entry »
letter from switzerland
jambo! jambo, sana!
sat sri akal
congratulations from me, a kala simba, a swahili-speaking sikh living in switzerland. i have just logged in onto your website and wish you all the very best and chardikala.
kama una taka, unaweza kuandika jibu lako kwa kiswahili, kwa sababu (mimi) nasema kiswahili, kijerumani, kizungu, panjabi, hindi na urdu. mimi ni mwalimu ya kizungu hapa switzerland. na vaa kilemba na ndevu mrefu pia! haya
kwaheri ya kuonana.
will continue to surf your website for further information about sikhs (simbas) in kenya and the rest of east africa. you brought old memories of my times there 44 years ago! i’m in touch with a few dozen wananchis [citizens] here. keep up your excellent work.
siku njema.
paramjit
sanjhi ardas – a rare event in kenya’s sikh history
the sanjhi ardas smagam pulled in the sangat in the numbers rarely witnessed in modern kenya. with over 26 different gurudwaras in the country, for the first time ever, everyone got together and offered a single petition to Waheguru – please, Lord, save our beloved kenya! the sight was one to behold – with over a thousand devotees filling the darbar, the sukhmani sahib recited in unison was powerful. during the ardas, the image of ragis and gyanis from nairobi’s gurudwaras, joining hands together as the sangat stood in reverence, was one we have never seen before. what a humbling ocassion . . .
the full official report, pictures, kirtan tracks and some videos are now being prepared for upload on the kenyankalasinga website. what a day it was . . . truly blessed . . .
now that’s a tabla maestro!
in this video, check out the flawless way with which this singh changes his tabla. this video was taken at the december samagam held in nairobi last year. the official photos an reports of this smagam will be uploaded in a week on kenyankalasingha.com.
makhan singh: the forgotten son of two continents
Makhan Singh, an unsung Sikh hero of Kenyan and Indian freedom struggles, who has been forgotten by Kenya, India and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), has been portrayed in a play Mungu Comrade (Mungu is a Swahili word for God), by noted playwright Atamjit.
Few Indians know Makhan (1913-1973) and other India-born persons who had made sacrifices in the freedom struggle of Kenya. He was born at Gharjakh village in Gujranwala, a Sikh majority area in the province of Punjab (now in Pakistan). At the age of 13, he moved with his family to Nairobi in 1927. In 1935, Makhan Singh formed the Labour Trade Union of Kenya and in 1949 he and Fred Kubai formed the East African Trade Union Congress, the first central organisation of trade unions in Kenya.
A Sikh by faith and true Communist leader, Makhan Singh was the founder of East African trades union movement. He spent 17 years in prison during the struggle for Indian and Kenyan independence. Alas ! Makhan has been virtually forgotten both by India and Kenya after their independence. Read the rest of this entry »
‘the best way to revenge’
the article below underscores what mehindi dahya of kisumu (kenya) whose 32 years investment was burnt to the ground says “i cannot sit down and cry. as long as GOD is with us, we will make it.“
the issue before us is not easy as it looks. in guise, all of us are looking at the situation with our colored glasses. colored by our perception of the other people or by our perceived injustice carried against us depending on our social or ethnic backgrounds. we are all waiting for external events or the other person to act in a certain way in order to release us from our anguish and anger. we have become emotional prisoners of one another, regardless of our education or religion – we secretly want bloodshed and destruction. i met someone who seemingly can’t eat since this crises started, why? because of the way they feel about the situation and “that tribe” that has caused it. Read the rest of this entry »
kenya – the good ‘ol days
the good old days seem like distant memories when you begin to get nostalgic in times when nothing now seems the same. how, truly, gurbani tells us that we are living in a dream (guru tegh bahadur ji in his slok mohalla 9 advices us to regard this life like a dream – and that without a moment’s notice, will be over so soon), with the current skirmishe and civil unrest sweeping across the country, this video on youtube makes the heart yearn for a return to simplicity of africa – the calmness of its rolling hills, the multitudes of wild game, the crystal clear weather, the wealth of land and countless more gifts from the Divine. o yes, this is what life once was – innocent and divine. but human progress over the centuries have stripped it all away. Read the rest of this entry »
