One of the strange things that happened after Idi Amin deported Asians from Uganda and when thousands of Indians left Kenya in search of a better life in the UK the void that was created was filled by Indians from India! On my recent visit to Kenya I saw this first hand at the Kisumu Laxmi Narayan temple. It was celebrating its 85th year and the temple was packed with devotees. The overwhelming number of people there were recent arrivals from India. When I say recent I mean in the last 25 years. Most of them are Gujarati's but there is also an increasing number of IT specialists as well engineers and doctors from North and South India.
The amalgamation of the new and old Indians has created a special new vibrancy in the diaspora. Hindu festivals are celebrated with great enthusiasm. Temples are promoting Indian culture and running countless charity projects. Food distribution, education, and medical care all are provided by the Indian community on a massive level. In the Parklanes area of Nairobi a Jalaram Medical Centre has opened and it treats patients on a very nominal charge. The Jalaram temple also serves lunch to several schools everyday. The Sikh and Jain communities also do a huge amount of charity work.
There is another significant change and that is there is almost complete harmony between African Kenyans and Indian Kenyans. The prejudices of the past have more or less disappeared. A big amount of the economy is still controlled by the Indian community and it provides tens of thousands of jobs to Kenyans. From small shopkeepers the Indian community have become big industrialists and the millennial generation is diversifying into high tech industries.
Unique amongst the Hindu movements in Kenya is the Hare Krishna Society which actively preaches to the Kenyans and if you went to the morning worship at the temple in Nairobi you would see the whole temple filled with Africans singing Sanskrit prayers. Increasing number of Africans are also becoming Vegetarians and Vegans. In Nairobi I met Racheal, a Kikuyu lady who is the founder of the Vegan Society of Kenya. She wants to start a Cow Sanctuary on the outskirts of Nairobi. She has been to India and has a Guru! In Uganda too the Indian community is doing very well and the Ugandans are the friendliest people. The Mehta and Madhvani families still control thousands of acres of sugar cane farms.
During my visit to Uganda I went to Jinja, a city on the shores of Lake Victoria. It is known as the place where the source of river Nile begins. Englishman Speke who is credited with finding the source of the Nile admitted that he had gained the information from a Hindu monk in India. According to the Puranas, the real source of the Nile is known as Som Giri. Som meaning Moon and Giri meaning Mountains. This is proof that Indians had known of this part of the world tens of thousands of years ago! So our connection with East Africa is not just 150 to 200 years! The future is bright for Kenya and Uganda and together in the spirit of Harambe the nations will progress.
