South Asians in Kenya?

by J. P., a missionary in Kenya

"South Asians in Kenya?" many people ask incredulously. We assure them, however, that South Asians do live in Kenya and are a visible and important minority. They have made significant but little known contributions to Kenya. But sadly Kenya, which is known to have a high percentage of Christians, has had little spiritual impact on the East Indian community. The Christians, who are blessed to be a blessing, have not been a blessing to these Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh peoples who have not yet heard that Jesus died for their sins.

History
Since independence from the British in 1963, the story of the contribution of East Asians in the building of Kenya has not been properly told in the history books nor in the schools and universities. A recent exhibit in the Kenyan National Museum in Nairobi is seeking to remedy this. Here are a few highlights.

Although the presence of peoples from the Indian sub-continent in East Africa goes back 3,000 years, the last 200 years are the most significant. Of notable exception is the Muslim navigator from Kutch, an area of Gujarat in western India, who directed the explorer Vasco da Gama from Kenya to India in 1498. Also, the masons from the West Coast of India helped build Fort Jesus in Mombasa from 1593 to 1596 out of local impregnable coral. Beginning in the 1820s, artists and carpenters from Gujarat designed and built intricate doors and furniture for the houses of the islands of Pate, Mombasa, and Zanzibar.

The greatest influx of these peoples occurred in 1896 when the Uganda Railway was begun in Mombasa and was completed over difficult terrain in 1901 as it reached Lake Victoria. To build this rail line, the British brought over 31,000 workers from the Punjab and Gujarat. This arduous and technical work was done mostly by hand because no machines were available. It was accomplished through much hardship and loss of life: for each mile of rail laid, four workers died, which came out to 38 workers dying every month during the six years. In addition, more than 6,400 became invalids.

Not only were East Indians instrumental in building the railroad, they also helped in its operation for the next several decades as drivers (engineers), foremen, station-masters, linesmen, telegraph workers, mechanics, repairmen, carpenters, and upholsterers. Along the way, they helped build the towns of Nairobi, Nakuru, and Kisumu, and more than 40 railway stations. They also helped to establish the colonial administration in the interior beginning in 1895 by serving as clerks, accountants, bookkeepers, health workers, and teachers. With this involvement in labor, some were instrumental in establishing trade unions.

During this time, the colonial government failed to adequately provide for the needs of this growing Indian community. As a result, the Indians established their own voluntary associations. They funded their own welfare organizations that provided schooling and health care for new immigrants. Other organizations helped maintain their cultural practices and fostered interest in sports.

When the move for Kenyan independence gathered momentum, Asian Indians were also involved. Due to their continuous challenge of white settler ambitions, Indians such as A.M. Jeevanjee and M.A. Desai prevented the establishment in Kenya of the apartheid model of Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. Some even spent time in detention. Others defended those who were arrested during the Mau Mau rebellion, including Jomo Kenyatta, who later became the first president of Kenya. During this time, many Asian Indians served as newspaper publishers and journalists who figured prominently in the printing of the African voice against colonialism and for independence.

In the late 1950s, the population of East Indians peaked. At independence in 1963, the new African government began making changes. Six years later when the Trade Licensing Act took effect, many Asian Indians left Kenya because non-citizen traders had their licenses revoked by the new government.

Why did the black African leaders' attitude towards their Indian Asian neighbors turn sour? There are several factors. During colonial rule, the British had separated the different races in their respective neighborhoods in the towns. The British also had established separate schools that taught in the vernacular of the people. For the Asian Indians, this meant the Gujarati language. Although it was not their purpose, the social and community organizations also may have served to isolate the Asian communities. This isolation, added to aloofness, sowed seeds of resentment among Kenyan Africans. The fact that the Asian Indians had achieved economic success added to the anger of the black Africans. This anger and resentment exploded in Nairobi in 1982 when there was widespread looting of Asian shops and homes and assaults on Asian Indian women by African thugs. The two camps were alienated from one another even more.

Resistance to the Gospel
African Kenyans have readily embraced the gospel, but they have not shared it with the Asians. Several factors have contributed to this fact.

One factor is the lack of social interaction by the Asian Indians with the white and black African communities. During colonial times, Asian Indians lived in separate areas of the towns and sent their children to separate schools contributing to their separation. Indians have social activities within their own communities, and they do not marry outsiders. Furthermore, parents do not want their children to interact socially with those of other races because of the Hindu belief in keeping to one's caste in social matters.

A second factor is spiritual. According to Hindu belief, all ways lead to God. They believe that a sincere Christian, Muslim, and Hindu will eventually reach God through their own religion. They don't believe in changing religions.

Another factor that prevents the acceptance of the gospel by the Asian communities is the immorality of the 'Christian' West. They have seen Westerners living immoral lifestyles in television and movies. They know about the lifestyles of tourists that come to enjoy the national parks and coastal beaches. Westerners on the TV shows as well as the "Christian" tourists eat beef, drink, smoke, wear revealing clothes, and carry on practices that are abhorrent to South Asians such as living together before marriage. As a result, one Indian husband told his wife that he wanted nothing to do with a missionary family because of their bad morals. Although he noticed their modest dress and lifestyle, he assumed that they lived like those he had seen on television, and the tourists he had seen in town.

A fourth factor is that Africans believe that Asian Indians cannot become followers of Christ. In their experience, no Hindu has followed Christ, so they don't think it is possible. When a Hindu does become a believer, his family and community usually ostracize him. Compounding this is the lack of acceptance of new Asian Indian believers by the African Christian community.

In spite of these barriers, God has been working among the Asian community and some have become followers of Christ. In the last 25 years, Asian believers from Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh backgrounds have formed their own fellowships. There are four Asian fellowships that are meeting in Nairobi, three churches that have a significant Asian membership and who reach out to Asians, and churches that have ministries to Asians in four different cities. Ten years ago Asian Concern Kenya (ASKEN) began holding seminars in African churches encouraging them to reach out to the Asians in their towns and neighborhoods. It also equips Asian Christians to reach out to their own communities. Thirty years ago there was only one mission reaching out to the Asian Indians. Now there are over five distinct agencies burdened for the Asian Indian people.

Prayer Requests

1. Pray for continued breakthroughs among the Jain community. Quite a number of ladies in their 60s and 70s are turning to Jesus as a result of a fellowship of Asians meeting in a shop in Nairobi.

2. Pray for a breakthrough in the Muslim Ismaili community.

3. The Asian peoples have many fears about what will happen after the upcoming elections. They also fear what might happen to them if they follow Jesus. Pray for spiritual boldness and open hearts that can see that Jesus will take away their fears.

4. The Asian youth that have been born since independence are more Western than their parents. Pray for wisdom for Indian Asian fellowships and churches as they reach out to this generation.

5. Pray for fruit from an Asian outreach by a church in Mombasa.

6. Pray for African churches to catch the vision to reach out to the Asians, to not worry about denominational differences, but to go across denominational lines to network together to reach Asians with the gospel.

7. Pray that God will raise up the right president for Kenya as President Daniel Arap Moi ends his second and final term. Pray that the new president will be sympathetic to the Christian community as well as to the influential Asian Indians. These parliamentary elections must take place by the end of this month. Pray for God's hand to steer this election.