From Punjab to the shores of Lake Victoria: The Kalasinga of Kisumu

Master Amarjot Singh plays outside a Kisumu temple oblivious of whatever else is going on around him.

He is totally at home here; no worries, no cares!

The boy is well-groomed, perhaps a testimony to his roots as an offspring of a financially stable family.

His parents are standing a few metres away, chatting with friends.

Master Amarjot is part of the fourth generation of Sikhs in Kisumu.

His great-grandfather was shipped from India by British colonialists to build the Kenya-Uganda railway in the 1890s.

The Siri Guru Sikh Temple on Mosque Road outside which young Amarjot’s small feet are trampling as he hops about is an integral part of Kisumu Sikhs’ history. 

Next month they will celebrate the centenary of their place of worship that is considered a landmark in the lakeside city. 

Writing in the Nation last month, Ms Rupi Mangat said “the simple whitewashed gurdwara (house of worship) still stands … in its original form save for the roof which had to be replaced because it was leaking beyond repair”.

Quoting from the records written between 1910 and 1916, the article noted: “At 10 am on 21st December 1913, Sardar Attar Singh, the Permanent Way Inspector from Mackinnon Station, laid the foundation stone.

“On top of the foundation stone, he placed a glass vase which contained one silk keshera (shorts), one wooden kanga (comb), one kirpan (sword), one kada (Sikh steel bangle), and one note in each of the following languages — Gurmukhi, Kiswahili, Urdu and English written on good heavy paper (copies were placed in a file).

“The shorts, comb, sword and steel bangle and unshaved hair are the 5 Ks of the Sikhs”

Today, behind the exchange of pleasantries outside the temple after worship and lunch, lies a story of a people who have survived many odds to build an empire in Kisumu.

They had to battle diseases, beasts and harsh weather besides the hard labour on their way to the lakeside base.

Many of their fore parents didn’t survive the rigours of building the railway in a strange land thousands of miles from home.

Historian Cynthia Salvadoori in her book Through Open Doors: A View of Asian Cultures in Kenya, says the earliest batch of 150 Sikhs was brought to Kenya by the British in 1895 to police the construction of the Kenya-Uganda railway.

Another 150 were brought in later that year and 200 more in 1898.

They came in along with the Muslim Punjabi.

But the construction was not without its casualties.

Records with the Kisumu Sikhs indicate that 2,495 people of Indian descent lost their lives in the duration of the construction. Of these, 28 were devoured by the famous man-eaters of Tsavo, which have been the subject of popular culture, including the 1996 film The Ghost and the Darkness.

“We are proud that a good number of our fathers survived the harsh conditions then.

Physical fitness is one of the embodiments of Sikhism,” says Mr Charanjeet Singh Heyer, the chairman of the Kisumu Siri Guru Temple.

The first Sikhs are thought to have arrived in Kisumu in 1901.

After the completion of the railway, the Sikhs that settled in the lakeside town met another challenge: opening up farmland for use in the region.

Mr Heyer says the colonial government gave land to the Sikh community for sugarcane farming at Kisumu’s Kibos area.

“It was, however, a great challenge clearing up the bushy tracts of land. But thanks to our fathers’ resilience, the farms were soon made good use of,” says Mr Heyer.

But more challenges were to come in the form of a post-colonial government policy that proved to be a hurdle to the prosperity of the Sikhs.

Mr Aslam Khan, a nominated member of the Kisumu county assembly, says the government implemented a policy that forced many Sikhs and other people of Asian descent to leave the property they had developed in rural areas.

“In 1967, the government executed a policy of Africanising villages.

Most of the Asians who had businesses in rural areas had to move to urban areas.

The policy also forced every Asian to co-own a business with an African.

It was a great challenge to all people of Asian descent,” says Mr Khan. He, however, is not a Sikh.

The politician explains that non-Kenyans soon became subject to increasing discrimination by the ruling government.

For example, Sikhs and other Asians in the civil service were sacked in favour of Africans.

The Kenyan Immigration Act 1967 required them to acquire work permits.

Consequently, many Kenyan-Asians left for Britain.

More recently, there was the 2007/2008 post-election violence where many shops were looted and others destroyed.

While some of the big businesses belonging to members of the Asian community that were affected have been rebuilt, some such as the former Copy Cat building on the Oginga Odinga Street have not.

But with what Mr Heyer describes as sheer determination and a strong work ethic, the Sikhs have somehow surmounted the challenges to entrench themselves in Kisumu socially, politically and economically.

Other than just being seen and not heard, the community has played an active role in the community.

Many also speak Dholuo, the dominant language in Kisumu, besides Kiswahili.

They are glad that Kenyans received them so well and referred to them as “Kalasingas” — a corruption of Khalsa Singh (a revered title given to initiated male Sikhs).

Ms Kiran Heyer, a Kisumu-based Sikh, says the term Kalasinga is unique.

“To me, the nickname is a show of how Kenyans were receptive of the Sikhs and other Asians in those early days,” she told Lifestyle.

However, the community is strongly opposed to inter-marriage with outsiders, and remains a close-knit unit.

“Not all Asian communities are opposed to inter-marriage.

It depends on a person’s predisposition,” says Mr Khan, giving the example of his uncle, Mr Rhemat Khan, who married a Kalenjin woman.

On the political front, the Kisumu Sikhs have been “always on the receiving end because they are mostly in the opposition,” according to their chairman.

Sikhs elsewhere in Kenya have met the same fate. Makhan Singh, a trade union activist who founded the Kenya Federation of Labour in 1950, was detained.

Another nationalist, Jaswant Singh, was also jailed for making arms and supplying them to the Mau Mau in the 1950s.

But it is in business where they have made great strides. Businesses started by the pioneer Sikhs are still thriving.

Though they prefer being modest about their investments, the Sikhs are into textiles, engineering and manufacturing.

“Our fathers didn’t come here empty-handed as some people argue. They were skilled carpenters, masons, tailors and artisans.

That helped them find a niche within a short time,” says Mr Heyer.

Among the top businesses run by members of the Sikh community in Kisumu are the Hayer Bishan Singh and Sons Ltd, a family-run civil and structural engineering company on the Kisumu-Bondo road.

There is also Kibos Sugar Limited and the Farm Engineering Industries Limited.

The three industries alone employ at least 500 people directly and indirectly.

The Sikhs’ story is intertwined with that of other Asian communities that settled in Kisumu, who have also triumphed over various challenges. 

“Among the earliest Indian settlers were the Muslim Punjab, who resided in Dunga Beach. Some of them even became fishermen.

The earliest houses built by Asians in Kisumu can be found at Dunga Beach,” says Kisumu East MP Shakeel Shabbir, who has roots from India’s Punjab region.

Kisumu is among the few areas in Kenya that has had constituencies represented twice in Parliament by men of Asian descent.
The first was Mr Amir Jamal, who was Kisumu Town MP between 1963 and 1969.

He was ousted by Ms Grace Onyango, the first Kenyan female MP, in 1969.

The second one is Mr Shabbir, who is now in his second term in Parliament.

He had served as Kisumu mayor before that. Fluent in Dholuo, Mr Shabbir says there is great compatibility between the Luo and the Punjabi.

“We have several similarities — we are both a proud people and for both of us it is easy to forgive,” Mr Shabbir says.

Mr Khan, who was eyeing the Kisumu Central parliamentary seat but pulled out before the General Election, said Luos are a most welcoming people.

“They don’t look at colour, creed, religion or any other non-substantial matters,” he said.

Economically, the Asian-Kenyans run a huge portion of Kisumu’s Industrial Area.

They also started a number of primary and secondary schools. Among them are the Kisumu boys and girls high schools, Muslim Secondary School, Arya Primary School, MM Shah Primary School and the Aga Khan Primary School, among others.

As they celebrate 100 years of their temple’s existence, the Sikhs of Kisumu can look back at where they have come from with pride.

“This gurdwara is a super-structure built of concrete. It will stand for another 100 years,” Mr Heyer said in an earlier interview.