The Rise and Fall of Philanthropy in East Africa by Howard Schwartz

Author:Howard Schwartz [Schwartz, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781412853859
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Published: 2014-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

Asian Plans for a Liberal Arts College

Despite the fact that all Asian groups mourned for Gandhi, any meaningful association between the Muslims and non-Muslims in East Africa in establishing a memorial had become virtually impossible by January 1948. The estrangement that had been developing between the two communities since the early thirties had been augmented by events in India culminating in the partition. At the time of Gandhi’s assassination the Muslims of East Africa were calling for separate electorates and separate seats in the territorial legislatures, and in June they were to resign from the congress.8 Since the creation of Pakistan, their aversion to the name “Indian” had been leading, as mentioned previously, to the coinage of the term “Asian” to designate the collective immigrants from South Asia. Another factor that militated against the Muslims’ joining with non-Muslims in forming a memorial is that by 1948 they were involved in a philanthropic enterprise of their own. The Ismailis, Bohras, Ithnasheris, and other Muslims, in combination with the Arabs, were then busily engaged in establishing the Mombasa Institute of Muslim Education.9 It was thus the non-Muslims—the Hindus, Sikhs, Shahs, and Goans—who decided to establish a memorial to Gandhi.

During 1948, while the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi at Ahmedabad coordinated the raising of funds for a memorial in India, there was a diversity of effort in East Africa. In Mwanza a prominent Uganda cotton industrialist and businessman, Chaturbhai Khushalbhai Patel, endowed a Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hall. In Mombasa a group of concerned Asians led by Purshottamdas Dhanjibhai Master formed a Gandhi Society to propagate the Mahatma’s ideals and consider a memorial. In Thika the Jain Youth League decided to hold a lottery throughout East Africa to raise funds for a memorial, and it requested aid from the congress in obtaining permission from the territorial governments for the sale of tickets. When the Zanzibar Asians pointed out, however, that a lottery was “highly repugnant and obnoxious” as contrary to Gandhi’s principles, the congress withdrew its support, and the project was abandoned.10

The establishment of the Gandhi memorial that led to the University of Nairobi can be traced to a meeting of the standing committee of the Congress on 5-6 February 1948 when a decision was made to erect an appropriate memorial.11 In June at a public meeting in Nairobi, called by the congress, a large gathering of Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Goans enthusiastically endorsed a proposal to undertake an intensive campaign for funds throughout East Africa. The coordination of the campaign and nature of the memorial were entrusted to a provisional committee chaired by the Nairobi advocate Shivabhai Gordhanbhai Amin.12 In August while attending the immersion ceremony at Jinja, Amin took the opportunity to confer with Asian leaders from the other territories. All agreed that a memorial should be erected, but they differed on whether there should be several memorials, sited at various places, or just one for the whole of East Africa. Some among those favoring a single memorial suggested a college of higher education.

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