As we descended into Kisumu last month, I tried to imagine what it was like during the post-election violence. Images from the Kenya Burning exhibition of coffins, streets on fire and police beating up their brothers and sisters ran across my mind but in truth, no matter how hard I tried, it was impossible to imagine my hometown as the bloodbath hanging on the walls at the Go Down. Kisumu was a lot of things but it was certainly not a war torn city.

I had been in touch with my folks regularly and other friends from Kisumu and all in all, I had the impression that most people had moved on since the election eruptions. The airplane was full as were the other four flights that descend on Kisumu daily from Nairobi. As we waited for our luggage in the same old trolley they had been using since I took my first flight over ten years ago, I looked around at the sophisticated Kenyans around with the occasional expatriate who had come to save our souls, only one thing was different: there were hardly any South Asians…

January 22, 2008
KISUMU CITY ASIAN TRADERS ARE FLEEING THE COUNTRY FOLLOWING RIOTING AND DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY

“A survey carried by this writer revealed that a good number of business people as well as Dukawallas of Indian and Pakistan origins have left the town quietly or are in the process of leaving Kenyan’s third largest City after Nairobi and Mombasa.
Rumours and speculations making the round here, is that some of the Asia traders who are arguably the ones who controls the economy of the city had sneaked out of town quietly before the controversial December 27,2007 polls in anticipation of troubles in advance.”
Posted by africanpress

A scene like this would be fairly easy to imagine as the images of hordes of South Asians jumping on the trains in Uganda after Idi Amin gave them 24 hours to pack their bags is still vivid in the minds of many Kenyans. The writer was certainly trying to conjure up the same sort of scenario especially with the sensationalistic title of this piece. Cheap journalism pays well where there is a bit of smoke.

People did leave and shops did get looted and burnt. South Asian Kenyans have always been stereotyped for sleeping with one bag packed and an open ticket to the UK. But let’s put a little perspective here since this is not for gutter trash consumption. Kisumu is a small town no matter what our pathetic government likes to call it. The main business hub is on three connected streets. There is probably a ratio of 1 – 10000 South Asians Kenyans in Kisumu and yes, South Asians do dominate the business scene but all this is to say that with nos. like this in a place as small as Kisumu, things are bound to look a lot worse than they are. Throw the media in the mix and you have full scale ethnic cleansing.

I spoke to several second generation businessmen while in Kisumu (all who do not wish to be named here). Enough has been written about the 28th of December and I have no more recreative ways of retelling the horror that any outburst of violence is.

I gathered that no one amongst the people I spoke to could have foreseen what followed. There was tension as there would be at such a critical moment in the country. A handful of South Asians had left Kisumu prior to the elections as they always do fearing that something may happen. And it did. “There is no question about it. It was pre-planned,” said one of my father’s friends, “and the police were told not to interfere. But we had no idea. I was just about to leave for work when your father called me to warn me not to go into town.”

“Immediately after president Kibaki was declared the winner the ODM youths swarmed into action, raided the Central Business District (CDB) and all Kisumu streets apparently venting their anger on every shop, eating houses, hotels, hardware shops, cell phone dealers, electronic chops, computer dealers, motor vehicles spare parts shops and on every business enterprises they could lay their hands. The looters also set some of the business premises ablaze after empting their cargos.”

Posted by africanpress

I remember the conversations that I had continuously with my folks for several weeks after this day as they stayed put in their lake shore house in Milimani: To leave or not to leave, that was the question. Inevitably, our fears were magnified as a resort owned by our close friends had been razed completely. She was British and he was Kikuyu. “Indians were not the target. None of this was directed at them. They just happened to be in the way,” said someone else I spoke to elsewhere.
“Sources have confirmed that the fleeing members of Indian and Pakistan Asian traders took refuge with their kings in the neighbouring countries like Tanzania and Uganda, some of them were contemplating relocating their business in the near by town of Musoma and Mwanza in Tanzania, while others may be forced to seek for green pasture in the Ugandan capital, Kampala and its sister town Jinja.”
Posted by africanpress

According to this group of businessmen in their mid-fifties, only seven families left as a direct consequence of the outburst of violence. Many people did leave temporarily but have since returned while others were already contemplating emigrating elsewhere and the elections were just a catalyst for the inevitable. “I planned to leave even before this happened. I did not want to split the family, with the children studying in one country and the parents living in another. We planned to go see Australia on the day the post-election crisis broke out, but instead we ended up just leaving,” said one businessman in his mid-forties. People with children often give education as the reason to move on. If they can afford it, Australia, Canada or the UK are the new destinations. “Some lost their businesses completely so most people are now scared to live in Kisumu. Others want to protect their families and many had rights to other countries.”

For those within my age-group, who had an opportunity to study abroad never came back. Of the twenty or so peers that I grew up with from within the South Asian community, I can only think of two who stayed on in Kisumu. “A couple of guys your age left the very next day. But they were looking for a reason to leave for a long time,” said another of my father’s friends. “Young people have been moving for a long time. You moved. There is nothing here for young people. But our generation have no intention to leave. Where would we go? Even though we are second class citizens, I would rather stay put. There’s no place like Kenya.”

This is indeed a sentiment shared by many South Asians. Kenya is home but it is not their country. Most of us have had to deal with issues of belonging throughout our lives but this is true of any minority population anywhere in the world. For Kenya, issues surrounding identity are particularly critical at this point in history. Are we a nation of diverse cultures or are we a country populated by 43 tribes? However, in the context of demographics of South Asians, it is no secret that over the past fifteen years there has been not only been a continuous wave of emigration but also immigration. A new wave of immigrants has slowly been arriving mostly from India whom like our forefathers came to East Africa in search of better opportunities. I believe there are a lot of sociological and anthropological questions that need to be answered surrounding what makes up today’s Kenyan South Asian and such sensational journalism as quoted above needs to be re-examined in a more lucid context to investigate identities and the ontology of the South Asian immigrant.

First Published in Awaaz Magazine, Issue 2, 2008