Social Studies Travel Blog Project- Hakuna Matata - Kenya 2023
Travelling to Kenya Indian Workers Building the Uganda Railway Image Courtesy Sikhnet My journey started on a cold Winnipeg morning. I had called a cab the night previous to get to the airport for 3:30am. My driver asked, "where are you heading?", to which I replied "Kenya". The driver was a turbaned Punjabi man, much like myself, who quickly gave me a puzzled look. Through the rearview mirror the driver questioned, "Kenya?". He then quickly in punjabi, "brother...there are Indians in Kenya?" I then began to tell him about the history of how the British used Indian workers for cheap labour, while building the railway from Uganda to Mombasa. I found out the driver was also a former teacher in India and came to Canada several years ago. He was quite fascinated by this history, and told me he used to teach social studies in Punjab. He needed to drive a cab to support his family when he immigrated and asked me many questions about how to becom