There has been a remarkable vacuum or lack of understanding in the way African-Asians were represented and this is what I wanted to bring out in this exhibition. His efforts to put the record straight have taken six years to bring to fruition. In Tanzania, anti-Asian feelings spurred the programme of nationalisation in 1980, and in Kenya, Asian homes and shops were looted during the unsuccessful coup attempt of 1982. This prejudice against them has been inadvertently reinforced by the Asian community itself, with its custom of holding itself culturally and economically apart. They tend to live separately, be educated separately, shop separately and rarely mix or marry outside their own groups.
People think the photographs are splendid.
They never realised they had such a rich heritage. There's a lot of excitement about this. For Asians themselves it is overwhelmingly emotive. Exhibition organiser Sultan Somjee hopes that the exhibition will improve understanding between the various communities in Kenya and enable Kenyan-Asians to play a fuller role in their African home. The organisers hope the exhibition will both reflect changing times and challenge the stereotypes about the Asian community, acknowledging that the Asian community is as much a part of modern Kenya, as any other tribe.