Some furhter on Sikhi and Africa and Dhan Guru Gobind Singh Jee Mahraj's darshan read on : - taken from sikhiwiki
According to research of Harpal Singh Kasoor on Gurus travelling Far West and Far East of India, he claims that :
Bhai Kesar Singh Chhibber has given very important reference, when he discusses the dialogue between Satguru Hargobind Sahib and Mata Nanaki Ji. Mata Ji asked Almighty Satguru that instead of son, the grandson has been given Gurgaddi.Almighty Satguru told her it is the arrangement of the elders and not his`` Dharam Kraey Karm Dhuron Phurmaya----`` Holy Page No. 1280 of SGGS.
When the time come, He (Teg Bahadur) would get the Gurgaddi of Satguru Nanak Sahib, and many more things and places will come into existance. Makindu Sahib was declared to the world in 1896, when the Railway Line was laid in Kenya.(ref``Bansawalinama``, by Kesar Singh Chhibber(1785).
In 1790, another historian, Sarup Singh Kaushish, had given another reference, He wrote the family tree of Baba Makhan Shah Lubana. He said----Baba Makhan Shah LubanaS/O Dasa S/O Artha S/O Banna S/O Bhoru S/O Sawana. Dear congregation, who is this Sawana.
According to History of Lubanas, this Sawna is Diwan Sawan Mal.
The third historian, Bhai Rattan Singh Bhangu has given yet another important reference. He talks about ``Desey Wa``.These Desay Wa are the west of India, and some parts of them are in the sea, that is they are islands. These Desay Wa, are no other than Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, which speak Swahili. Wa is the word of Swahili language. Diwan Sawan Mal has three where -houses, one at Lamu, the second one in Malindi and third one in Mariakani. All these were rented. (ref.History of Malindi Museum).
Almighty Satguru Nanak Sahib and Bhai Sahib Mardana Ji visited the place, Makindu in 1519 and stayed a couple of weeks here. In Nakowe near Lamu, Bhai Dasa worthy father of Makhan Shah Lubana presented horses to Satguru Hargobind Sahib and 50 Sikhs, including himself. Satguru and Sikhs visted Witu and stayed there for the night. In the next evening, the reached Malindi on horses. Next morning the whole caravan left for Mariakani. They held the Diwan of Rehras and Sri Asa Di War next morning. After the Diwan of Asa Di War, they reached Voi and then to Kibwezi. Next morning they reached Makindu Sahib and stayed there for two days.They Left for Lamu via Athi River and reached Timau, where a few indian traders were living. The villagers had difficulty of water. They used to collect water from the rain. Satguru Hargobind Sahib blessed them with a spring. About that spring, you can read in details in my article `` Satguru Hargobind Sahib in Timau (Kenya). From Timau, they reached Embu via Meru. They held night diwan at Embu, Garissa and finally at Lamu. They left the horses for the Sangat of Kenya and left Lamu by boat (dhow) to the port of Karachi. They stayed at the Gurdwara Nanak Da Chashma, in Karachi.
Reference Harpal Singh Kasoor
Article by Lakhvir Singh, NairobiBackgroundSikh Temple Makindu was built in 1926, though its roots are believed to have been present way before then. When the Uganda Railway was completed in 1902 at Port Florence (which is now Kisumu, Kenya), Makindu played a prominent role as a service point on the railway's advance from Mombasa. Dozens of artisans and train drivers were Sikhs and the station at Makindu became a place of religious fervour. Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims would gather together in the evenings and sing the praises of God. They did so under a tree, the spot where the current Gurudwara now stands. It is also believed that the Gurudwara was funded by non-Sikhs along with Sikhs.
In the years before 1926, the Gurudwara was a tin-roof little hut where the Sikhs used to pray everyday, and the Guru Guru Granth Sahib was housed there. But when the Railway moved on from Makindu, the service point went into disuse and became unimportant. The Sikhs naturally moved along too, leaving the tiny Gurudwara behind, under the watchful eye of an African servant who would clean the Gurudwara. Sikh devotees who passed along the Gurudwara would leave offerings of money by dropping it through the locked Gurudwara's window.
HistoryAs the years rolled on and the Railway was complete, many of the Sikhs who had came to Africa to work on it settled in Kenya. Slowly, they began to contemplate the idea of reviving the small Gurudwara in Makindu. Akhand Paaths began to be organised on regular weekends, with families travelling 200 miles or so, in rough murram red-soil earth. There, they would gather and pray, prepare langar and socialise. Over the years, the Gurudwara began to be developed. It was in 1926 that a solid foundation was laid. The Gurudwara then became a fully-functional one - with a langar hall, prayer hall and tiny rooms of accommodation for the gyanis and sevadaars of the Gurudwara. It also began to provide free food and rest for weary travellers who would stop by at the Gurudwara for a night or two on their journeys to and from Nairobi and Mombasa.
Legends have been connected to this magnificent Gurudwara. It has truly been referred to as the 'Harmandir Sahib' of Africa. It is so amazing that even now, as i pen these lines, an electric current runs through me, just thinking about the power of that Gurudwara.
A copy of the Guru Granth Sahib that survived a mysterious fire which burnt down the whole Gurudwara (probably before 1926) is still there today. I was fortunate to obtain the darshan of the Guru Granth Sahib at a Sikh's residence in Mombasa. On it's first page, the then - Granthi of the Gurudwara recorded, in his own handwriting, exactly what had happened that day, and how miraculously, the Guru Granth Sahib was untouched by the tragedy to the Gurudwara.
Miracles?An African sevadar of the Gurudwara once claimed that he saw, in the night awoken from his sleep, a figure on a white horse. The horseman approached him and spoke to him, telling him not to speak to anyone about the incident of his visit. The startled and shaken man could not believe his eyes and was so scared that he he told the first person he saw the following morning. Asked who the man on the horse was, the African man pointed to a painting of Guru Gobind Singh which was displayed in the Gurudwara and said, 'That was him! He was exactly like the man is there and so was his white horse!'
The news of the man's vision spread through the Sikh community like wild fire and soon people began to come more often to the Gurudwara, regardless of the miles that separated them from it. The incident also prompted the Sant Baba Puran Singh Kerichowale (founder, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha) to lead Gursikhs to gather at the Gurudwara regularly, and serve it by prayer, langar and cleaning. The Gurudwara had been almost forgotten and neglected when Guru Gobind Singh's incident occurred.
That was not the only incident of the darshan of Guru Gobind Singh at Makindu Sahib. People claim to have have heard, in the silent of night, to have heard the approach of horses, just outside the Gurudwara. The sounds were akin to an army, stopping for the night. They claimed that they heard sounds of a kitchen being put in place, like langar was being prepared. Evidently, the incident was believed to be another darshan of the Guru, stopping by the shrine.
In yet another event, an amazing first-time encounter happened with a member of the Istri Sabha during the early years of the Gurudwara. A lady who was reading the Guru Granth Sahib in the night, by the light of a kerosene lamp (there was no electricity there at the time), witnessed in the flickering light a moving shadow which fell across the pages of the Guru Granth Sahib. The figure, she recalled, was of someone doing the 'chaur' over the Sikh Scriptures. The figure was, by description, none other than Guru Gobind Singh.
Most Unique and beautifulThe Gurudwara today is among one of the most unique and beautiful ones outside India. Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike describe the same feeling when they step into the Gurudwara - that of peace. It is an indescribable peace and bliss. An aging European stranger i met at an art exhibition just the other day, began talking to me about the Gurudwara when she saw me wearing a branded jacket of the Gurudwara. 'Oh, I've been there,' she told me, 'a beautiful temple, i must say.' She explained how a decade ago, she had stopped there for the night on her journey from Mombasa back to Nairobi, and said she had never felt so peaceful in her life before. She even felt the presence of someone seated in the passenger seat as she prepared to drive on the following morning. 'I'm not sure who that was, but I am certain there was someone there,' she explained. 'I didn't get scared, though, I took it as a good omen, like someone was keeping a protective watch over me as i embarked on my journey.'
Like this lady, there are thousands of people who stop by the Gurudwara on their journeys along the busy Mombasa Highway. The Gurudwara attracts people of all races and colour - Hindus, Muslims and Christians. They all drive in like it was home. They always find a meal waiting for them and accommodation to take rest in. They feel no discrimination, or even the slightest hesitation that they are walking through a Sikh temple. It's a power there, I believe, that brings them here - a power that sees no differences. All feel the same bliss, as though they are visiting a Sikh Temple, but walking through God's very own garden.
A favoured shrineAs for the Sikhs, it is a favoured Gurudwara. Politics have not touched this Gurudwara. Here, even the Managing Committees have been known to be part of the sangat and sevadaars. Every weekend, there is someone or the other, making their journey to pay their homage to the Gurudwara, or simply to be at one with the Guru. Whole families travel there, unlike witnessed in Nairobi. Sikhs from not only all over Kenya, but from as far as Uganda and Tanzania who make regular trips to this beautiful Gurudwara, built on the common African soil.
It is to be believed by the individual, and there are plenty of testimonies, that whatever one asks for at this Gurudwara, it is granted. Wishes have come true, prayers have been answered, if you come with a clean heart, cloaked in humility. Akhand Paths are regularly done there, and requests come from as far away as Europe and Australia where ex-Kenya Sikhs are now settled, who yet remember the beloved Gurudwara they had to leave behind. Had it been in their power, they surely would have taken it with them!
The setting of this Gurudwara is indeed a wonder. It is set in the wilderness, deep in the wild. Settlement has only recently sprang up around the Gurudwara. It is about 200 kilometers from Nairobi and yet you will find Sikhs gathering at the Gurudwara almost every weekend. Here they spend the whole day, resting, praying and simply witnessing the still air in its extremely well-kept gardens. Right across the road is the new Sikh Hospital - Mata Veera Kaur Hospital - which is a community establishment, serving the locals who have no immediate professional health care for hundreds of miles around.
On my most recent visit there in 2001, I could see the Gurudwara through the thorn bushes at the Railway Station. The sight was one to behold. There, right before you was a white structure, in the midst of all the browns and greens of the wilderness, standing tall, yet humble. The Gurudwara stands like a lotus flower, unbelievably beauty that grows out of the mud of murky waters. The only way to describe the sight when I saw it was 'Bliss in the Bush'.
A note to make here is that there's not a single Sikh family resident in Makindu and yet the Gurudwara continues to flourish, through the goodwill of non-Sikhs, the devotion on it by Sikhs and the abundant blessings of the Guru, who ceaselessly watches over this shrine that was built on a foundation of sincere faith, love and dedication to the WORD of GOD. And yes, do visit this Gurudwara, no matter what part of the world you come from, and you will experience all that we have, and who knows, the Guru awaits you too!
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥