Makindu Gurdwara

Makindu Gurdwara, also called Gurdwara Makindu Sahib or the Sikh Temple Makindu, stands beside the main Nairobi to Mombasa road in Kenya, about 100 miles from Nairobi according to Sikh Heritage (UK); other accounts give 160 to 200 km. It is a gurdwara that grew out of the years when Sikhs worked on the Uganda Railway, and it is one of the best-known Sikh places of worship in East Africa.

Key moments

• 1896 to 1902: Sikh Heritage (UK) says the Uganda Railway reached Port Florence, now Kisumu, in 1902, and that Makindu was a service point on its advance from Mombasa. Dozens of artisans and train drivers were Sikhs. Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims gathered in the evenings under a tree, on the spot where the gurdwara now stands.
• Before 1926: the place of prayer was a small tin-roofed hut where Sikhs prayed every day and the Guru Granth Sahib was kept.
• When the railway moved on, the service point lost its importance and the Sikhs moved on with it. A caretaker looked after the little gurdwara, and passing Sikhs left offerings through its locked window.
• 1926: the gurdwara was built as a permanent building. Sikh Heritage (UK) says a solid foundation was laid that year, after Sikh families had begun to revive the place with weekend akhand paths, and adds that it is believed to have been funded by non-Sikhs as well as Sikhs.
• Later: Sant Baba Puran Singh Kericho wale, founder of the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, led Gursikhs to gather at the gurdwara regularly and serve it with prayer, langar and cleaning.

What it means today. Sikh Heritage (UK) describes a langar hall, a prayer hall and rooms where travellers may stay a night or two, with free food and rest for people on the road. All About Sikhs says it is apparently run by a consortium of the Nairobi gurdwaras, that most visitors are non-Sikh travellers, and that Sikhs from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania come at weekends. The Sikh Heritage account, written after a visit in 2001, says no Sikh family lived in Makindu itself, yet the gurdwara continued through the goodwill of the sangat. It also records personal testimonies of visions of Guru Gobind Singh at the gurdwara, which no source here verifies.