Ismail Jaffer Somji

Ismail Jaffer Somji

Town of birth

• Bagamoyo

Country of birth

• Tanzania

Date of Birth

• 1901/08/19

Date of Death

• 1982/02/06

Place of Death

• Vancouver

Name of institution of highest education achieved

• German School
• Bagamoyo (1916) and home tutoring

Place of longest stay

• Vancouver

Profession or occupation carriedout for the longest period in life

• Business

Where-City or Country

• Tanzania

Family tree

Parents

Fatima Damji Virjee

Jaffer Somji Khakhuani

Partners

Khatija Ismail Jaffer Somji

Mariamkhanu Rashid Adat Dewji 1907–1957

Children

Amirali Ismail Jaffer Somji 1938

Kulsum Ismail Somji 1925–2003

Maleksultan Ismail Somji 1923–1994

Noordin Ismail Somji 1929

Rajabali Ismail Somji 1927

Zarina Ismail Somji 1938

Born in 1901 Bagamoyo

Fatima Damji Virjee(Born in).

Jaffer Somji Khakhuani(Born in).

Ismail Jaffer Somji Khakwani

(extract from his autobiography, November, 1997)

1916 - Foot Journey from Bagamoyo to Pangani – then rickshaw to Tanga:

[The First World War was still raging on but now in the interior, the British in hot pursuit of Von Lettow and his German forces. But the coast was fully under British control, the German cruiser Konigsberg having gone into hiding in the Rufiji delta – where it remains to this day!]

"At last, the time came for me to leave for Tanga, which I did by machavo [by foot, but also by palanquin, or more usually, both]. As I couldn't sit for very long, I walked occasionally, and only sat when I wanted to rest. An Ismaili boy accompanied me on my trip from Bagamoyo to Pangani, a journey of about 100 miles, which we covered in 6 days and during which we crossed 3 rivers. We slept in bungas (African huts) in the evenings. We stayed at Hasham Jeraj's place in Pangani where uncle Abdulrasul Somji was going to send a rickshaw for the rest of the journey. For the evening, they had made sonya pilao (prawn/shrimp pilaf), and as soon as I learned what it was, I left it and went to sleep starving. This is because my grandfather had a sukha [resolution] that no one in the Somji family should eat prawns, as two of our relatives had died after eating them.

Next day, I started by rickshaw for Tanga, where I arrived at 1 pm. I met my father [Jaffer], uncle [Abdulrasul], aunt [Zainab Kanji] and Alimohamed Jaffer [who worked with his uncle and who married Kulsum, sister of Muradali Hasham Jeraj, originally of the Pangani family mentioned above]. As I didn't know any English [only German, having been educated in German schools], my uncle called a Maratha teacher who taught me at home. In the meantime, my mother and brother arrived in Tanga [from Bagamoyo], the latter also received tuition in English. Consequently, both of us forgot German."

• Although he resided in Tanga and was married there, he moved to Mombasa in 1920. But for father Jaffer and uncle Abdulrasul, Tanga would be where they eventually passed away in 1940 and 1956 respectively.