Juma Hajee

THE AGA KHAN OF ELDORET

From an interview with late Abdul Mahedi Hajee, Eldoret

"My father, as l said, was born in British Indiaand came here when he was 20 to join his father. Together they played an important role in the development of this area. My father was burly too, and a bit short. He looked a little like the old Aga Khan and Colonel Huey always called my father 'the Aga Khan', (Huey had something in common with my grandfather; he also had a place named after him. But now the name of Huey's Bridge has been changed, whereas the Drift remains Hajee's Drift.)
Neither my grandfather nor my father ever returned to British India(nor did my elder brothers, and I only went for the first time in 1978, for 25 days). My father was a very abstemious person! He never drank or smoked, and kept to a very simple diet. He, like my grandfather, had almost no formal education, but he could type and keep books perfectly. Moreover he spoke excellent English and was a very good orator.
Wherever the Government opened a Boma in this area they would call my grandfather and father to open a shop in that place. Eventually, the family firm Juma Hajee & Sons1 had shops all over, at trading centers such as Marigat, iCabarnet, Sabatta, Karuna; there were about a dozen altogether. In 1934/5 there was a gold rush at Kakamega, My father staked out a claim and had a mine there, He found a gold reef in it and sold the mine ~ he didn't make any money but he did recover his investment.
During the gold rush, he put up a shop In Kakamega. I was very young, but I used to go with him sometimes there. In those days there weren't any roads as we know them. The tracks would be terrible, muddy when it rained. Transport was by foot and by oxcart. The family home was in Eldama Ravine, but my father used to roam around, my father used to tell of how he would walk from Eldama Ravine to Eldoret through the bamboo forest. He would sleep at places like Kampi ya Simba. My father also took to house riding, and he kept one horse, a brown hone, for his own use. I do not know for sure if he owned any ox-carts early on. However, I presume that later on in life he must have, though transport by ox-carts was mainly the South African's business. It was their main business aside from farming.
When Eldoret was demarcated as a township, my father was the first person to move in. His was the first shop in town. The place was originally called Sixty-Four because the area had been marked out as Farm No 64. That shop was built of corrugated iron sheets and it was located on British IndiaStreet (now Moi St), In the ’20s my father began spending more and more time in Eldoret, and he eventually made this his home. In 1939 he built this present shop on Oginga Odinga St (it was called Grigg St in those days). All around was forest, big trees. My father could sit on the verandah here and shoot game. (He hunted mainly birds such as guinea fowls, not large animals).
He played a big part in community affairs- he was a member of the Municipal Council, on the School Commission. He was the community president of the Indian Association.
As Eldoret developed it was a nice, clean town. There a well-organized market two times week. One could walk at night without fear. The market was for the Africans, but the shops belonged to Indians.
After my family started business here, quite a few other Ismailis came to Eldoret and a small jamatkhana was built. The original building was across the street from the present one, It had a tin roof and was upon wooden pillars — I remember that well because we youngsters used to play hide and seek under the building. The present big white building, made of stone, was built in 1934. My father was Mukhi here for six continuous
There were not only us Ismailis here in Eldoret in the early days, but also a number of our still-Hindu kinsmen, the Lohanas. The Patels and the Shahs came later. The Hindus all together were by far in the majority. There were also some Goans, mostly tailors. There were Sikhs also; Mr. Bur Singh was an old settler here.
Our shop in Eldoret catered specifically to the Europeans and the Dutch South Africans here. There were a lot of South Africans around Eldoret. Relations between us Indians and them were not at all cordial. They would come to our shops because they needed to but if you went to their farms they would not want to know you. I think however that all of them disliked us. Some of the South African would been good people but they were afraid to be friends with the Indians out of fear what their own community would say –their community would accuse them of being ‘friendly to the coolies’, for that is how they viewed us. They stayed aloof from us for fear of their own people not hatred for us.
The English were not cordial either but at least they were not as unpleasant and rude as the South Africans. We had a lot of parties at home where we invited the Europeans and they, in turn, invited us to their homes. Such socializing did not extend to the Indian community as such but was confined to only a couple of Indian families such as ours.

Family Photos

Pioneer's Scrapbook.
Juma Hajee mentioned in The Pioneers's Scrapbook.
Indian Traders mentioned in a colonial book.
Indian Traders mentioned in a colonial book.
Juma Hajee with colonial Governor Turnbull.
Juma Haji receiving a President Daniel Arap Moi Eldoret.
President Moi in the Juma Haji shop.
Juma Hajee death tribute.
Juma Hajee death tribute.