Talking to my mother on Friday 05 Sepember 2008 (Kasturben) who is in Kenya – a full 87 years old, I have summarised below are ancestral historical facts.
My Grandfather (Sunderji Lalji Haria) married to Jiviben during 1919. This was the first Oshwal wedding in Kenya.
My mother (Kasturben) was born in 1920 in Nairobi. I am not sure that this was the first Oshwal birth in Kenya but definitely first for the couple (who married in Kenya).
Other tidbits about our family for your information and use if needed.
My grandfather (Dharamshi Naya Depar Bid of Navagam in Halar) arrived in Kenya in 1910.
My Great-Grandfather (Naya Depar Bid) joined him in 1921. He arrived in Kenya accompanied by my Grandmother, Deviben (w/o Dharamshi Naya Bid) and my father Juthalal Dharamshi Naya Bid (who was at that time 8 years old – born in India).
My Great-Grandfather (Naya Depar Bid) went back to India after a few years in Kenya around 1930.
My father (Juthalal Dharamshi Shah) opened the business in Ruiru in early 1930s – one of the first businesses in the new trading centre – to cater to the new European agricultural settlement in the area. He moved to Mombasa (closing the business) in 1944 for the sake of education to his three sons at the time.
Pravin Shah