Overlanding Through Africa

Our next stop was to visit Jamia Mosque, an important centre of Islamic practice. It is a landmark and heritage site at the heart of Nairobi’s central business district. It was founded by Syed Maulana Abdullah Shah in 1902 and constructed between 1925 and 1933. The mosque plays a central role to Nairobi’s large Muslim population and is the preferred location for Friday prayers, regularly attracting a congregation of over 10,000 men. Jamia Mosque today is the place where Muslim religious and political leaders meet to discuss the affairs affecting their community. It houses a large modern library, a multi-purpose hall, a training institute where students can learn Arabic, computer skills, and cloth making, and a television station- Horizon TV.

The Jamia Mosque retains a classic Arabic Islamic architectural style with extensive use of marble and inscriptions from the Koran, and the traditional row of shops, including a clinic and pharmacy, down one side to provide rental income for its upkeep. It is recognisable by its three silver domes and twin minarets. The call to prayer is sung live five times a day.

We were shown around by a member of staff. We both had to wear traditional dress for our visit, despite the fact that neither of us were showing any skin. I’m not sure I’d be a successful Muslim lady. I was so hot, even though it was a cool day. It was a relief to take off the abaya and hijab after only half an hour! The tour was very interesting, though.

From the mosque, we continued our walk through central Nairobi to see the Askari Monument on Kenyatta Avenue. This memorial, designed by British sculptor James Alexander Stevenson and erected in 1928, is to the native African troops, the carriers who were the hands and feet of the army, and to all other men who served and died for their king and country in World War One. The inscription reads, ‘If you fight for your country, even if you die, your sons will remember your name’. The three African men depicted here represent a porter, an askari (a fighting man), and a gun carrier. The men are not identified by name or rank, the intention being to represent all those who served.

Dubbed the East African Campaign, the fighting initiated by the Germans to distract the British from their efforts to stop them in Europe and elsewhere, was to cost 50,000 African lives. The British relied heavily on poorly trained and equipped African soldiers and porters to provide ground cover and support under treacherous conditions. These men were forcibly enlisted, although many of them joined up happily in order to escape their impoverished lives. They were promised a better future if they survived. This was a promise the British never kept. After the war ended, British soldiers who had served in the campaign were decorated and offered the chance to settle in Kenya or elsewhere in Africa. In contrast, only a very few long-serving askaris were given small pensions and were hired into the colonial service. The vast majority of returning askaris were subject to the newly-introduced oppressive ‘kipande’ rules under which their only option was to look for indentured labour in settler enterprises.

Clearly, this was another shameful episode in British history. All was not lost, though for the native Africans. The returning askaris had come into contact with the outside world and had seen that the white man was fallible. They had seen white men die. The myth of their invincibility was broken. The seed that was to grow into the nationalist movement of the 1920s was planted.Read more