Who Do You Think You Are? - Adeel Akhtar

 

Last Thursday’s Who Do You Think You Are? saw Adeel Akhtar exploring his Indo-African roots.

This episode was super-interesting, and covered a part of history that we don’t get to hear about very often, following the Indian community in the heart of Nairobi, Kenya.

As well as learning about the business success of his mother’s Indo-Kenyan ancestors, Adeel also discovered details about the day-to-day working of this part of the British Empire

 — unfortunately, much of those day-to-day aspects involved racism and a lack of interest in public health (unless it could be used by some to promote a form of apartheid.)

It’s important, when we talk about history, to not leave out the less comfortable parts — because they are a part of the truth, and part of the overall picture of the lives of real people who we would, quite literally, not be here without.

Unfortunately, the truth is that the same system that allowed Adeel’s family to become wealthy and prosperous also, horribly, held their lives to be of a lesser value than that of a white European person.

There are other interesting aspects of this episode — the focus on girls’ education, the dangerous voyage to Kenya, the Ismaili Islamic faith, the somewhat unexpected indigenous Kenyan heritage… I could go on.

This was a fascinating episode, exploring a history that very few of us will be familiar with. It’s well worth the watch.

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