Bomet County (Kenya) Governor visits Gurudwara and Nishkam Campus as part of UK collaboration visit

H.E Ruto arriving with the Bomet delegation

During a landmark trip to the UK to strengthen trade and investment links with the Kenyan diaspora and in particular with Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha (GNNSJ) and the Nishkam Campus, His Excellency Iasaac Ruto, the Governor of the County Government of Bomet, Kenya came to the Gurudwara. He had one prayer – to improve the lives of those in his county with assistance from the Sikhs.

The visit saw the Governor come to visit Birmingham’s Sikh community for the first time having heard and seen the great work that GNNSJ had already done in the neighbouring county of Kericho. GNNSJ has worked very closely with the Kericho county governor and local assembly to improve the lives of many Kenyans. Working with Prof Paul Chepkwony, GNNSJ and the Nishkam Campus have undertaken many projects in Kericho County. The projects have included the building of an educational institution Nishkam Sant Puran Singh Institute (NSPSI), running medical camps, building a vocational training centre, building a HIV clinic, supporting an orphanage, working with the women’s prison to provide educational facilities, and play facilities for young children with their mothers in prison. We have also seen inward investment from Accenture and Aston Villa Football Club to build sports facilities for the youth across several towns.

Bomet County is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic place with citizens of diverse socio-economic, religious and cultural backgrounds co-existing

The guests admire the dome mirror works

with the collective will of making things better for future generations. Bomet County Government has the major towns namely: Bomet Town, Sotik Town, and Longisa, Mulot.

Governor Ruto’s visit started with a visit to the Darbar Sahib (Guru’s Court / Main Prayer Hall) were the Governor offered a bouquet of flowers to Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the eternal Guru of the Sikhs. The tour then involved a visit to the Gumbad Darbar (Dome prayer hall), where the visitors were left speechless by the sheer beauty and tranquillity of the sacred space. The distinguished delegation then learnt about the Nishkam Community Cooperative, Nishkam Health Centre, Nishkam School Trust, and the Nishkam Civic Association. The message that the governor clearly got was one of self-reliance self-sufficiency, self-help and the ‘welfare of all’. He also comprehended the power of Nishkam volunteering and strong visionary leadership.

The delegation was honoured to meet with Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh, Spiritual Successor of GNNSJ and Chairman of the Nishkam Civic Association (NCA). Bhai Sahib Ji reminded the Governor and guests about the contribution that his predecessors and founder of GNNSJ had made to Kericho. There then followed a conversation about the importance of education, particularly the provision of good values based education for nursery and primary school ages. The Governor informed all present that he was working on a project to create greater transparency in Kenya by reviewing the constitution and looking at greater devolution. It was a memorable moment when it was revealed that the main driver behind the devolution thinking and design was actually a school colleague of Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh.

Outside the Dome Darbar on the roof-top

Bhai Sahib Ji explained, “Kericho is a very dear place to us Sikhs, it is where Sant Baba Puran Singh Ji spent much of his life and made a difference to the lives of so many – my Kenyan friends here today will know Baba Ji affectionately as the ‘Holy Man of Kericho’. As a result we have Kericho running through our blood – we want to reach-out and make a difference too.” He went on to say, “Let’s not just talk about it; let’s do something about it. GNNSJ is not about rhetoric but action; over the last 30 years the organisation has invested in Kericho on infrastructure, education, social action, regeneration, youth engagement, sport, corporate sponsorship / investment and capacity building. We are willing partners and want to work with you Governor to ensure that the good work continues. Values based education is vital and we need to educate the youth to become better adults tomorrow.”

His Excellency then thanked Bhai Sahib Ji, for sharing his wisdom with the guests. He recognised that heritage, culture and traditional values were the cornerstone of everything he and his team had seen at the Gurudwara. He said, “The contribution of the Sikhs in Kericho is phenomenal and I am proud to work very closely with Prof Paul Chepkwony.” He went on to say,”Bomet and Kericho are twin sisters as they used to be one county until they were split. I have seen what your organisation has done in Kericho and today I have seen what you do here. Your compassion, humility sense of duty help me to understand why you do what you do. I wonder why the governors in Kenya cannot apply what you are doing here? There is plenty to go around and share for everybody we need to overcome the greed and serve people”.

Bhai Sahib then shared a story from Nelson Mandela’s funeral, “The leader of Malawi said you must love your people and your people will love you. This was such a powerful message about leadership that we can all learn from”.

Bhai Sahib Ji discuss some of the projects undertaken in Kericho

“We need to focus on how we are going to make a difference and help those in Bomet. We must, as spiritual beings, reach out to them and empower them; we must enable them to be self-sufficient. We, the diaspora, must give back and make a difference to the lives of others.”

The governor shared some personal details about cancer affecting his family. As a result, supporting those with cancer had become a personal passion. In general, he welcomed health and well-being programs and also outlined what his county was already doing to help people. “We offer health insurance, support the elderly with payments, provide medical facilities, provide parental training and classes and also helped young females into education”, he said.

Bhai Sahib outlined his vision to have a world-class university in Kericho. Details and discussion was left to Prof Pal Singh, who is the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Portsmouth University clearly understood the challenges of establishing the University. He articulated to the guests that the University should be able to offer degrees from established universities anywhere in the world without the students having to leave their families or their homeland. He said one of the biggest costs and burdens on most families to get their children educated was the cost of relocation, travel, and living away from home. If we reduced these costs we could reduce the burden on families and provide the highest level of education.

It was also explained to the guests that the Vice Chairman of the Nishkam Civic Association, Prof Upkar Pardesi OBE, was currently in

Dr Langat thanks Bhai Sahib Ji for his hospitality and talks about the possibilities ahead

Ethiopia working on the development of an international world-class business school. This would provide further expertise and knowledge to the Nishkam team when developing a university with esteemed partners around the world. The governor welcomed the discussion and said he would love to be partners in such an undertaking and ideas were exchanged on how this program could be started. The consensus was to start small and to develop the degree programs over a period of time.

Overall the meeting was very positive and productive. The governor and his team were under no illusion of GNNSJ’s capacity to be a valuable partner that could mobilise similar projects to those undertaken with success in Kericho County. The GNNSJ team were keen to iterate that the success in Kericho County was down to collaboration between various partners including commitments from the County Governor.

A group photo as the guests depart the Gurudwara

Dr Moses Langat, who is part of Prof Chepkwony’s team, was instrumental in brokering the meeting with the Bomet County delegation. After the meeting Dr Langat said,”The meeting today has helped pave the way for future collaboration. I’m excited that my Sikh brothers have welcomed the Bomet county team with open arms, just as we expected, and are keen to support humanitarian developmental projects in the county. I will work with bother Amrick to outline some of the programs that we might be able to start with and also liaise to see how we can visit Bomet next time Baba Ji are in Kenya.”

ENDS

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