Makindu Sikh Temple, Kenya

Address

Makindu Sikh Temple, Mombasa Road, Makindu, Kenya Phone: +254 723 074854

Diety

Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

Introduction

Sikh Temple Makindu is located about 100 miles (160km) from Nairobi on the main Nairobi to Mombasa Road. It was built in 1926 by the Sikhs who were working on the construction of the railway line from the coast (Mombasa) inland to Lake Victoria and beyond to Uganda.. The Gurdwara complex is very large and has facilities for living accommodation for Devotees.

Puranic Significance

The Sikh Temple Makindu was built in 1926, its roots are believed to have been present Sikh Temple Makindu was built in 1926, though its roots are believed to have been present way before then. When the Uganda Railway was completed in 1902 at Port Florence (which is now Kisumu, Kenya), Makindu played a prominent role as a service point on the railway’s advance from Mombasa. Dozens of artisans and train drivers were Sikhs and the station at Makindu became a place of religious fervor. Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims would gather together in the evenings and sing the praises of God. They did so under a tree, the spot where the current Gurudwara now stands. It is also believed that the Gurudwara was funded by non-Sikhs along with Sikhs. In the years before 1926, the Gurudwara was a tin-roof little hut where the Sikhs used to pray every day, and the Guru Guru Granth Sahib was housed there. But when the Railway moved on from Makindu, the service point went into disuse and became unimportant. The Sikhs naturally moved along too, leaving the tiny Gurudwara behind, under the watchful eye of an African servant who would clean the Gurudwara. Sikh devotees who passed along the Gurudwara would leave offerings of money by dropping it through the locked Gurudwara’s window.