My name is Parshotam and I was born and brought up in Kenya, Africa. I still have my home there where I visit twice a year before the lockdown. I love a clean green area as this is how I grew up to value the nature things around us. 

I heard stories by my ancestor that when the British brought the Indian people to build the railways in Africa in the late 18th Century that the Indian people brought with them their local produce food. Initially the workers from India thought they were only going for a short time and as time went by it was for long time.

These workers needed accommodation to live and they were given houses to build and to live in. One of the values the Indian people from India had was that when you build your house that you also plant fruit trees as they bear food for you to eat. The workers brought with them jamun berry, sugar cane and mango trees.


As time went on and the fruit trees growing and were now bearing some fruit that there were some outlaw who decided to steal the fruit. As their punishment they were sent to an area where no one been before or returned in one peace. However, they grew jamun, sugar cane and mangos to survive.


The reason I remember this story is that it is very sentimental story to teach me the origin of such fruit how it came about why its growing in Africa all the way from its origin in India. I also feel there is lot to learn about food and its value for us all. My experience is that food is a blessing which brings us all together.

Today in Africa the place that was no go area has sugar cane factories, berries, mangos expending in their number. It is not only for the need of the few who were sent there due to being punished for stealing but for the needs of the people in the wide world.