Into That Heaven of Freedom: The Impact of Apartheid on an Indian Family’s Diasporic History

This book captures the history of the South African Ismaili families and some of the people among whom they lived from 1894, when the first Ismaili, Jeevan Keshavjee, left Kathiawad (Gujarat) and arrived in South Africa, up to 1994, when the country attained its multiparty democracy following the release of Nelson Mandela. It covers the growth of the greater family, and its dispersal first to Kenya, then to Canada, the UK, Portugal, the US, and elsewhere, and its many successes. It covers apartheid in South Africa and the family’s contributions to the struggles against it; the colonial and postcolonial periods during which the family flourished in Africa; and finally the diasporic reality in which we find ourselves today.

With 60 historical photographs, a family tree, and a facsimile of Mahatma Gandhi’s letter to Velshi Keshavjee in 1938, this unique account is not only a multigenerational family history but also a history of the Asians of Africa over a hundred years. It’s an account of a legacy to bequeath to the generations to come.