Jain Spirit 2003 03 No 14

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 21

A RARE GEM
MRS. MANIBEN MEGHJI PETHRAJ SHAH - 18/4/1914-21/1/03
With the death of Mrs. Maniben Meghji Pethraj Shah in London at the age of eighty-eight, Jains and Gujaratis from East Africa, UK and India, have lost a wealth of wisdom, humility and simplicity which touched the lives of thousands of people.
The wife of the eminent educator, businessman and philanthropist, Mr. Meghji Pethraj Shah, Maniben was a unique backbone to the success of the family earlier in East Africa and then later in the United Kingdom. Very few East African Jains would not have been touched by the impact of this family on their lives - whether through education, medical care, banking or community welfare. I was educated at the Maniben Meghjibhai Shah Primary School in Mombasa, which was to produce a large array of students who were to raise themselves and their community to unique professional and business heights over the coming years. This was not an exception but a rule of the family's impact in India, East Africa and UK, with their widespread philanthropy and generosity. Both Maniben and Meghjibhai devoted a considerable part of their time, energy and money on charitable projects in India, Africa and the UK. Education and medicine were dear to their hearts, and received the greatest benefits. Institutions endowed by them include colleges, hospitals, schools, libraries, hostels, old peoples homes and orphanages.
Born near Jamnagar in India, she was married to Meghjibhai at the tender age of seventeen. Meghjibhai was a school teacher from Dabasangh near Jamnagar, who emigrated to Kenya in 1919. Through sheer will and hard work and a deep wisdom, Meghjibhai established several businesses which were to flourish greatly. Today there are a large number of such successful businessmen in the community, but Meghjibhai was by far their early pioneer and role model. Behind every great man is a great woman, and Maniben was a rare gem who constantly encouraged Meghjibhai and raised the large family.
The story was not all rosy - the biggest blow of all, being the sudden death of Meghjibhai in London in July 1964. Maniben became a widow at the age of forty-nine, and became the main tower of strength for the family for the next thirty-eight years, raising her family of five daughters and two sons and many grand-children and great grandchildren. Women have played a unique role in the Gujarati Asian community in East Africa and in Britain. Often playing the role of mother and house-wife, they were a source of deep inner strength and resilience for their husbands and children, giving them the ability to adapt to different environments and succeed economically. They
were reservoirs of patience, love and simplicity, rarely losing their confidence despite the hardships of raising families in foreign lands. They overcame their personal hardships through mutual support and encouragement and inner stamina and persistence.
When Maniben came to the UK in 1957, she was one of the first of the generation of East African migrants, and despite knowing little English, she raised her family, dying in the same house in Golders Green which they bought when they arrived here. Meghjibhai's sons Vipin and Anant started the Meghraj Bank, one of the first Asian banks in this country, which was to grow into a premier financial institution in London. They continued the legacy of their father by pursuing business ethically, providing quality service with the utmost respect and humility. The bank was an invaluable resource to the early Gujarati Asians in this country who had great energy and enterprise, but found barriers in raising finance for their growing businesses. Meghraj understood their needs and was able to take an interest in these enterprises at an early stage. It was this support which enabled many of them to flourish into the mature organisations that they are today.
With the death of Maniben, the East African community has lost a rare role model. Over the next ten years, most of the early pioneers of East Africa will undergo a similar fate through ageing, and the entire community will lose these unique cultural reservoirs. Maniben was very proud of her Jain roots, regularly practicing the Samayik, which gave her inner peace and strength, and enabled her to stay in touch with her Indian roots. The new generation of Jains in this country know very little about this meditation and its practice, and are losing touch with their Jain roots very fast. All this has happened in a very short span of time - no less than forty years. The Jain culture and values are very helpful keys to survival for the community in a changing world and the basic threads to their tradition and identity. The family continues to promote education and culture in this country to this day in every which way.
Atul K. Shah.
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Jain Spirit . March - May 2003