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Chapter 24. Nairobi
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beginning of the year it was completed in a year's time at the expense of 225000 shillings.
The religious discourses of Yati Shri Hemchandraji also inspired the women-folk. With his encouragement and blessings the women formed their own separate organization in 1946 A.D. called Oshwal Mahila Mandal. The entire community gave them wholehearted support. They started many social and religious activities and made tremendous progress.
In 1956 A.D. a population census of the community in Nairobi was undertaken. The final count was 6270.
Boys' Boarding House in Nairobi: In East Africa the opportunities for education were much better than in India. The Government provided education. There were elementary schools almost every village; however high schools were available only in big towns like Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Da-re-salaam, Kampala and Jinja. Therefore students living in smaller places had to move to one of these towns to pursue high school education. There were a few facilities provided by other communities but during the Second World War they were closed down because of financial burdens. Some students were able to stay with relatives. For a large number of students there was no place to go. The Board, to alleviate these problems, was able to rent a property owned by Shradhanand Brahamachariya Ashram in Nairobi and started a boarding house for boys on July 1, 1943 with 20 students.
As more and more students were applying, the rented place was not big enough to accept all. In 1945 A.D., during a conference in Mombasa, students of Nairobi Boarding House gave a display of gymnastics. Everyone was amazed and impressed by the skill the students had demonstrated. They all unanimously passed a resolution to build an independent, bigger boarding house for the
