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Part IV. Rise and Glory
of time. The only community who absolutely refused to participate and did not donate any money in this time of need of their own people was the Oshwal community of Mombasa. The reason was not because they were financially not well off, but because of strained relations with the Nairobi community concerning the Mombasa mahajanwadi. Thus they brought shame on themselves. This was the first time the community was able to provide relief to their motherland Halar. Before that they always had to depend on others. This marked the beginning of the integration of different Oshwal settlements in Kenya.
Millet is a staple diet for the people of the Oshwal community back in Halar. In that year there was a good yield from the millet crop in Kenya, with a surplus. For immediate relief a decision was made to ship millet to Halar. Even though there were strict export regulations, knowing the situation the government officers gave permission and millet was shipped to Halar. It was distributed to all the needy families.
For financial aid and long term relief a special committee was formed in Jamnagar. The committee members visited all the villages in Halar and talked to the leader of each village and asked each one of them to make lists of people in need of help and the amount of financial help they needed. According to the list money and other necessities were distributed to the needy families. Because of timely relief the people were able to face the disaster without much loss. The Halari people were thus spared from starvation, financial loss and further loss of domestic animals.
