Family History

My Family and our history.

My Family

My Grandfather was originally from Kodki and moved to Sukhpur in the 1940s. Our original house in Kodki was shared between our Siyani family and was later sold by my Grandmother in 1980s, we are known by the name Rabari. This may be due to the fact that my grandmother’s dad used to transport Rabaries around or the fact that my original Gaam, Kodki, is full of Rabaries.

Supported by my Fua (late Lalj Keri), we moved from Kenya (Nakuru) to the United Kingdom (Cardiff) in 1969. At that time there were very few Kutch families in Cardiff for support. The whole family (six of us) occupied a single room which we rented from a Gujarati family, the room contained a double bunk bed which the four children, including myself use to occupy, as well as a double bed which my parents used. Life was pretty tough in those days as the bathroom and toilets were outside, and all we had was a single smoky paraffin heater between us, everything was rationed and simple things such as having a warm bath was seen as a luxury. The conditions weren’t ideal but our family were just happy to be in a country that was thriving in comparison to Kenya which was on a downward scale.

After a year we purchased a four bedroom house in Lower Cathedral Rd. In the early days this house provided an initial place to stay for those Kutch families who had migrated from abroad. At times we had up to six families living under one roof, privacy was non-existent but despite these problems at least we had each other to fall back upon for advice, every family was making the same journey as us so we were never alone.

My Family

The Family: (From left to right) Mohan, Vishram, Devshi, Dinesh, Sunder, Rama, Baa, Haku

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My Family

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My Family

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