Reuniting the class of far, far away

Grads of Tanzanian high school hold Toronto gathering

By Andy Georgiades
Toronto Star Staff Reporter

Zahir Dhalla and hundreds of other graduates will be getting together this weekend for a high school reunion.

While it promises to be the usual nostalgia-filled weekend - complete with a gala dinner at the Princee Hotel Saturday and a picnic Sunday at Taylor Creek Park - this is a reunion with a difference.

The graduates all attended Karimjee Secondary School in Tanga, Tanzania, thousands of kilometres from Toronto. And they all fled their homeland during the 1960s and '70s, when nationalist tensions in east Africa spurred revolutions and political turmoil.
 

``Up to 1971, my impression of Canada was that it was a place where only lumberjacks lived and everybody carried an axe and in the morning they went and cut trees,'' said Dhalla, 49.

But the political troubles prompted him to read up on Canada's history and geography. After that, he was hooked.

In December, 1973, after graduating with an engineering degree from the University of East Africa in Nairobi, Dhalla arrived in Toronto with his former Karimjee high school sweetheart - now wife - Yasmin. They've lived here ever since.

He wasn't the only one. At least 200 Karimjee alumni now live in Toronto and southern Ontario. This weekend, they'll be joined by 100 other graduates, and their spouses, who are flying in from around the world for the celebration.

They all left Tanzania during a period of chaos and transition, a time that saw the end of colonialism and the beginning of independence.

For many African countries, including Tanzania, which was formed in October, 1964, the transition set off violent uprisings and swings in the power structure.

Then, in 1971, Idi Amin grabbed power in neighbouring Uganda. Within a year, he began expelling Asians.

``I don't know what other people thought, but my thinking was like this,'' explained Dhalla. ``It has happened in Uganda. Will it happen in Tanzania? I'm not going to stick around and find out.''

Most of the students at Karimjee were of Asian origin.

Many countries, including Canada, opened their doors in response to the people's plight. Pierre Trudeau, who was prime minister at the time, accepted 6,000 refugees from Uganda.

`It's a fantastic opportunity to see all my old schoolmates'

Aladin (Al) Mawani, 47, part of the reunion's organizing committee, says socialist ideology began to dominate people's thinking.

``Free enterprise was being discouraged, socialism was in. Many Asians, who were in business and industry, felt uncomfortable with those changes, so there was a bit of a migration.''

Mahendra Shah, 50, was first attracted to Canada ``with the hoopla of Expo 67, the centennial year.''

Shah, who graduated high school in 1965, first went to England, then came to Canada to study mathematics and physics at the University of Toronto. He now works as a chartered accountant with the Bank of Nova Scotia.

Although most of the graduates live in southern Ontario, many will make the trip from western Canada, the United States and as far away as Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

``It's a fantastic opportunity to see all my old schoolmates,'' said Hassan Ebrahim, 56, who will travel with his wife, Soraiya, and son, Azim, from Italy for the reunion.

He worked in Toronto for six years in the 1970s, and his parents moved here from Tanga about a year ago. ``So I wanted to go and see them. It all happened by coincidence.''

Dhalla - class of '69 - felt an overwhelming need to catch up with alumni outside of the group he regularly associates with. And he quickly discovered he wasn't the only one. Once plans started falling into place, he says, the project became self-propelling.

For Mawani, who graduated from Karimjee in 1968, what makes the event unique is that it can take place thousands of kilometres away from Tanga and still have such a large attendance.

``So it started out from there, a need to get together and celebrate what we received from the school,'' he said.

``We want to pay tribute to the school that gave us such a great start, both in the education we received and the careers we've gone on to so far away.''

Mawani is a senior vice-president and chief financial officer of Oxford Properties Group Inc., a real estate company. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of East Africa in Dar Es Salaam, became a chartered accountant in England and completed his MBA at the University of Toronto in 1988.

`We want to pay tribute to the school that gave us such a great start'

Though word of mouth was crucial, he says many graduates also stumbled across the Web site (http://www.globalserve.net/~zdhalla/karimjee.shtml), which Dhalla created. And more continue to register there each day.

``We received messages from all over encouraging us. Tons of people wrote back saying, `By the way, I'm here, and count me in.' ''

Dhalla estimates most of the attendees graduated between 30 and 40 years ago.

Built in 1956, the school is still open today but operating under the more ``nationalist'' name of Usagara Secondary School.

Bill Gingrich, who taught math in Tanga in 1966-'68 while with the U.S. Peace Corps, is one of six former teachers slated to attend the reunion.

``I had no car, no TV, but it didn't matter,'' he said of his experience. ``It was really quite an interesting time.''

Added Dhalla, ``Whenever we reminisce, whether through E-mail or personally, sooner or later it comes down to the things we did in the school. It's the glue which binds us together.''