DHASOL - The Beginning

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It was usual until the mid sixties for Indians to come to the UK for further education and upon conclusion of their studies the majority would return to their native countries.
However many of the African countries from which they had come had gained independence during early 1960s and had started to adopt polices of ‘Africanisation’ to suit local politics. This situation created a climate of uncertainty for non ethnic citizens and meant that prospects of finding suitable employment etc. upon return to the country of origin were now poorer and therefore many already here decided to seek permanent settlement in the UK where prospects appeared more clear and certain.

At the same time Indians already in these countries had begun to feel less secure in their current jobs and many were exploring alternative prospects elsewhere. Thus initial influx of Indians from Kenya for permanent settlement had begun during mid sixties as local political and economic situation did not offer reasonable long term prosperity for families.

An initial trickle of immigration mainly from Kenya accelerated in 1968 following rumours of imminent changes in the UK immigration policy towards Overseas British passport holders. The 1968 sudden influx from Kenya was proclaimed as an “Exodus” of immigrants and this had come about to beat threatened changes in classification of UK passport holders so as to deny these pass port holders an automatic right of entry to the UK.

It was customary in those days for just the head of family to arrive first and establish footings, secure employment and accommodation etc. before calling over rest of the family. The majority of these initial migrants accepted whatever jobs that were offered to them and were typically restricted to blue collar employments. A new arrival would normally stay with friends / relatives who would also help in finding employment and accommodation. At the weekends they would look forward to socialising with friends who would congregate at a particular friend’s place.

The Formation:
One such group of friends established in South London happened to contain more persons of Dharmaj origins, who discussed ideas of setting up a social organisation for the benefit of these people. Some of the migrants from Kenya had already experienced benefits of one such well organised Dharmaj Samaj, back home in Nairobi and wished to replicate a similar organisation here in London so as to allow much needed regular socialising that ought to benefit new comers.

I believe that key roles in setting up Dharmaj Society of London (DHASOL) was played by two dedicated personalities of Late Dinubhai Ambalal Patel and Late Bhaskarbhai Rambhai Patel, Dinubhai had the knowledge and contact with members from Kenya and Bhaskarbhai was the one with UK professional qualification and requisite managerial skills.

The initial meetings for the formation took place at Spencer Road, London SW20 which was Bhaskarbhai’s residence where all the rules and regulations were discussed and adopted.

Growth:
The group expanded and included Manubhai Chunibhai Patel who had recently arrived from Kenya and was one of the more experienced organisers from Kenyan Dharmaj Samaj, Late Shantibhai M Patel & Late Shushilaben Shantibhai Patel, Late Maganbhai Purshottamdas Patel & Chandramaniben Maganbhai, Pranjivanbhai Khushalbhai Patel & Kapilaben Pranjivanbhai Patel, Late Pramodbhai Ambalal Patel & Bhanuben Pramodbhai, Late Jashbhai Prabhudas Patel & Shardaben Jashbhai Patel, Bhaskerbhai Manubhai Patel & Jyostnaben Bhaskerbhai Patel, Late Manilal Maganbhai Patel. Kantibhai Gordhanbhai Patel etc.

Then in early 1970’s late Hariprasad Chunibhai Patel arrived in London and brought with him a wealth of inner knowledge on how the Society worked in Kenya under his command. His arrival provided further zest and enthusiasm to DHASOL and he remained active with the Society until his sad death a few years ago.

The arrival of Manaharbhai Hirabhai Patel on the scene in 1980s signaled a transformation in the Society’s progress. He has enhanced the spirit of family unit into the committee and by inspiring self help in organising events; he has cut down costs in running of the Society.

The Society was set up on membership structure with initial annual membership fee set at one guinea or 21 shillings which equates to £1.05 in today’s terms. The initial functions for members were mainly organised on Sunday afternoons at local church hall on Beechcroft Road, SW17. These functions provided a platform for the members to meet and greet and form a social net work group. In order to raise funds to meet costs for these functions, raffles were organised and surplus food was auctioned towards the end of gatherings.

Presidents:
--> Manubhai Chunibhai Patel(First President)
--> Late Manilal M Patel
--> Late Dhayabhai Mathurbhai Patel
--> Late Kantibhai Khodabhai
--> Dinubhai Ambalal Patel
--> Chandubhai R Patel
--> Ranchhodbhai A Patel
--> Late Bhaskarbhai Rambhai Patel
--> Late Hariprasad Chunibhai Patel
--> Kanubhai Chhotabhai Patel
--> Narendrabhai N Patel
--> Shashikant Aditbhai Patel
--> Bhaskerbhai Manubhai Patel
--> Dhayabhai Jashbhai Patel
--> Bhupenrabhai Ambalal Patel
--> Mukundbhai Rambhai Shivabhai Patel(Current President)

Treasurers:
--> Chandubhai M Patel
--> Kantibhai Gordhanbhai Patel
--> Mukundbhai Rambhai Patel
--> Late Jagdishbhai Rambhai Patel
--> Bindeshbhai V Patel(Current Treasurer)

Secretaries:
--> Bhaskarbhai R Patel
--> Late Pranjivanbhai K Patel
--> Bhupendrabhai A. Patel
--> Anilbhai B Patel
--> Tarlikaben Nileshbhai Patel(Current Secretary)

Our Society was never designed to be closed shop for ‘Dharmajwasis’ and for the beginning we accepted membership for special guests like that of one such family was Late Bipinbhai Raojibhai Patel & Sumitraben Bipinbhai Patel of Ramol gam. They were always keen and willing volunteers for help in many ways and also attended most of our early functions.

The Society was operated with very limited resources and communication was not to the standard as taken for granted today where all new migrants possess a mobile telephone instrument and lot more. The initial assets acquired by the Society were a typewriter, cyclostyle machine (copier) and a music centre.

The seventies saw larger influx of Indians especially following the extreme policies of Ugandan dictator and membership continued to grow. The Society began to hold events at larger venues such as Wandsworth, Battersea, Brent and Hammersmith Towns Halls.

In early days it was customary for the ladies to share the burden of cooking and everyone willingly participated in serving the needs of members. The Society had acquired set of suitable utensils for cooking for larger gatherings and these were hired to members for reasonable rates to meet a particular requirement for our community.

As the Society was firmly established and members were beginning to get their roots well fixed into their new found home and feeling benefits of hard work it was now possible to change the direction of our objectives towards worthy causes for Dharmaj and elsewhere. Thus collections were made for establishment of institutions such as HM Patel English Medium School, TB Hospital and Cancer Hospital.

Our collections for emergency relief and for charitable causes all over the world have continued, some of the examples of our charitable work are as follows:

Year	Name	Amount
1978	Flood Relief India	£299
1978	Fujivala TB Hospital, Dharmaj	£1,410
1991	Shree Jalaram Eye Hospital, Dharmaj	£800
1992	Shree Swaminarayan Temple, London	£201
1993	Sanatan Mandir, Preston	£151
1992	Nadiad Heart Hospital, Nadiad	£500
1993	Indian Floods relief: fund raised	£ 1,800
1995	Lord Mayor’s Charity Fund, Wandsworth	£151
1999	Shree Sanatan Mandir, Ealing Road	£25,001
1999	Tulsi Vivah, Shree Sanatan Mandir, Ealing Road, in association with Karamsad Gham, managed to raise over	£25,000
2000	Gujarat Draught Relief	£351
2001	Gujarat earthquake: raised some £35,000 and funded reconstruction of FIVE schools damaged at Ghadhidham, Kutch	£35,000
2001	Lord Mayor’s Charity Fund, Brent	£501
2002	Shree Sardar Patel Bronze Bust	£501
2003-04	Bio Technical Laboratory	£1,300
2003-04	Finance 100% Construction of Sharda Maternity Hospital at Dharmaj	£215,000
2004-05	Finance 100% Construction of Doctors & Nurses apartments at above	-
2004-05	Tsunami Relief fund: Dinner & Dance arranged by Nemesh & Nishit Patel in association with DHASOL during January 2005 raising £25,000 and donated this to the Disaster Emergency Committee in aid of Tsunami victims	£25,000
2004	Support Group for Victims of Crime (Harrow)	£251
2004	Disabled Self help Charity, Ahmedabad	£1200
2005	Nower Hill High School, Pinner: picnic benches sponsored at cost of	£1,099.80
2005-06	Mineral Water Project in Dharmaj	£45,000
2006	Diabetes UK	£501
2006	British Heart Foundation	£501
2006-07	Assist in construction of Orphanage at Virsad	£2,946
2006-07	Food parcels for Gujarat flood relief	£2,256
2007	Cancer Research UK Relay for Life – raised £2,072 – DHASOL Youth	£2,072

Our most recent and most prestigious fully DHASOL funded and initiated projects so far have been:

• Sharda Maternity and General Hospital (SMGH)
  Facilities initially planned as maternity hospital opened on 25 January 2004 in Dharmaj. Entire funding, planning and constructed at the cost of some £215,000, and is now being used as a general hospital offering state of the art facilities. The quality of facilities has been praised and appreciated and widely reported by Indian national press and was feature of international bulletin of leading Indian satellite news channel. The facilities have also been recognised by Central government and international dignitaries have visited and praised the hospital.
  
  
• Further facilities to accommodate hospital doctors and nurses were added in subsequent year
  
  
• Inspired by DHASOL’s success at SMGH, London based DHASOL member funded construction and furnishing of a Polio clinic at the complex that was completed during 2005.
  
  
• Water bottling plant
  Costing £45,000 opened in January 2007. The primary objective of this project is to create employment and business opportunities for local and surrounding district residents.
  

DHASOL is a registered charity and continues to organise following types of events in order to further our principal objectives:

Events

• --> Annual Day – update members and provide facilities to meet and greet families, provide light entertainment, discourse of health and socio matters.
  
• --> Navratri Festival - Nine/ten days of Traditional Garba
• --> Dinner & dance, musical evenings
• --> Cricket team matches in summer season
• --> Youth integration events
• --> Summer barbecues and outings
• --> Ladies Group – recreation, health matters
• --> Theatre plays
• --> Matrimonial introductions
• --> Fund raising and updating meeting
• --> Activities in association with affiliated organisations