This section is dedicated to the recording and sharing of the history of the Fordsburg community and its surrounds. Fordsburg.Com believes it is vital that local history is documented and preserved so as to enable a better understanding of the transformation that a community undergoes and to appreciate how a shared cultural identity emerges ....and morphs through the ages. Moreover, we believe an appreciation of our past and our heritage will fulfil a need of historical continuity and will allow the youth the potential to reconstruct their ancestors lives i.e. the struggles they fought, the causes they celebrated etc. Hopefully then, we will begin to imbibe our elders indefatigable spirit.
Apart from a few books like "The Golden City" by Enver Carim and "Fietas - A Social History of Pageview: 1948-1988" by Nazir Carrim there is a dearth of documented information about Fordsburg both pictorially and textually...and yet it is town filled with memories of heroes like Babla Saloojee, Haroon Patel, Srish Nanabhai, Amien Cajee and our present day Mosie Moola to mention but a few.
Exemplary sportsmen of the sort like Sampie Essa( captain of Dynamo’s)and Tobie Hathia along with cricketers like Tiffie Barnes, Amien Variawa were all Fordsburgers.
Standing L-R: H.Ismail,S.Essack, R.Mohammed, A.Sujee, F.Valley, I.Moosa, A.Moolla, E.Mohamed, M.A.Nosarka, H.Coovadia, A.S.Essack. Sitting L-R: Z.Sallojee, I.Moosa, H.Adams. S.Moosa, Y.Moosa,R.Limbada
Cultural artistes like Little Cas and the Hootchie Cootchies, Faizel and the 5 Pencils - they all deserve their place in Fordsburg’s Hall of Fame.
And let’s not forget the other many ‘colourful’ personalities who also hold their place in the history of Fordsburg for e.g. Goolam Gangat, Sheriff Khan, Junior Adam, Dan September to name but a few - whether you detested (or cheered) their modus operands, vignettes of these characters are vital to understanding the psyche of Fordsburg.
Places like the Red Square; Avalon, Lyric and Majestic Cinema; the Ches Gaye; the famous Flat No.14 in Kholvad House along with the present veritable landmarks in Fordsburg i.e. Solly’s Corner and Kentucky are important historical locations where kaleidoscopic lives were weaved.
We thus invite you to share your stories or photo’s with us so that where we can begin building a storehouse of Fordsburg’s gems. Send an email to fatima@fordsburg.com with your details or photographs you wish to share. We can also arrange to collect photo’s if you wish for us to scan for publication on the site.
If you would prefer to have your story recorded or know of someone who you think we should be interviewing, please contact us and we will arrange for a reporter to conduct the interview.
As the elders in our community are the best sources of historical information, we appeal to users to encourage the older members of their families to share their memories. Should you wish to proceed with interviewing them yourselves, we alert you to some helpful sites that may enhance the interviewing process.
Go to:
http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/aging/gg0008.htm#elderly
http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html#GUIDELINES |
