AN IMMIGRANT IN ANOTHER COUNTRY

By MUNIRA BISMILLA

Miriam Bismilla was born on June 14, 1915, in Dabhel, Gujarat, India. She was the eldest child of Mohammed and Amina.

Mohammed left his wife and baby in India and returned to South Africa to prepare a home for the family. Conditions were harsh in the new country and it took a long time for mother and child to reunite with Mohammed.

Miriam was four years old when she and her mom were reunited with Mohammed in Durban in 1919. They travelled home to Potchefstroom in the then province of Transvaal where Mohammed had started a business, initially as a hawker and later as a small shopkeeper.

“I remember the knee-high boots with pretty buttons my Bawa brought for me when he came to fetch us in Durban,” Miriam reminisced for decades later. “I wore them every day and I was very sad when they became too small.”

In the tin structure that was their first home, the family made do with whatever little they could eke out. Amina’s family in India was very poor and she was accustomed to a hard life so she continued the struggle in her adopted country. She discarded the purdah and went to work in the humble store that her husband had set up and as a result Miriam had to leave school to help with household chores at an early age.

“I enjoyed going to school but education was a luxury my parents could not afford, so I had to leave school after grade 4 and help at home, in the shop, and look after my siblings who were born one after the other,” Miriam said.

At the tender age of 8, her marriage was arranged to Ebrahim, a distant relative. That was the norm at the time and Miriam had no say in the matter. She remembered being dressed in fine clothes and girls teasing her when she returned to school the following day.

“They teased me, saying, ‘You are going to marry that fat boy’. I had no idea that I was engaged because nobody had explained anything to me”, she told us children, but added that she had grown to love our father who was a chubby fellow in his young days.

The were married when Miriam was 18 and Ebrahim 19 in 1933. They lived with Ebrahim’s parents, but his father set them up in a shop after approaching a Jewish wholesaler to assist Ebrahim with a 30-day credit facility to start off a business. Miriam worked in the shop with her husband from day one, even when she was pregnant, with her six children. There were good years and bad years when the Second World War broke out in 1939. But their hard work yielded good results.

Miriam had three daughters and two sons between 1935 and 1945 but in 1949, the young family were struck by a monumental tragedy when five-year old Anver was hit by a truck and passed away. Miriam was only 34 at the time. The tragedy brought her closer to God and she started studying the Quran in English. Three years later she was blessed with a baby girl.

In 1973, Miriam and her husband emigrated to Ireland where their son was living and their daughter studying. She passed away in 1987 in Dublin.

My name is Munira Bismillla and I am Miriam’s daughter.

My mum had a profound influence on my life. She inspired me to be a better human being, to respect all humans, animals and nature because we are all God’s creation. I have tried, but am not sure if I succeeded.

I was born in South Africa and studied journalism in Dublin, Ireland. I returned home after qualifying and worked for a Johannesburg-based newspaper, Post Transvaal. That was in 1978, during Apartheid. Our paper was banned by the racist government because of the Post’s opposition. We later started the Sowetan where I worked. I am married, have two sons and four grandchildren. I am retired and live in Johannesburg.

My mother instilled generosity, humility and positivity in all her children and her older grandchildren too. 

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