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Book Reviews - Sikhs In Latin America P - 12345678910111213141516171819
 

Chapter 4 is titled 'Sikhs in Belize'. The original name of Belize was British Honduras. It was a British colony like India but Sikhs when offered immigration to this colony by Canada, they refused. The author describes the success story of a Sikh migrant, Bawa Singh Mann, who came to Belize in the early 1930s. His son George Singh rose to the coveted position of Chief Justice of Belize in 1998. Some of the new young immigrants to Belize are using it as a transit point to migrate to North America. Immigration agents in Punjab and Delhi send young students to Belize using fraudulent tricks, assuring them admissions in non-existent Belize University.

In Chapter 5, 'Sikhs in Bolivia', the author relates some case studies and interviews with Sikh migrants. The reason for Sikh migration to Bolivia is the passion for owning farmland at a dirt cheap price of $30 per hectare. During the 1980s, Sikhs built a Gurdwara 30 km from Santa Cruz. The author records interviews of Amarjit Singh Virdi and Santwant Singh Sandhu, who arrived in Bolivia for agricultural farming. The author laments that an enterprise by adventurous Sikhs failed, causing misery because of lack of professionalism, in-fighting, back-biting, and downright meanness in times of adversity. However, the author also interviewed Gisela (Sham Kaur), who offered a ray of hope for the Sikh Dharma to flourish in Bolivia. The followers of Yogi Bhajan are setting up yoga centers and Gurdwaras in Latin America to promote Sikhism among the local people.

Chapter 6 is devoted to 'Sikhs in Brazil'. It is one of the biggest countries in the world with vast untapped resources. However, the author feels that Sikh presence in Brazil is indeed insignificant, and only a few Sikhs have struck permanent roots in Brazil. The only highlight of this chapter is the moving story of Subagh Kaur Khalsa and her husband, Gursewak Singh Khalsa, who endured all kinds of hardships to set up a Gurdwara in Sao Paulo in Brazil.

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