The scarcity of Afro-Asian voices and their disenfranchised status had led to the assumption that diasporic consciousness was lacking. But field research is breaking down this assumption. A desire to connect with kith and kin, whose exact whereabouts are not known, is prevalent. For example, the Sidis in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, who learned of Nelson Mandela's visit to India from television, were too late to meet him in person but they wrote to the  
President. They received an acknowledgement from Mandela's office. The Sidi leader of the Sidi Development Project (SDP) rejoiced:  
Look this was the first time we Siddis contacted another African in Africa and the President came to know about our existence. By now he has forgotten about us but at least it is registered in his office that we Siddis in India exist and that we contacted him [...] (Camara, 2004, p. 110).