# Conclusion  
The enslaved African children of diverse ethnicities forged relationships with their peers on their march to the coast, as well as on board the slavetrading dhows. These relationships were strengthened upon liberation by other liberated African crewmen, who certainly served as positive role models. But it was in India, linked by an African origin and shared experiences, that these young people developed a sense of community and a vision of being free Africans without ethnic barriers. The role of Bombay Africans as crewmen and expedition leaders is a testament to their self-empowerment, expressions of leadership and desire to remain free. The majority became Christians, including all of those who went through the Nasik and other Indian orphanages. The story of the return to Freretown of literate, skilled, adult Africans from Bombay Presidency between 1868 and 1885 is similar to that of the Sierra Leone Creoles (or Krio) of Freetown between 1787 and 1885. The relatively short period spent in India, which amounted to about two decades for the original Bombay Africans, in addition to their relatively small numbers, adoption of Kiswahili, eagerness to intermarry with other formerly enslaved people under their tutelage and rapid dispersal in Africa were all factors that aided their assimilation into mainstream colonial eastern Africa. This is what sets them apart from the Sierra Leone Creoles or the Americo-Liberians of Liberia, who remain politically, economically and culturally separate. Despite the small size of the community, their pan-African vision and influence in the social and political development  
of Kenya extended beyond the Freretown and Rabai settlements in Kenya, and beyond the realms of church and education, to cover much of eastern Africa.