Donald William Ebrahim

Donald William Ebrahim (“Don” or “Don Willy”) was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He was one of six children of Florrie, a “Cape Coloured,” and Mohamed Cassim Ebrahim, an Indian businessman, who had migrated from India in 1899. Florrie was a devout Christian, who brought her six children up in this faith. Don became a deeply religious boy, but he decided on medicine rather than the priesthood, enrolling in University of Cape Town medical school in 1948, the year apartheid started. The family decided that he should go to the UK to complete his training, and to return as the first Cape Coloured doctor to provide services to District 6, an inner city area of Cape Town.

After qualifying from Sheffield University Medical School in 1952, he married Marjorie Evans, a nurse, and they had their first child—Shah, followed in rapid succession by Rustum, …