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Exhibition to mark 50 years since Ugandan Asians resettled in York

Posted on 6 October 2022

The University of York is hosting an event to mark 50 years since the arrival of Ugandan Asians to the City after they were expelled from their homeland by dictator Idi Amin.

Homes that once belonged to Ugandan Asians in Jinja, Uganda. Image credit: Ashit Desai via Flickr

The event, taking place on Saturday 8 October, features an exhibition telling the story of how in August 1972,  Idi Amin, the leader of Uganda, expelled people of Asian descent from the country. 

Considered one of the most brutal military dictators to wield power in post-independence Africa, Amin accused the Asian community of disloyalty and taking opportunities from black Africans, giving them 90 days to leave. 

This triggered the displacement of nearly 80,000 Ugandan Asians, who sought refuge in countries all over the world, with just over 28,000 settling in Britain. 

Insights

Through personal artefacts, photographs and testimonials, the exhibition offers insights into life for Uganda’s Asian community before the expulsion, the terrible events of 1972 and their experiences of starting new lives in the UK. 

Around 45 families resettled in York and the University convened a Resettlement Steering Committee to support the arrival of refugees in the City.

Clippings from the York Evening Press, which will feature in the exhibition, document the reaction of the City and its residents. 

Welcome

While there was some concern over the new arrivals getting priority for housing, the clippings record City residents, including University of York students, volunteering to help welcome them. They also report on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s efforts to provide accommodation for families, City of York Council’s call for local businesses to provide employment and collections of clothes and blankets that took place across the City. 

The Archbishop of York, Dr Donald Coggan, also gave a family with a six-week old baby a home at his palace, provoking a furious reaction from the MP Enoch Powell.

Highlight

Organiser of the exhibition, Shamim Eimann came to Britain from Uganda as a six year-old refugee. 

Shamim said: “For me, the personal artefacts are the highlight of the exhibition. Members of the York Ugandan Asian community have donated things like old Ugandan passports, cherished black and white photographs, childhood toys and cooking utensils. These are among the few things they managed to bring with them 50 years ago when they were forced to leave almost everything behind. 

“This event will commemorate the events of 1972 as well as celebrate Ugandan Asian culture. It will showcase the resilience and resourcefulness of our community as we established new lives in York and other cities around the UK and remember the kindness we experienced from strangers.”

Trauma

The exhibition will feature Shamim’s personal account of fleeing Uganda. She has a hazy memory of the experience, something she attributes to the trauma of events in August 1972. 

She remembers gunshots, soldiers banging on the door of their house and her mother shouting for the girls to hide under the bed. 

Shamim’s father, a successful business man in Uganda, drove his wife and their ten children to the airport to catch a flight that would see them evacuated to the UK. Shamim’s brother has since told her how her father was ordered to leave the car to be searched at gunpoint while the children cried.

Baked Beans

Once in the UK, Shamim and her family were initially housed in a former World War Two Army base at Dartmoor.

“We were given English food and I have a vivid memory of the shock the first time I tried baked beans”, she laughs. “I also remember finding a pair of shiny black shoes with buckles in a big bag of donated clothes we had been given and just thinking they were the absolute business!”

Tickets for the Uganda 50 event are essential and are available here. The exhibition will be on display for three weeks after the event (Monday 10 to Friday 28 October, 2022) in the Spring Lane Building. The building is open and accessible to the public from 9am-9pm Monday to Friday. 

The event, which will also include a buffet of traditional food and the showing of a documentary, is supported by the University of York, City of York Council, Two Ridings Community Foundation, York Health and Care Partnership, Dunlop Heywood, and City of York Council’s Our City Hub. 

Resilience

Dr Wayne Campbell, Academic Registrar at the University of York, said: “We are honoured to be hosting this event at the University. It marks the horrific events of 1972 in Uganda, and the remarkable resilience of the Ugandan Asian community as they rebuilt their lives and made an invaluable contribution to life here in York.  

“As a City and University of Sanctuary we are resolutely committed to being a welcoming place of safety for all, and are proud of our long history of offering sanctuary to people fleeing violence and persecution.” 

 

 

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