Service marks 40 years since Ugandan exodus
by David W Owen
Leicester Cathedral was the venue for a service commemorating the 40th anniversary of Asians ordered out of Idi Amin’s Ugandan dictatorship finding a new home in the city.
Saturday's thanksgiving service was led by the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, with Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles special guest of honour.
More than 28,000 people arrived in Britain from Uganda in 1972, with7,000 choosing to settle in Leicester despite an advertising campaign warning them not to come to the city.
The service, however, celebrated their positive contribution to the city – in the fields of business, the professions, politics, arts and science.
Bishop Tim said: “It was a great pleasure that Leicester Cathedral was chosen as the venue to give thanks for the contribution of the Ugandan Asian community.
“The service recognised the importance of friendship and generosity, as shown both by those who came to our city 40 years ago under such desperate circumstances, and those who welcomed them to a strange land and opened their homes and hearts, in the best tradition of the faiths of this city.”
Story of Uganda exodus is told
A digital audio trail has been launched that tells the story of Leicester's Ugandan Asians.
New Walk Museum and Art Gallery is running the From Kampala to Leicester exhibition to mark the 40th anniversary of the arrival in the city of about 10,000 people expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin.
The audio trail guides people between the museum and Phoenix, in the Cultural Quarter.
Councillor Piara Singh Clair, assistant city mayor responsible for heritage, said: "This is a fascinating part of Leicester's history and this digital trail through the city will bring it to life as never before.
It is an exciting opportunity to learn more about the exodus of Ugandan Asians."
The trail uses personal testimony from Leicester's Ugandan Asian community.
Restaurateur Dharmesh Lakhani, of Belgrave Road, whose family was among those expelled, said: "It something different and that could be quite exciting."
Accountant Praful Thakrar, of Oadby, said: "This is a very good idea which will help today's generation understand better what their parents and grandparents went through."
From Kampala to Leicester runs until September 30.
Shop windows along the trail will display posters featuring QR codes, which can be read by smartphones to access more information.
www.leicester.gov.uk/ ugandanasianstory/
City to thank its Ugandan Asians
Councillors are to publicly thank the Ugandan Asian community in Leicester for its contributions to the city's life over the past 40 years.
About 10,000 Asians took refuge in the city after dictator Idi Amin expelled them from the east African nation in 1972.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the expulsion, city councillors are to discuss a motion recognising the social economic and cultural benefits the refugees' arrival has had.
Councillor Sundip Meghani has proposed the motion. His father, Shantilal, and his family settled in Leicester after being expelled from Uganda with just £50 in their pockets. His mother, Nainaben, had come to the city before the expulsions.
Coun Meghani said: "It is a symbolic gesture on an issue that is of great importance to the whole city.
"More than 10,000 Ugandan Asians came here. Most were active, hard-working and entrepreneurial people.
"They helped the recovery of an economy that, in the early 1970s was struggling – particularly the hosiery industry.
"Today, they and their relatives play a major part in the city's business. It's in everything from restaurants to banking and the legal sector."
Coun Meghani is also urging his colleagues to condemn those who seek to discourage people fleeing persecution from coming to the city.
He said: "At the time of the expulsions there was a lot of rhetoric from anti-immigration groups and the National Front to try to stop Ugandan Asians coming here.
"The city council also foolishly took out adverts in papers telling them not to come here.
"Leicester reluctantly accepted the Ugandan Asians but now, after 40 years, the city is a much better place for their arrival.
"The city was a very different place back then and there was uncertainty and fear about immigration. Now we know what an important role those fleeing persecution have played."
Dharmesh Lakhani, chairman of Belgrave Business Association, was four years old when his family came to Leicester.
Dharmesh, who runs Bobby's restaurant, in Belgrave Road, said: "Ugandan Asians should also thank the people of Leicester for accepting them.
"I know there was a campaign to stop people coming here and there was a lot of ridiculous propaganda, but I never got the sense from most people that we were not welcome.
"Let's remember, people were uncertain about what to expect. They were not told most Ugandan Asians were successful, middle-class people.
"There are many Ugandan Asians like me who now consider themselves As British as anyone and they have worked hard to develop successful businesses to add to this city.''
Forty years ago today: a tyrant's whim boosted our city's fortune
Forty years ago today, East African dictator Idi Amin made a decision that would change Leicester forever.
In August 1972, the leader of Uganda decided to expel all the Asians living in his country – most of whom held British passports and boarded planes for England.
Leicester City Council's reaction was to place an advert in the Uganda Argus warning that Leicester was full of immigrants already and that they should not move here. However, between 6,000 and 10,000 Ugandan Asians came to the city.
They brought with them a wealth of skills and business know-how that would boost Leicester's fortunes.
The Asian families, many of whom owned Uganda's most successful businesses, had been given 90 days to leave the country and could only take their personal belongings and up to £55 in cash.
Among them were Praful Thakrar's family.
Praful, who is now 64, working as an accountant and living in Oadby, was 24 and studying accountancy in London when the announcement was made.
While watching the News at Ten he saw footage of his mother and eight brothers and sisters getting off a plane at Stansted Airport.
"I had been in England two weeks and I had no idea what my family were doing until I saw them on television," he said. "I rang ITN and found they had been taken to a camp in Devon."
After 47 years in Uganda, Praful's parents had built up a good life, living in a large house.
When they arrived in Leicester, the family of 11 all had to live in a terraced house, and had to start working and rebuilding their lives.
Praful said: "We had seen the advertisement in the newspaper asking us to not come to Leicester, but it backfired.
"Luckily, the job market in Leicester was very good at that time and within four months we were renting a second house as well. We were very lucky to come here. My own children both work in London now and have good lives."
Manu Madhani, who lives in Evington, Leicester, was 28 when the expulsion announcement was made.
He said: "The first thing I did was get all my money out of the bank and give it away to my African staff and get ready to leave. I felt hurt by what happened because I had worked hard on my export and import business in the past four years and put all my savings into it."I was born in Uganda and didn't want to leave."
Manu, now 68, runs Manu Export Services, in London Road, Leicester.He said the city council's warning to stay away had produced the opposite affect.
"Leicester City Council said the city was full of immigrants and that they didn't want any more.
"If we hadn't seen that advert we would have gone somewhere else."When we came to Leicester we were not using benefits and asking for aid – we were all business-minded people.
"The second day I was here I was out looking for work."
After working as a machinist at an engineering company in Abbey Lane, Leicester, Manu's employers discovered his business skills and promoted him to the export department.
He later spent 17 years working for a London export company before concentrating on his own business.
He said he had never experienced racist attitudes in Leicester and was happy to call it home.
He said: "I think about Uganda but I haven't been back. My two daughters and my son are all settled here and married.
"My mother, who is 89 now, is against me going back because she still has fears. This is our home now."
