York exhibition marks 50 years since Asians fled Uganda

The 'Rebuilding Lives' exhibition, which will be at the University of York's 'Spring Lane' building for three weeks from Monday, includes photographs, press cuttings - and the real-life stories of some of those who came here.

QR codes will allow visitors to actually hear some of the stories - and there will also be cabinets showing some of the precious objects that the refugees brought with them from Uganda when they fled.

Among those whose stories are featured in the exhibition are Yogesh 'Josh' Joshi, who was just 16 when his family fled Uganda for the UK in 1972, and eventually came to York; and Shamim Eimaan, who was just six years old.

Yogesh 'Josh' Joshi in Frances Street, where he and his family lived after first coming to York 50 years ago

In an interview with the Press in August this year, Josh - who grew up in York and spent many years working for Rowntrees - recalled the terror that engulfed Uganda after Amin took power, the economy collapsed, and civil order broke down.

"There was a curfew, there were soldiers on the streets, there were bodies being dumped in mass heaps. I saw a bulldozer digging a mass grave," he told the Press.

"Soldiers had not been paid. They were just looting and pillaging. If they wanted your car, they just took your keys. If you objected, they bundled you into the boot and you'd never be seen again."

• Bodies were dumped in heaps - York man's escape from terror

Shamim, one of the organisers of the exhibition, told The Press last month that she recalled little of her early life in Uganda - she has always believed she must have 'blacked it out' because it was so traumatic.

She has a vague memory of gunshots, of someone banging on the door, of her mum saying 'Hide the girls! Hide the girls!'

Her brother Ebrahim, who is a year younger than Shamim, once asked her if she remembered being in a car. "Soldiers came and pulled Dad out of the car and you were screaming your head off. Do you remember?" he asked her. But she recalled nothing.

Major General Idi Amin, who had just overthrown Milton Obote to become President of Uganda in a coup, driving a jeep (Image: Other)

More than 60,000 Asians were expelled from Uganda by Amin in 1972.

They were descended from families from the Indian sub-continent who'd moved to Uganda under British rule to help build the country's infrastructure. Many held British passports.

Amin gave them 90 days to leave the country. The British government eventually permitted 27,000 to move to the UK through the Uganda Resettlement Board.

The families, who fled Uganda with nothing but the clothes they stood up in, were initially placed in 12 reception camps around the UK.

Shamim, who has had a successful career as an NHS manager, says there are now 45-50 Ugandan Asian families in York.

She says it is hugely important that their stories and life experiences are understood.

While putting the exhibition together, she herself learned a great deal about her own history.

"My parents didn't talk about it," she said. "But I want my children to know about it. It is also important that other people know what happened."

The 'Rebuilding Lives' exhibition runs at the University of York's 'Spring Lane' building for three weeks from Monday. After that it will go on a regional tour.

• How York prepared to welcome Ugandan refugees in 1972