Most people took the bare minimum a suitcase and a tiny amount of cash. My mum wasjust saying, take the money out, throw it away. Mum, mum, its money no, just throw it now she must have left a lot behind. She did. We literally took nothing at all. I grew up Hearing Stories of a tropical paradise. But towards the end of their time there, my familys reality was very different. I must reorganise this country properly. Now, im going there with my mum and my aunt to understand more about what they lost, and how the expulsion impacted the country. You asking us questions, reha, but at that time, when you see how people run. Is this from uganda . Yeah. This is from uganda. They brought it with them. You put gas in here and then youd, what. Turn. Paraffin. Paraffin gas, yeah. Im reha, a reporter for the bbc, and im looking into my family history. What was your favourite thing to do at home . At home, favourite things. Actually, if you ask me, cooking. This is from uganda we brought it with us. Look, its quite a lot, but i dont know you all of them. My family comes from uganda, they were expelled there in 1972 and moved here into the uk as refugees. Im going back with my mum and my aunt, all three of us, for the first time, to see where they lived, where they grew up, and basically take it all in, and live through them. Whats it called in swahili . Cassava. Mogo. Mogo mogo. So much of the language, the gujarati, that we speak at home is influenced by swahili. So much of the food we eat is very authentically Ugandan Indian Or East African indian. Its very good, and good for the iron as well. I definitely feel ugandan, yes. I was born there, i am ugandan. We learned how to ride a bike overthere. The fruits over there is lovely, and, yes, we had good fun, all of us. My grandparents very old photo. My nana, my grandfather, he moved to uganda from india, pre partition. He moved firstly by himself, and then a few years later, my � nanima, my grandmother, my � masi and my � mama, my oldest uncle, moved along with him. This is a very cool photo. This is my granddad, my � nana. Thats my eldest uncle and my other uncles. Look how pretty i was laughter. So pretty this is me. This is of our House Injinja, and i forgot to tell you that one day all the elders had gone to see a film, and they had started shooting right at everybodys houses, you know, where we were staying, injinja, and we had to hide under the table. In august 1972, president idi amin said god came to him in a dream, and told him to expel all asians from the country. Their main interest has been to| exploit the economy of uganda. We feel bad, very badly shocked, like, you know, what we are going to do . For the 80,000 strong population, his dream became a nightmare. News report generalamin has promised hell make those ignoring the ultimatum feel as though theyre i sitting on fire. I was at home when i heard that my dad and my brother said to us that we have to pack our things and go as we cannot stay in uganda any more now. News archive report the British High Commission Passport Office here has been besieged by hundreds and hundreds of asians Holding British passports. 16 members of my family took thejourney from Entebbe Airport to the uk. So we had to have two cars, and we had the army people take us to Entebbe Airport, they escorted us. Oh, i definitely felt something was wrong. Why would an army person sort of escort us to entebbe to come to london . I think uganda will benefit more if asians are out of i uganda. My family lived in a bubble, in their own echo chamber. They were surrounded mostly by brown people. The dynamic between brown people and black people, mostly, where they lived, was that of worker and boss. Theres always been this hierarchy white people at the top, brown people in the middle and black people at the bottom, and this has existed in uganda under the british. I personally felt that people in uganda, asians and ugandans, were mixing quite well together. So much of what they tell me is wrapped around nostalgia, and i really want to dig deeper than that and find out what life was like there for them and why they had to leave. Done. Im going to uganda and im really, really excited. Im looking forward to meeting all the people, ugandans over there, im looking forward to going and seeing the house that i was born in, and the House Injinja that we were living in the last. What was really emotional for me was seeing my mum and my aunt. They paid their respects in a very hindu way, which you usually do to the feet of elders. It was a really surreal and very lovely moment to witness, because ive never seen them do that before. Going to see our house in kakira, thats where i was born. I want to go inside, i want to see what its like. And, yeah, im really looking forward to it. I want to remember everything that was when i was young. Do you think, when youre there, youll unlock more memories that you cant remember . Ah, yes, i think so. Lets see. Lets get over there and then see what i remember and what i dont. Whats changed . What was there before . When we lived here, it wasnt anything this or like that. What was this place before . It was completely flat, and so nice and greenery there. But now. It was a com. Thats why i sooked, you know. And first i feel like, you know. What whats this . What are you feeling . Like, im feeling like, you know, start to cry, like, you know. Why are you feeling like crying . Yeah, because they build up so nicely, but still, you know, its not the same, not the same at all. All right, were entering kakira. This is kakira. Kakira is an estate, its owned by the madhvani family. This is where they produce sugar cane, where they plant sugar cane. Essentially, kakira is a town within itself, and everyone who works for the madhvani family lives in kakira. My grandfather arrived in uganda some time in the late 1920s. He lived and worked here. Dont say hi to the camera. Hi hi, camera the madhvani family leftjust before the expulsion as tensions started to brew. But like many Ugandan Asians, they were invited back by the government in the � 80s to help rebuild the economy. Were actually very, very happy that you got your madhvanis factories and everything back. So, when we came back, the policy was to assist l the private sector. Why did you decide to come back to kakira . More emotional at that time. There was absolutely no hope for the country. I but were ugandans. See, i was born here. So, you know, its like| a magnet, it pulls you. What happened was it started off as an emotional trip and then it became a commercial trip. I the government policy was that we took away the assets from the asians, all the properties belonging to asians should be given back. And, you know, ithinkl what lacked before with the asians was they didnt do enough for the community. L i mean, some people would argue that indians benefited from this colonial structure that was put in place that had indians as the middle men, but you would also say that weve moved beyond that . Oh, yes. I think thats all over. I mean, you just have to look at young ugandans. Their aspirations. Their wants are very muchl similar to what you want in london. In 1961, uganda gained independence from the british, and black ugandans were able to put their needs first. Hello. Ive come to meetjoel, who was here at the time of the expulsion. This is my shop. So, if we were talking about this sort of alley before the expulsion in 1972, would it be locals owning shops here, or it would it be indians owning shops here . It would be indians. Since the return of asians to uganda, communities are more integrated. But some subtle tensions still exist. Do you see indians who live here as ugandan as well . Why not . And thats why some of these people came back. In uganda, are indians considered closer to whiteness or are they considered white . Considered white, yes. And, in fact, most most of them like it that way. Laughs. The asians tend to look at us as either beggars, people who dont have anything. So, you feel that still exists today . Yes, it does. Oh, yes, it does. It does. So, why did the expulsion happen . Why were Ugandan Asians blamed . Indians have been in east africa since the 15th century. Many were traders, who settled in the region. But with the arrival of the british empire, their role changed. They were all victims of colonialism themselves, they were brought as endangered labourers to work on the railway, cheap labourers, they were put in that place to be used. So the british dividing their different subjects. Indians were restricted or were promoted or were confined to the commercial sector, not the agricultural, because they were even not allowed to have land. So some africans felt that they were it was not a level ground, that these investors were having undue preference, the government preference through policies. When idi amin became president in 1971, change came for everyone. Some africans saw it as an opportunity to reverse that order. There were two sets of victims, each one going off in a different trajectory. Asians have been milking ugandas money. There isnt much literature around the expulsion and ugandan indian history, so ive come to the Uganda Society library to see what i can find and how much icanfind. I found idi amin� s speech on the weekend of the 12th and 13th of august, in which he explains why he expelled asians Ugandan Asians and his opening paragraph reads, no country can tolerate the economy of a nation being so much in the hands of non citizens, as is the case in uganda today. No government can tolerate foreigners, like asians in uganda, sabotaging the economy of the country and engaging in numerous forms of corruption. Its as though hes playing on the insecurities of locals, of ugandans, who felt already that there were hostilities and tensions arising. Already, the 15 british Immigration Staff in. The Passport Office look likely. To be swamped as the Pressure Mounts and the anxieties of the asians are being. Increased as theyre meeting delay, confusion, indecision, orfear something worse. J were off to meet someone who means a lot to my mum and my aunt. They havent seen each other in over 50 years. Kadija used to work for a Family Friend of ours and we got to know her very, very well. I think she started working with them when she was about 14, 15 years old. Yes, she was very young. She was very young. But absolutely lovely girl. She she learned how to cook indian food and everything, and shes a really wonderful person. Hello. Hello, mama. Hello. Yes now you know now you know, kalija. Do you know who i am . It was very warming to see my mum and my auntie and kadija meet and just relive their younger years. They its like they all became kids again. And do you remember i used to come to your house to teach the girls all the, you know, the dancing and everything, and i go stay there. See . You remember. What was really interesting talking to kadija was understanding the impact the expulsion and idi amin� s government had on her life. She was beaten. 0k. Yes, the soldiers came and they said she is the one who kept the money, so she was beaten. J oh, my god. Because they wanted the money the black Ugandan Population were often targeted by amin� s soldiers, and Human Rights Violations committed against them have been well documented. If you are inside the house, they come for you. One week, she was sleeping with a kid in the bush at the age of one week the kid was one week. I police from jinja came to look for her. Oh, my god. It was really quite graphic and really heartbreaking to hear, and i think thats thats what we tend to miss a lot when we talk about the expulsion or the expulsion under idi amin, is the impact that it had on the local population. It was good to see that shes not in a bad situation at all. Shes living in a good place, shes got nice house, shes got nice environment and everything, but its sad to know what happened to her after we asians left. What the army had done to her and everything, it was sad to know that. 0k, kadija, bye bye. Thank you very much. Thank you, my dear. So nice to see you. Our last stop is jinja where my family lived before they fled the country. Its also where most of mums memories are, good and bad. To go to see jinja house was exciting because i felt that im gonna go and see everything in there exactly the same as it was, and be able to visualise my family there. We got to the house and we were quite profusely knocking on the door until someone came and very hospitably let us in without any questions. Close your eyes, close your eyes, close your eyes. All right, im going to lead you in. Keep them closed. You know, you have this excitement building up and my mum is walking through. Wow sitting room. Yeah, sitting room. This was the sitting room over here. Yes. And then, all of a sudden, the mood changes and shes very confused. She cant remember the layout of the house being like this. This wasnt there. No. This was my mum and dads room over here. Do you want to check if thats the same. Do you mind . Its closed. Its closed 0k. It was hard to sort of walk in and its completely changed, except for one room, which was my mum and dads room, and that was locked, and that wasnt really nice because i couldnt see it and i was expecting to see that to. I dont know. I felt that my mum and dad would be there. What i wasnt prepared for was my mums confusion and sadness. Um. It was a lot. Um, sorry. But this was a shower room, bathroom. It was emotional for me to sort of not see in there and i had to walk out of there. It was here, the car was somewhere round here. Its very sad that we cant see my mum and dads room because that was the one that was very, very important to me cos i have lost my mum and dad and. This house has actually broken me up. Theyve made it, like. I have been really yes, ive been very strong up till now, but seeing this house, it really broke me, it really broke me. Your attachment to nanna and nanima was here. Yes, it was. Is that why you were crying . Well, in a way, yes. I mean, we enjoyed ourselves so much and were here in this house. Its painful that youre with me and i cant even explain to you what it was like. Until i came here and visualised my mum and my aunts last days in uganda, i hadnt really understood how complex their time here had become. Can you see yourself leaving that house and do you remember what you did as you left . The army people said, just get quickly inside the car. They were checking each individual my mum was the first one to go inside, and she came back and said, take the money out, outside the window now. We literally took nothing at all except for our clothes, and thats all we had, and those clothes were not suitable for england. One of the few things they took with them was a picture from their temple. She has got a photograph in her room. Nanima actually did take that picture, saying that, im taking you out from the temple and taking it to where im going, basically, and she prayed over there, you know, to keep us safe. This picture doesntjust symbolise their struggles to get to the uk, but also their resilience to resettle in an unfamiliar place. Maybe it was much bigger. First, they left india for uganda. Then uganda for the uk. Hopefully now, they feel they belong. Hello, there. It has been another day where we have seen widespread showers and thunderstorms particular focused across england and wales, you can see all the light extracts would be detect in the storms have been very slow moving bringing the prospect of localised flooding. We have also today seen a number of final clouds sent to us by our weather watchers, this is a particularly good one from the bedford area. Weather looks very different as we head into friday, whats going to happen as we have a north easterly wind feeding a lot low cloud and the prospect of some rain across parts of england so starting off the day, eastern scotland, eastern england, cloudy, probablya day, eastern scotland, eastern england, cloudy, probably a few spots of drizzle. We will see some damp weather, light rain pushing across parts of east anglia and parts of the midlands, Central Southern England and the southeast. Towards Western Areas we will keep a lot of dry weather and sunshine with temperatures as high as 18 or 19 degrees but only as eastern coast, given the onshore wind that will feel a lot cooler, temperatures 13 or 1a degrees at best. Heading through friday night will continue to feed and that low cloud turning a little bit misty in places as we head into saturday morning with maybe a few spots of drizzle falling from that sheet of cloud across england and the clear skies across the north west of the uk and then for saturday, further change in the Weather Pattern because pressure builds across the country for a time so it should be a drier day and a fine start to the weekend. The only Morning Cloud we have across parts of the weekend will start to shrivel with sunny spells breaking out later in the day and scotland and Northern Ireland could see temperatures as high as 22 celsius. If we had 22 that would make it the warmest day of the year so far although those temperatures are not particularly that special for early may. Into the second half of the weekend further changes, conference started to make inroads from north and west and we will see increased amounts of cloud, outbreaks of rain and ultimately temperatures will be dropping particularly for scotland and Northern Ireland after that fine, sunny, warm day on saturday. Further east england and wales having quite a bit of cloud but we could see a bit of cloud but we could see a patch of rain and maybe a few showers develop ahead of this main and of rain. Temperatures instead of the low 20s, generally we are looking at 15 or16 generally we are looking at 15 or 16 degrees for scotland and Northern Ireland but it could be quite warm in the sunny hours across central and eastern areas of england. Into the early part of next week the jetstream pattern is quite weak but we have still got this general bridge across the west of our shores in the atlantic and a cut off low to our east end so this Weather Systems are kind of competing. I think overall we are more likely to stay quite cloudy with the weather getting cooler and there being a number of showers around but the forecast accuracy, the kind of consistency, isnt really great from tuesday onwards so i would expect further changes in the forecast into next week. That is our weather but they will shower you what going on in the bay of angle, we got a Cyclonic Storm Making Landfall on monday around the border region between myanmar and bangladesh. This is the region that is home to many hundreds of thousands of the Rohingya Refugees and given that we will have damaging winds, torrential rain, storm surge, coastal inundation, the potential impact from this Cyclonic Storm On Sunday could be catastrophic. We will be keeping of course a very close eye on that. Live from washington, this is bbc news. Welcome to viewers on pbs in america. Concerns over Us Mexico Border crossings, as the end of a controversial Immigration Policy is just hours away. Translation i say, mum, its Ust Too Translation i say, mum, its just too much. Translation i say, mum, its just too much. Here, translation i say, mum, its just too much. Here, you translation i say, mum, its just too much. Here, you cantl just too much. Here, you cant sleep, the code is way too intense. I said, sleep, the code is way too intense. Isaid, lord, what do i do . And ukraines president zelensky gives more details about the expected Counter Offensive in the countrys war with russia. Hello. Im sumi somaskanda. Welcome to our show. It is officially the end of a controversial Immigration Policy in the
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