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Decorum Indian Society is celebrating 50 years of Ugandan Asians settlement in Hemel Hempstead. I would like to write about my late husband and his family who also came to Hemel Hempstead for settlement. My father-in-law, Shantilal Trivedi, had a wonderful job in a Sugar cane plantation in Kakira - Uganda and was living a peaceful life in a beautiful fertile country with his family. The company had given him a bungalow and a car.
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On 4 August 1972, Ugandan President Idi Amin gave his country's Asian population 90 days in which to leave the country. Almost 40,000 Ugandan Asians who would come to the UK over the months that followed to start new lives, leaving behind homes and businesses in the country of their birth was Mr Ghanshyambhai Patel (Gunner to his friends) who let Uganda on 25 th September 1972 with his beloved wife Hansa Patel and three Children – Jayendra (Jay), Alka and Vinit.
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I graduated from University of London as a Pharmacist and worked in the NHS in London for a number of years where she championed Community Pharmacists and was responsible for setting up and in the delivery of education and training to many healthcare professionals. Following this and always spurred on by our parents who championed educational attainment, she attained an MBA from Ashridge Business School and went on to work in the City for FTSE 100 companies as a management consultant.
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In 1973, a family arrived in Hemel Hempstead from Greenham Common Resettlement Camp and settled at 32 Wharfedale, Highfield. Welcomed with provisions from Hemel Hempstead Lions Club and the Salvation Army, their first night was spent together in one room. The children faced significant challenges at school, especially from pervasive racism. With only a few other Indian students at Grovehill Secondary, they experienced isolation and discrimination, including being forced to play hockey barefoot in winter. This period was marked by struggles to adjust and confront prejudice.
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My family and I left Uganda for the first time and landed in the UK exactly 50 years ago on Thursday 12th October 1972. It was freezing cold and I was dressed like I would be in Uganda, in shorts with a short sleeve shirt when we landed in the UK. None of the Ugandan Asians were prepared for the situation we found ourselves We were taken to an army camp in Wales by train where we were provided with warm cloths. The army barracks would become home but no one knew for how long. The uncertainty of what we’d be doing tomorrow or what the future had in store for us was the least of our worries.
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In 1972, Aashish Hindocha (Aash) and his family became victims of one of history’s most blatant displays of cultural prejudice on the African continent. Then Ugandan President Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of the country’s Asian population, displacing tens of thousands from the place they called home. Merely a child when they left Uganda, Aash recalls a confused childhood in the UK.
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