50 Year Journey, Australians from Uganda

AUSTRALIANS from UGANDA Tales of Trials, Tribulations Triumphs.

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AUSTRALIANS from UGANDA Tales of Trials, Tribulations Triumphs.

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Australians from Uganda

Tales of Trials, Tribulations & Triumphs.

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission from the authors, which may be obtained via aussiesfromuganda50@gmail.com

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<Dedication> This book is dedicated to all who came with us from Uganda but are no longer in this world. We sincerely miss them.

May their souls rest in eternal peace. Amen.

We are also aware of individuals who are unwell.

Our prayers are with you.

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<Foreword>

Mona Hussain

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Fifty Year Journey

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<Contents> Acknowledgements 10 Preface 12 Introduction 13 Wave 1 16 Wave 2 132 Wave 0 168 The Last Word 185

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<Acknowledgements> Dr Ashak Gulamali Nanji Nathwani AM Chairman – AFU50 Steering Committee

Sincere gratitude is extended to the following: Mona Hussain – for her tireless work in editing all the stories.

Sarita Gold - for the professional advice and assistance provided for this publication and the function.

Kate Oliver - for the magnificent design and layout of this commemorative book.

Rehana Weale – for design of the function invites. Look great.

All contributors – for sharing your stories, photos and articles. Without you we would not have this memorable and treasurable record.

Support of the following organising team members is acknowledged and highly valued. Each one has contributed time and knowledge voluntarily and has assisted in the gathering and compilation of the stories. They have been an integral part of this milestone event as members of the AFU50 Steering Committee: >> >> >> >> >> >>

Mr Aarif Panjwani Dr Ameeta Patel Mr Chandrakant Shah Dr Kiran Phadke Mrs Shaira Hadwani Dr Linette Gomes

Being a group of volunteers, as opposed to a formal organistion, we did not qualify to secure any grants for the expenditures associated with the 50 Years commemoration. Together with the publication of this book, the expenditure includes cost of the function on 7th October 2022, at the Australian National Maritime Museum. We hence sought donations.

We are grateful for the generous donation by Pyarali Gulamali Nanji family and the Nanji Family Foundation that has enabled us to make the commemorative function a momentous occasion.

We are proud of the philanthropic work that the Nanji Family Foundation continues to carry out.

We would like to share the details of the Foundation’s extremely generous contribution to UNHCR to mark the 50 years of the Uganda Expulsion, as covered in the press recently.

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Fifty Year Journey

Pyarali Nanji of the Nanji Family Foundation and Fillippo Grandi, UN High Commisioner for Refugees sign the grant agreement in suppport of Aiming Higher. © UNHCR/Valerie Agawin

Refugee family makes $1 million gift to UNHCR as they commemorate their 50 years in Canada

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APR 14, 2022, | FEATURED STORY

anji Family Foundation commemorates 50th anniversary of South Asian exile from Uganda by providing over 50 young refugees with tertiary scholarships through UNHCR’s Aiming Higher campaign.

TORONTO – The Nanji Family Foundation is granting funds to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, for tertiary education scholarships in support of its Aiming Higher campaign.

This generous financial contribution will help provide sorely needed financial support to refugees pursuing higher education by funding scholarships for health-related university studies in their countries of asylum.

Launched in December 2020 to coincide with UNHCR’s 70th anniversary, Aiming Higher strives to widen access to secondary and higher education for refugees, a goal and vision which lies at the heart of both the Global Compact for Refugees and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In 1972, Pyarali Gulamali Nanji, his wife, Gulshan, and their four children

Azim, Tazmin, Narmin and Hanif, were among thousands exiled from Uganda.

Stripped of their citizenship and assets, they were declared stateless. The family found sanctuary in Canada, first arriving in Montreal, and later settling in Toronto Other members of the Gulamali Nanji family, who were also victims of the Ugandan expulsion, are presently well settled in Canada, UK, and Australia. They too are contributing to the country of their settlement as well as to humanity at large.

The Pyarali Nanji family has remained steadfastly determined and committed to giving back generously to the country that welcomed them, making a point to give equal support to causes both within Canada and internationally. As such, the Aiming Higher campaign serves to fulfill a long-held aspiration on behalf of the foundation to help support the advancement and empowerment of refugees through the pursuit of higher learning.

“In my life I have learned something,

that if God gives you opportunity, try to share it. First of all, you have to make sure that you are taking care of your family, your community, and then the whole country. So, I thought we must pay back to the country, and the world… and for more than 20 years we have been doing this.” – Mr. Nanji “It is beautiful what you said about giving back, and even more so, giving opportunity… You can be assured that we will spend it well, this donation. We will spend it to give people opportunities.

And maybe in life there is a chain, that people suffer and go through exile and deprivation, and then if they have opportunities, they can give back. And the cycle continues if everybody does what you did.” – Mr. Grandi With this grant of scholarships to over 50 young refugees in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of South Asian exile from Uganda, the Nanji family is hopeful that others in the community and beyond will feel inspired to support higher education for refugees.

For more information, please visit https:/www.unhcr.ca/aiminghigher

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<Preface>

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<Introduction>

Background Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria (the source of the River Nile), shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda has a generally moderate equatorial climate. It has a population of around 46 million, of which 8.5 million live in the capital and largest city of Kampala.

Uganda is named after the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country, including the capital Kampala and whose language Luganda is widely spoken throughout the country.

Beginning in 1894, the area was ruled as a protectorate by the United Kingdom, which established administrative law across the territory. Uganda gained independence from the UK on October 9, 1962. The period since then was marked by violent conflicts, including an eight-year-long military dictatorship led by Idi Amin.

Back in 1909, Sir Winston Churchill called Uganda “the Pearl of Africa”. And it was. Alas in 1972 it all changed forever for some 50,000 victims, who were expelled.

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The Expulsion

Source: Forty Years Journey, Samim Nathwani, 2012, On 4 August 1972, President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of his country’s Asian – mostly Indian and Pakistani minority giving them 90 days to leave the country.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, BBC Journalist, highlighted this notorious episode in an article on the 30th anniversary of the expulsion: “It is exactly 30 years today that Doctor Idi Amin Dada, His Excellency, Life President of Uganda, life Field Marshal, Al Haj, Conqueror of the British Empire, and the Last King of Scotland, stood in his pyjamas and announced to his army cronies that Allah had instructed him in a dream to expel all Asians from his country and to confiscate their homes and their businesses by 9th November 1972. If any Asians were seen in Uganda after that date, he warned: “I will make you feel as if you are sitting on fire. Your main interest has been to exploit the economy for years and now I say to you all – Go!”

The ethnic cleansing of Indians in Uganda was conducted in an Indo-phobic climate in which the Ugandan government claimed the Indians were hoarding wealth and goods to the detriment of indigenous Africans and “sabotaging” the Ugandan economy.

That famous laugh gurgled up darkly, and his big face beamed.

The ethnic cleansing of Indians in Uganda was conducted in an Indo-phobic climate in which the Ugandan government claimed the Indians were hoarding wealth and goods to the detriment of indigenous Africans and “sabotaging” the Ugandan economy. Former British colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa have many citizens of South Asian descent. They were brought there by the British Empire from British India to do clerical work in Imperial service, or unskilled/semi-skilled manual labour such as construction or farm work. In the 1890s, 32,000 labourers from British India were brought to East Africa under indentured labour contracts to work on the construction of the Uganda Railway. Most of the surviving Indians returned home, but 6,724 decided to remain in East Africa after the line’s completion.

Many Indians in Uganda were in the trading and banking businesses, where many were employed by the British. Since the representation of Indians in these occupations was high, stereotyping of Indians in Uganda as tailors or bankers was common. Also, some Indians perceived themselves as coming from a more advanced culture than Uganda, a view not appreciated by Ugandans. Indo-phobia in Uganda thus predated Amin and existed under Milton Obote. The 1968 Committee on “Africanization in Commerce and Industry” in Uganda made far-reaching Indo-phobic proposals. A system of work permits, and trade licenses was introduced in 1969 to restrict the role of Indians in economic and professional activities. Indians were segregated and discriminated against in all walks of life.

After Idi Amin came to power, he exploited the prevailing Indo-phobia and spread propaganda against Indians involving stereotyping and scapegoating the Indian minority. Indians were portrayed as “only traders” and “inbred” to their profession. Indians were labelled as “dukawallas” (an occupational term that degenerated into an anti-Indian slur during Amin’s time), and stereotyped as “greedy, conniving”, without any racial identity or loyalty but “always cheating, conspiring and plotting” to subvert Uganda. Amin used this propaganda to justify a campaign of “de-Indianization”, eventually resulting in the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Uganda’s Indian minority.

The Australian Scene In 1972, in Australia, Prime Minister William McMahon and his cabinet were adamantly opposed to accepting black African-Asian refugees into their homogeneous society, except for hand-picked highly skilled refugees, for example doctors who had been trained in British universities. All efforts by the British Government to persuade them to relax normal immigration criteria came to nothing.

Former ALP Leader, Arthur Calwell warned the Federal Parliament in 1972 that the overwhelming majority of Australians did NOT want to see any Ugandan Asians brought to Australia, which would result in a ‘chocolate coloured’ Australia.

Even when Gough Whitlam came to power in December 1972 and finally removed the remnants of the White Australia Policy, there was a tokenistic gesture to the international community — some money for the UNHCR to run the refugee camps, and a few highly-skilled workers. Later the ALP Minister for Immigration, the Hon. Al Grassby, was instrumental in facilitating Ugandan refugees who had been taken by UNHCR to various camps post the expulsion deadline to come to Australia. He was also famous for wearing highly colourful ties and once told The Age newspaper, “The ties came with the Whitlam government because I decided that we were liberated from a dull and colourless past to a new and colourful Australia”.

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Wave 1 16 Fifty Year Journey

Stories T

he common thread in the stories in this group is the fact that a majority had to leave Uganda because they became ‘stateless’. Soon after the expulsion proclamation, there was a verification process that each person claiming to be Ugandan Citizen had to go through. This involved presentation of all the documents such as Birth certificate, Citizenship certificate, Passport, Renunciation of British Allegiance and proof of being a resident in Uganda. If the Immigration Officer was satisfied, then you qualified to receive an Identity Card that would allow you to remain in Uganda after the deadline. If in the opinion of the Immigration Officer, you did not meet the requirements, your passport was invalidated by cutting the corner of the front page. The Immigration Officer was the sole judge and jury. There was no legal or any other appeal procedure that one could follow.

Wave One covers the stories of those who had to and could leave within the deadline timeframe. The first arrivals of the Ugandan ‘refugees’ in Australia were in early October 1972. Each story covers why they chose Australia, what it was like leaving Uganda, who in Australia helped them during the early settlement period and what contributions they have made to Australia fifty years on. In many of the stories, Mr John Paddick’s name features prominently. He was the Australian attaché based in the Australian High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya. He turned out to be the influencer and someone who genuinely assisted the ‘stateless’ individuals who did not have any country that would take them. Each story highlights the challenges faced.

Each story is a compelling read.

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Why I love mangoes!

MY NAME is Femida Hassanali Hunter (nee Rahim). I was born in Kampala, Uganda in Africa. I have a sister Shahiroz (Shy) Meaden (nee Rahim) and we were blessed to have had the most wonderful parents the late Dr Hassanali Goolamhusein Abdulla Rahim and the late Zarin Hassanali Rahim.

I spent my first six years of childhood in a beautiful hilltop area of Kampala called Kololo and loved my life in Uganda. In fact, I was born in Mengo Hospital (and have decided that is why I love Mangoes)!!

When I was six years old, I sadly experienced first-hand the trauma inflicted on so many innocent people because of the then President of Uganda and Dictator, Idi Amin. In August of 1972, Idi Amin proclaimed the expulsion of the Asians, primarily from the Indian subcontinent. Some 50,000 innocent victims were given ninety days to leave Uganda. My family was part of this minority group.

Idi Amin had a problem with the Asians in Uganda. Most of the Asians were well educated and ran successful businesses, which helped the Ugandan economy.

Idi Amin defended the expulsion by arguing that he was giving Uganda back to the ethnic Ugandans. He also claimed that God had spoken to him in a dream, saying Asians of Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi origins were responsible for exploiting the indigenous citizens of Uganda.

It did not matter if you had lived there for generations or the fact that you were a Ugandan citizen. You just had to leave. And you had to leave everything behind – all your possessions, the house that you lived in – everything!

We were told that we had to go to the military office and show our passports to prove our citizenship. Mum, dad, my sister Shy and I went along. I was six years old, and my sister was only nine at the time. When our turn came, we handed over our passports. The soldier checked them and then decided to only give back my mum and dad’s passports. Dad was understandably furious. When he asked for our passports back the solider just laughed and said, “No, you and your wife can leave but your two daughters must stay here, and we will marry them!” I did not understand what was going on – it was terrifying. Dad started to argue with them, and they put a rifle to his temple and said if we were not to leave immediately, they would shoot him. Of course, we left and went home.

My father was a wise man and knew the dangers of remaining in

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Hassanali and Zarin Rahim

Uganda. He had already pre-arranged a visa to Australia and though we faced many challenges in leaving Uganda, my parents managed to overcome these and we were able to leave Uganda.

My father arrived in Melbourne, Australia in October 1972 as a migrant. My father was educated in the UK and qualified as a dental surgeon from the University of Durham. His UK qualifications were therefore recognised in Australia. Whilst he arrived in Melbourne with no money, no assets and only his dental certificates, his hard work and determination to succeed paid off. We also had the benefit of all being fluent in English.

My mother, sister and I spent a month in Karachi, Pakistan with my mother’s parents before arriving in Melbourne in November 1972.

When I reflect on that time, it must have

the first Jamath Khana in Melbourne at the Southern Migrant Centre in Elizabeth Street.

One of our highlights in those early days was going to Sydney to meet His Highness the Aga Khan and Her Highness Begum Salimah during their first visit to Australia in November 1979.

My parents made a life for themselves in Melbourne that I am proud of. Whilst they missed Uganda and extended family and community, they never complained. Dad set up his own dental practice, was President of the Lions club and was a pioneer for setting up Jamath Khana in Melbourne. When he retired, he took up art and has painted many beautiful pieces. Both mum and dad worked incredibly hard to ensure my sister and I were settled and provided with a good education.

Our parents made many friends across various communities in Melbourne, and both held many leadership roles across many communities. I know that many people had a long-lasting friendship of mutual respect and admiration with both my parents. They had fond memories over a few decades of great conversations and working together in the earlier days of the community (both the Ismaili community and the support that they provided for the United Muslim Migrant Association).

They both always welcomed new people who arrived in Melbourne and in fact took them under their wings. They were known as Ma and Ba to not only family but also others who considered them as family. Mum was an incredible cook and loved to entertain and I remember in my twenties wondered why my parents arrived home later than me after enjoying all their music parties!!

From my perspective their greatest achievement was being the wisest, strong, and most loving and supportive parents and in laws to my sister Shahiroz (Shy) and her husband John and to me and my husband Andrew. They were incredibly supportive and very wise and proud grandparents to their

My parents made a life for themselves in Melbourne that I am proud of. Whilst they missed Uganda and extended family and community, they never complained. been incredibly challenging for my parents to have had to leave Uganda. Whilst we met some incredibly kind people in Melbourne, we had no extended family, no Jamath Khana (Ismaili Muslim prayer house) or community support in those early years. I have fond memories taking it in turns to host prayers at each other’s houses. This was shared with the original Ismailis in Melbourne of only another two families - Dr Nasseh Mirza and family and Salim Lakha and family.

Over the years as a few more Ismaili’s settled in Melbourne, my parents together with the Mirza’s and Lakha’s eventually set up

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five grandsons, [Joshua (and partner Nikki), Jacob (and partner Kiah), Zachariah, Imtiaz (Imy) and Tahir].

I consider us to be extremely lucky. My mother and father were courageous people, and they did what they could to make our lives comfortable. We met many welcoming and kind people in Australia who helped us to settle.

Our father passed away in 2016 and our beautiful mum passed in 2019. They had always told my sister and I that hard work, and education, and being kind and generous whenever you can, were paramount in life. It’s what enabled them to give us a fresh start and

new opportunities in Australia.

To continue the generosity that my parents taught me and to provide opportunities to others to start a new life in Australia, my husband and I set up a family foundation in 2013 called the Rich Hart Foundation http:// richhartfoundation.com/ The names “Rich and “Hart “ are the acronyms of our children’s Imy and Tahir’s initials and it is a beautiful way to continue the legacy to my parents and through to the future generations.

Mum and dad were very supportive of the Rich Hart Foundation when we first set it up and very proud of the difference we could make and the opportunities we could provide.

After our parents passed away, we decided that we wanted to give refugees the chance to have the same learning and educational opportunities that we were blessed to have.

As a legacy to our parents, the Rich Hart Foundation has proudly supported the senior school education of refugee students. We hope providing this opportunity will change the lives of those who have also had to leave their country of birth.

Left: My parents with the grandsons Joshua (and partner Nikki), Jacob (and partner Kiah), Zachariah, Imtiaz (Imy) and Tahir Right: My parents with Her Highness Begum Salimah in Sydney, November 7, 1979.

I have also worked as a caseworker for many years at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre supporting people seeking asylum who are facing many challenges. I feel very grateful that even though we arrived as migrants in 1972, we were immediately welcomed by Australia.

We had no choice to leave Uganda and so many others also have had to flee their homes to escape violence or persecution. Whilst we had lost all our possessions, our wealth, and our birthright as citizens of Uganda, the education that dad had, could not be taken away. Nor could the love of the family that we had.

I feel blessed and lucky to have had many

Our parents faced enormous challenges having to leave their birth country Uganda, and their immense strength in facing these challenges is an inspiration to me.

opportunities that I know so many others are not blessed with, and I hope in some way we can help to make a positive difference.

Our parents faced enormous challenges having to leave their birth country Uganda, and their immense strength in facing these challenges is an inspiration to me.

Australia has been a welcoming home to all of us and we were welcomed by Australians with kindness, generosity, and warm hearts.

I will always be grateful for this.

I write this with love and deepest gratitude to my late parents Hassanali and Zarin Rahim. May their souls rest in eternal peace. Ameen. ●

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Newly married in a new country IN EARLY

August 1972 President Idi Amin, announced that all Asians -primarily those with origins from the Indian subcontinent, had to leave Uganda within 90 days (by 8th November 1972). My father did not react straight away. Idi Amin announced again that all Asians had to leave Uganda within 90 days or else face the unspecified but from all accounts, potentially dire consequences.

Situation was getting worse day by day and my father was preparing our travel documents so we could leave Uganda before the deadline. We travelled to the capital, Kampala from Mbale, where we lived. It was half a day’s journey.

We stayed with our relatives in Kampala and next morning my father visited relevant authorities to prepare our travel documents. My father, my brother and sisters and I were all Ugandan citizens. However, during the verification process where we had to demonstrate that we were citizens of Uganda, we found ourselves to be stateless. For inexplicable reasons our Ugandan nationality was cancelled. My father was the exception and was allowed to stay in Uganda.

My mother was Indian citizen. Hence, the plan was that my mother and we all sisters would go to India if no other countries accepted us.

However, fate had a different course in store for me to follow. During our visit to Kampala, we stayed with our relatives and visited other friends of my father, including the Metha family. I was introduced to Ashok with prospects of having an ‘arranged marriage’. We liked each other. We got engaged within a few days and we got married soon after at the end of August in 1972, due to the circumstances in Uganda.

We stayed at Ashok’s uncle’s place after the marriage and Ashok applied for visas to Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Mr John Paddick, Australian attaché, called us for an interview. We met him and he instantly made us feel comfortable. He looked at Ashok’s qualification and explained the immigration process and referred us to have our medical examinations as part of the requirements. We obtained a clean bill of health. We had a meeting with Mr Paddick immediately after the medicals. Mr Paddick asked us where we would like to settle in Australia. We, on the other hand, asked him as to what his recommendation was. He recommended Sydney. He suggested that we leave as soon as possible and asked us to engage in any publicity in the media once in Australia, since people in Australia were not aware of the desperate situation in Uganda.

We left Kampala on 1st of October 1972. We travelled to Entebbe Airport

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by bus. My family could not come to see us off because of their safety. My brother met us at the airport as he had gone there earlier. My brother was in a wheelchair and his carer was a young African gentleman. When I asked him whether he had encountered any difficulties and his reply was that he was fine and that no one had troubled him. I was so touched that my brother took such a risk to see us at the airport. We went through customs and there was extensive checking because there was a limit on jewellery and $100 dollars allowed per family.

When we arrived at Nairobi, the same evening, I was not allowed to go out of the airport

and then to Sydney University because Ashok wanted to speak to the Professor of Engineering regarding his qualification. Since Ashok was member of Institute of Engineers UK it was not a problem. The Professor gave Ashok contact details of Mr Sinclair. Ashok made an appointment with Mr Sinclair, and he was offered a Job. Mr Roy was 70 years of age and was a businessman he was living a semi-retired life.

He had been in Australia for many years. Mr Roy picked us up on the third day from the guest house and took us to his place. Mr Roy looked after us well and treated me as his own daughter.

Since Ashok was offered a job, we were looking

We went through immigration and customs and officers were friendly towards us. After the short stop over we were on our way to Sydney. because I was stateless. Ashok phoned the attaché Mr Paddick, and he personally came and showed his Diplomatic Passport to the Kenyan Immigration Officer and said that I was an Australian Government guest. I was allowed to go out. I did not realise then, but afterwards felt that Australia already accepted me from day one. Mr Paddick was very compassionate, kind, and warm person.

The reason we wanted to stay a night in Nairobi was for me to meet Ashok’s parents for the first time as they were unable to attend our wedding. They had specially come to Nairobi from Tanzania.

We left Nairobi next morning (2nd October) and arrived at Mauritius at 3 pm and had a stopover of three hours. We travelled by Qantas and arrived at Perth early morning (3rd October).

We went through immigration and customs and officers were friendly towards us. After the short stop over we were on our way to Sydney.

On 3rd October 1972 we arrived in Sydney at midday with $100 and four suitcases between us.

The Australian High Commission must have informed ABC that first Ugandans were on their way to Australia. As soon as we came out of customs ABC crews filmed us. Mr Paddick had given us the name and phone number of Migrant Assistance Officer of Anglican Church Mr John Henderson. ABC crew called Mr Henderson’s office in the city. He was not aware of our arrival. He tried to organise our accommodation. Apparently, he had rung the Commonwealth Hostel at Coogee, but they had stated that the hostel was for English and European migrants only.

ABC crew drove us to a guesthouse in Mosman.

We had one room and the land lady charged us $5 a night.

A certain Mr Thadani Roy saw us on TV and contacted ABC to get our contact details because he wanted to help us. He called us the following day and introduced himself and offered us accommodation. We were contacted by other two families who were from Mumbai offering us accommodation too. We accepted Mr Roy’s offer, and we were ever so grateful.

The next day we went to Mr Henderson’s Office

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for accommodation and Mr Roy took us around to see rental properties. After seeing few rental properties, he felt that it was bit early for us to move out. He was concerned that I would be alone in new environment and asked us to stay with him for a bit longer. We paid $15 rent per week and shared shopping expenses. I cooked and we helped him with housework. Mr Roy took us shopping regularly. On weekends he would take us for drives and introduced us to his friends.

I had left my family for first time, did not know Ashok that well and hence it was a blessing to have Mr Roy’s support. Once Ashok started working, to avoid me being alone at home, Mr Roy asked me to go with him to his office in the city. He was managing a building in the city and worked half days.

While we were at Mosman guest house Vinod Suvjani (he was from Uganda) phoned us and invited us for dinner. Since we were new, he travelled from the city by ferry and took us to his friend Jehram’s place for dinner. (Vinod’s wife was overseas). Jehram’s wife was Japanese (cannot recall her name). She prepared nice Indian dishes.

Vindo travelled again with us to Mosman.

We met Shiraz, Ashak and Samim, the second Ugandan arrivals, the following week at Mr Henderson’s office to meet Ms Needham and Reverend Arblaster, from the Australian Council of Churches.

We were invited for lunch by Rev and Mrs Arblaster at their home in Burwood. Rev Arblaster picked us from Mosman and brought us back. We also met his son Michael. Harshdbhai and Indiraben Desai also invited us for dinner at their home, as I recall, in Punchbowl.

Harshadbhai, too, picked us from Mosman and brought us back.

Mr Roy rang David Jones to check if they had any vacancy. After getting my details David Jones said that since I did not have local experience, they could not offer me a job. Mr Roy said to me that without local experience it was going to be difficult. I went to the Commonwealth Employment Service at Crows Nest. I was sent for an interview at Australian Record Company in Artarmon to work as a process worker.

As a child and later in New Zealand

After a few months I enrolled in a typing course with Williams Business College at Crows Nest, in the evening class, once a week.

Ashok wanted to do his Master’s degree and so we moved to Randwick, to be nearer to the University of NSW. I changed my job to work in a diamond setting company, in Crows Nest, closer to the business college.

After six months of our arrival, we met my cousin Shantibhai Dhanji, his wife Parubhabi, and their two sons Romey and Hement. (My mother’s elder sister lived in Fiji and Shantibhai is her son). It was a joy to be with family members in Sydney. Since 1973 Shantibhai and family have been supportive, and I am still in regular contact with them.

I am extremely pleased that Hament Dhanji recently became the first Australian of Indian descent to be appointed Judge to the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Within a year of our arrival, we received our Australian Naturalization Certificate. Usually, it takes three years, but we got ours in a year. We went to South Australia at the end of 1973 for eight months then to Papua New Guinea for two and half years. Ashok was offered a job by an Australian Consulting firm. We were given a furnished flat subsidised by the company. I secured a job with Papua New Guinea Public Service.

We returned to Sydney towards the end of 1977. Ashok got a job with DMR (NSW Government).

I got a job within few weeks with NSW Public Service, and we rented a furnished flat for six months in Randwick and then bought a two-

Australia is a beautiful country with wonderful people. I have worked for 40 years and have made many friends socially and at work. bedroom flat in Randwick.

I was in regular contact with Mr Roy, my guardian angel, till he sadly passed away in 1984.

Australia is a beautiful country with wonderful people. I have worked for 40 years and have made many friends socially and at work. My managers and supervisors were always supportive and worked as a great team. Ashok and I are not together, and I am living in Bexley for past thirty-one years where all the neighbours are very friendly and helpful. My friends are very supportive and caring. I feel that I was guided by divine hand to be in this beautiful country. I count my blessings every day and thank everyone who has helped me. ●

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Destiny plays its role AUSTRALIA WAS

never in my sight as a destination. I never saw it as a place where I would establish a home. In 1972 I was a fresh graduate from the University of Nairobi and working in Uganda with a firm of consulting engineers. My plan was to study for a Master’s degree in UK and I had been offered a place at King’s College in London. I had saved about 20,000 Uganda shillings (about $2,000 at that time) for my studies and was planning to travel to London sometime in August when out of blue Idi Amin, the then President of Uganda issued an order expelling all people with origins from the Indian subcontinent. All were to leave Uganda within 90 days.

I was born in Tanzania and as such had a Tanzanian passport and had studied in Nairobi. I discovered I did not have a visa allowing me to work in Uganda and the firm I was engaged by had not applied for one. So here I was in 1972, a person of Indian origin carrying a Tanzanian passport with no work visa and working on some sensitive projects, like a military airport in northern part of Uganda. My first thought was to go back to Tanzania, but I could not because Uganda was at ‘war’ with Tanzania and the border between the two countries was closed.

And then I got married; it was an arranged marriage. Now instead of looking after myself I had an added responsibility of my wife. She was born in Uganda but did not have a Ugandan passport; just a document giving her one way right to travel out of Uganda. To say that I was worried would be an understatement. I was terrified and did not know what to do or who to turn to. Everyone I knew was looking for ways to get out to a safe country. There were long queues outside embassies of UK, USA, Canada, and some European countries. Australia did not have an office in Uganda but an attaché who was based in Nairobi, Kenya used to visit Uganda on a regular basis.

I had applied to go to Canada, US, UK, and Germany and all these countries had rejected my application. I was feeling dejected and depressed. One day I noticed my supervising engineer Mr J. K. Patel filling out an application form to migrate to Australia and I told him not to bother because Australia had the White Australia Policy, and that he did not stand a chance.

Mr Patel said that his brother-in-law, Narendra Patel, the first speaker in the Ugandan Parliament, had some contacts in the Australian High Commission, and he was confident of getting a visa to Australia. Mr Patel asked me, “Why don’t you also apply to go to Australia?

The worst that can happen is that they will say no. You have nothing to lose.” So, I put in my application and left it at that.

A few days later I received a letter from Nairobi, from the Australian High Commission.

I was apprehensive and reluctant to open the letter as I did not want to face yet another rejection. Anyway, I opened the letter. It was an invitation for an interview with the High Commission. That was a life-changing breakthrough.

My wife and I went for the interview not knowing what to expect. We were greeted warmly by the attaché Mr John Paddick. First question Mr Paddick asked was, “Where would you like to settle in Australia?” I was surprised to say the least! The only things I knew about Australia

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Ashok and Urmi on This Day Tonight

were Don Bradman, kangaroos and that rabbits were a major problem. I said to Mr Paddick, “That is the question we should be asking you.”

Mr Paddick advised us to “go to Sydney and make as much noise as you can.” I didn’t understand and he explained that he had to mail all the applications to Canberra where they were processed by the Department of Immigration.

There were no internet or email facilities in

The only things I knew about Australia were Don Bradman, kangaroos and that rabbits were a major problem 1972 and it took a few days to get responses from the Australian Government. Time was of the essence. Mr Paddick wanted to bypass the Canberra bureaucracy and take in more of the affected families. I did not know what I could do, and his response was for us to just get to Sydney; he would sort out the rest. He gave us a phone number in Sydney to contact.

We were excited and nervous. Next step was to buy airline tickets. I could not draw the money I had saved ($2,000); Idi Amin’s government had frozen all the accounts. Once again, my supervisor, Mr. Patel came to rescue. He had a friend who wanted to get money out of Uganda. He paid our fares and gave us spending money - $100.

I promised to pay him back once we settled in Australia and I did keep my promise.

On 2nd October 1972 my wife and I boarded a flight from Entebbe to Nairobi where we had an overnight stop before flying to Sydney.

My parents had not met my wife. Hence, they travelled from Tanzania to Nairobi to meet my wife, the new bride. When we landed at Nairobi Airport my parents and several relatives had come to receive us. However, the immigration authorities in Nairobi would not allow my

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wife to leave the airport as she did not have a passport; just the one-way document to leave Uganda. Fortunately, Mr. Paddick had given his phone number in Nairobi in case there were any problems in our journey. So, I called him and told him the story. He said, “No worries! I’ll be there shortly.” He came to the airport and got us out as guests of the Australian Government! My wife and I spent one night with my parents and the following day we flew to Sydney.

We landed in Sydney on 3rd October. It was a bright sunny afternoon, and I could feel the air of freedom and positive energy. We were tired but happy.

When we came out of the airport, we noticed a bunch of reporters and television cameras.

At first, I thought they were waiting for some special guests but soon we discovered we were the ‘special guests.’ We were guided into a media room. We were in a daze. I don’t remember what questions or answers were exchanged. Towards the end one of the reporters asked where we were staying in Sydney. I replied I didn’t know but I had a phone number given to me by the Australian High Commission.

The reporter (he was from the ABC) called the number and after a few minutes informed us that it could not be connected. So here we were – with $100 in our pocket, a phone number that could not be connected and not knowing a soul in the country! But miracles do happen. The ABC crew helped us; they drove us to a hostel in Mosman.

There they interviewed us for the ABC’s current affairs program – This Day Tonight.

The hostel was charging us $5 per night – a lot of money given our working capital was $100!

That night an Indian gentleman Mr. Thadani Roy tracked us down. He had called the ABC after seeing us on the nightly news. Mr. Roy offered us accommodation. Mr. Roy was a semi-retired businessman and owned and managed a property in Sydney City opposite the Centre Point Tower. The next day Mr. Roy picked us and drove to his twobedroom apartment in Mosman.

Mr. Roy adopted by wife as his daughter and encouraged me to learn how to cook and iron.

I was keen to find an engineering job. I was advised by some of the people I spoke to that I had to be a member of the Institute of Engineers

Australia and for that I would have to pass an engineering exam. I told the Institute that I was an Associate Member of Institute of Civil Engineers in UK and that the Australian Institute was an affiliate of the British Institution and as such I did not have to sit for any exams.

Someone suggested that I contact the Professor of Engineering at the University of Sydney and ask for his help. My wife and I took a bus to the Sydney University and requested to see the Professor of Civil Engineering. While we were waiting two gentlemen walked in; one of them was Mike Willesie the host of ‘A Current Affair’ on Channel 9. They wanted to interview us, and I asked them to wait till I had sorted out the matter of my qualification. The professor asked me the name of my professor at the University of Nairobi. When I said his name was Professor Royston Jones his eyes lit up. He knew Professor Jones! The Sydney University professor made a few phone calls and assured me not to worry and that everything would be sorted out. He also asked me to contact Sinclair Knight and Partners, a firm of consulting engineers in.

Sydney. The next day I spoke to Mr. Bruce Sinclair, and he asked me to see him at his office in St. Leonards.

Those days were hectic, and everything was happening fast. We were interviewed by newspapers and magazines. Even John Laws from radio 2GB called! I did not know who he was,

but I told him our story and the situation in Uganda. It was all a blur. One day we were travelling in a bus, and I noticed that people were staring at us and smiling. I was feeling uncomfortable, and I told my wife. She pointed to a newspaper; her photo was on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald! No wonder people were staring and smiling.

All this publicity led to changes in the approval process by the Department of Immigration. Mr. Paddick was given authority to approve people to come to Australia without

Those days were hectic, and everything was happening fast. We were interviewed by newspapers and magazines. Even John Laws from radio 2GB called! seeking consent from Canberra. In the end around 600 families migrated to Australia – most of them were professionals – engineers, doctors, teachers, lawyers. Most of them were experienced professionals; only I and couple of others were virtually fresh graduates with little professional experience.

I started my career with Sinclair Knight and Partners (SKM). The generosity and kindness of my colleagues was truly astounding and touching. I was assigned to the transport planning section of SKM, and I did not know my way around Sydney! It was a steep learning curve for me. Mr. Bruce Sinclair took personal interest and called me into his office once or twice a week and would ask me how I was going.

His compassion, generosity and guidance have always stayed with me. Everyone called him Bruce; I called him Mr. Sinclair. I am forever grateful to Mr. Sinclair.

I got to study for a master’s degree in Highways and Traffic at the University of New South Wales and was given a scholarship of $50 per week. My wife landed a job with a record company and earned $35 per week. We moved closer to the NSW University and rented a twobedroom place in Randwick. In 1973, I graduated from the NSW University with a Master of Engineering.

In 1973 we moved to Port Augusta in South Australia, and I worked with the Commonwealth Railways of Australia. I was involved in locating a route for Tarcoola to Alice Springs railway. I met the most friendly and generous people along the way – very down to earth.

For 27 years I worked in Sydney Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW and had a privilege of working with a group of brilliant and committed engineers with a big vision for Sydney.

In January 2000, I moved to Canberra where I worked with the Department of Transport and Infrastructure, and was involved in major road projects in NSW, Queensland, and Victoria.

Over the years I managed to bring my mother, brothers, and sister to Australia. They are all well settled in Australia with their children and grandchildren.

It is 50 years since we arrived in this beautiful and blessed country and every day I appreciate and give thanks for the blessings bestowed upon us by the beautiful and generous people of this country, which I proudly call home. ●

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Fifty Year Journey

Most countries had treated the explulsion as Uganda’s internal matter. Thanks to countries including Britain, Canada and Australia, the majority of the exodus victims wer saved from such atrocities outlined above by Ashok.

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"I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains... I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea..."

I WAS

born and raised in Kampala, Uganda on the shores of Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa. My grandfather left India and was educated at Jesus College, Oxford and Grays Inn where he became a barrister. As he was part of the Indian Nationalist Movement, the British Government did not want him to return to India, so he emigrated to Kenya in 1905 where he practised law and later became a member of Parliament on the Privy Council in 1924. My father was born in Kenya and went on to become a partner in a large law practice after the family moved to Uganda in the 1940s. My mother worked as a schoolteacher. My uncle went on to become a Supreme Court judge in Uganda in the 1960s.

We lived on Namirembe Road in my grandparent’s house on a hill opposite the Kabaka’s palace (King of Buganda, a province of Uganda) and had an idyllic childhood.

Eventually our family moved to Kololo near our high school in a multicultural suburb called Mackenzie Vale. I sat for the Higher School Certificate (Cambridge University A levels) and entered Makerere University’s Faculty of Medicine in 1967 residing in University Hall, one of the residential colleges. Idi Amin presided over my university graduation ceremony, telling the graduates in his speech they all could have syphilis!

Following graduation, I worked as a resident doctor at the Mulago teaching hospital with 2,500 beds and usually 4,000 patients due to overcrowding.

In 1970, following a military coup President Idi Amin came to power. Our nextdoor neighbours would tip us off a few days before any unrest. One neighbour said he was an American with the Peace Corps, who we later found out was actually with the CIA. Our neighbour on the other side was an Israeli working with the Agricultural Ministry of Uganda, who was a member of Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service. Identity cards were forced on all Ugandans, a cruel and humiliating process lasting days. My father and I had Ugandan passports because we were professionals associated with the Government and were forced to give up our British passports that we both had since birth. As a medical student I was a research fellow in the Prostaglandin Unit in Obstetrics and Pharmacology. I also worked in a rural leprosy centre and served in the cholera epidemic in the desert area.

When I was a resident doctor at the Mulago hospital, I had to insert an intravenous drip into one of Idi Amin’s wives, with a submachine gun pointed at me by her security army officer. I didn’t miss the vein that time, or ever again.

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Final year Faculty of Medicine – with academic teaching staff (heads of major departments – 1971)

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Fifty Year Journey

Several of my father’s friends in politics started to “disappear” in 1971 and their bodies were never found. The Chief Justice was killed

by Amin’s Secret police. I started to see evidence of tortured bodies brought in at work to the hospital from Luzira prison. Some of our African friends and colleagues who opposed him disappeared and were never found or were killed.

One of these people was my boss in the hospital who was a Ugandan African gynaecologist. He was dragged out of the operating theatre in the middle of an operation by Amin’s security police, tied to a tree outside the hospital and shot dead while we were all watching out the window from the operating theatre.

In 1972 when Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of Ugandan Asians, my family decided to flee the country in stages. My family like many others was in a difficult situation with our passports.

My mum, younger brother, and sister (both still at school) had British passports. My dad and I had Ugandan passports. I was also in a unique category of “essential services” meaning the expulsion order did not apply to me. But the risk of me staying as an Indian Ugandan was very high, so my dad told me I should leave.

In 1972 when Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of Ugandan Asians, my family decided to flee the country in stages.

I knew the Canadian government was taking in refugees that did not have British passports, which was me as I’d had to give mine up about seven years prior when I went to university. I went to the Canadian Embassy, but found they were closed for lunch - a fate that changed the course of my life forever. I was standing outside the area where all the embassies were, when an official at the Australian High Commission came up and asked me what I did. When I said I was a doctor, he said, Australia wants teachers and doctors. He processed my details and two days later I was contacted and given a visa to enter Australia. It was on a piece of paper only to be

My Ugandan identity card

We went to Maroubra beach with a few tinnies of beer only to be accosted by a beach inspector telling us it was not allowed so grateful as we were scared, we might land up in gaol! stapled into my passport after I left East Africa.

As I was in essential services, I had to buy a return ticket to pretend as if I was going to Sydney on a holiday. Mr John Paddick from the Australian High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya was in Uganda to co-ordinate the process and he was unbelievably helpful with instructions. He was in the know about what would take place.

I was the first of my family to leave Uganda. I left the country alone in November 1972 at age 23.

My wife Linda and I when we were four years old

A month later my younger brother (who was in his last year of high school) left alone for England on one of the refugee flights with his British passport. My parents and sister stayed beyond the deadline for the expulsion order. My dad had built his business and whole life in Uganda, and they had nowhere to go and my sister was young.

They ended up leaving for India in March 1973, with no money, assets, or anything.

Uganda had foreign exchange control, so all I was allowed to take out of the country was a 20kg bag, 50 pounds sterling and a watch - the army would confiscate everything else at the airport.

I boarded a flight from Entebbe airport on East African Airways with my bag, travellers’ cheques and my recently acquired Swiss watch. On arrival in Nairobi, I found out there was a family of four other Indian Ugandans on my flight. We slept in the terminal overnight and then boarded a British Airways flight to Port Louis, Mauritius.

Many hours later we picked up the Qantas flight to Perth. Immigration officials took us off the flight, stamped our passports for permanent entry and removed the paper visa! We then joined the flight to Sydney.

I arrived in Sydney on the 5th of November 1972 not knowing anyone. There were some other Indian Ugandans there at the airport too. A Commonwealth car took some of them to Villawood, but I was lucky to be sent to the Endeavour Refugee Hostel in Coogee. I was given accommodation, meals and access to social services. They told me I could stay there for a year, but I started to look for residency jobs as a doctor after organising my medical registration.

Australia recognised my university degree as it was a British registered medical school. I remember the Federal election was on TV and I watched Gough Whitlam and William McMahon fight it out. Learning where transport links, shops and beaches were part of my first week.

We went to Maroubra beach with a few tinnies of beer only to be accosted by a beach inspector telling us it was not allowed - so grateful as we were scared, we might land up in gaol!

Eventually after a few months I secured an internship post at St George Hospital (one of the major teaching hospitals in Sydney), provided I went to work in the rural sector in Orange during the cold winter for four months. I loved the staff and people in Orange and managed to see Forbes, Parkes and surrounds and play cricket and squash. Making Billy Tea on Mt. Canobilis was a highlight with other colleagues and medical students. After completing my internship, I secured a residency post and was the first ever doctor at St George Hospital to pass the specialist FRACP exam at the first attempt.

In 1977, five years after my arrival, I married my wife Linda who was a nurse at St George Hospital and a seventh generation Australian. I was the first one in my family to marry outside the Indian community - my brother and sister also subsequently married non-Indians. I went on to study Pathology and Haematology under Professor Bob Pitney who would later become the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of NSW. During the 1980s, my wife Linda and I moved to England as I was to specialise in Oncology (a new specialty) at the University of Manchester as a Cancer Research Campaign Fellow.

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Maritime Museum Welcome Wall Function 2010 - Left to Right: Peter Garrett, Arts Minister in Rudd Government, Peter Sinclair ( Board Chair, Museum,) myself and Anton Enis( SBS) who was the MC

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Linda worked as a nurse at the BBC TV station. We returned to Sydney, and I joined Sydney Hospital with a practice in Macquarie Street for about four years. Following that I came back to St George Hospital to start a new Oncology Unit there. All this took hard work and eight years after we got married our beautiful daughter Alana was born, much to everyone’s joy. This grew to around 40 specialists. I became Director of Medical Oncology at St George and Sutherland Hospitals for 25 years. I was a consultant Oncologist to Calvary Hospice and was a volunteer Board member of the St George Cancer Care Foundation, the Prostate Cancer Institute, and Bezzina House, a cancer lodge for rural patients and families.

My wife, Linda, and I are now both retired.

Our daughter Alana has a university degree in Journalism/Law graduating with first class honours, was a litigation lawyer at a top-tier law firm in Sydney, and is now the CEO of the Charlie Teo Foundation, charity funding brain cancer research. We are proud of her achievements. In 2008, my wife and daughter (for my 60th birthday) put my name down for the Welcome Wall for migrants at the Maritime Museum in Sydney, where they asked me to give one of the keynote addresses at their plaque unveiling ceremony. I was honoured to speak to around 3000 people at Darling Harbour.

I have never returned to Uganda. Our old house is intact as it was confiscated by the army and the Head of Military Intelligence lived there! My brother passed the A levels in England living alone at 17 years of age and then obtained an engineering degree at Trinity

I have never returned to Uganda. Our old house is intact as it was confiscated by the army and the Head of Military Intelligence lived there!

College, Cambridge followed by a PhD at Sussex University. He still lives in Cambridge where he is on the academic staff.

My parents and sister went to India where my father worked as a lawyer for one of the banks in Mumbai. Linda and I organised for my sister to study at Southampton University and she worked as a merchant banker in London and speaks many languages. She has now retired in Noosa, Queensland with her husband who also was a merchant banker.

This awful experience had a huge impact on my family, but we all feel lucky to be alive. I fell in love with Sydney. My return ticket was cashed in after my arrival here for a Gold Coast holiday.

I have been blessed in many ways to come to Australia. My wife and I have been married for 45 years.

I can certainly identify with the poem of Dorothea Mackellar ... “ I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains... I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea...” ●

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Fate and destiny THERE WAS

trepidation and anxiety as we approached Entebbe airport in Uganda on 17th December 2010. Last time I had seen Entebbe was on 7th October 1972 when I was forced to leave Uganda under a very different circumstance – being expelled by the notorious Dictator Idi Amin Dada from the country of my birth, for being brown skinned (my parents had moved to Uganda from Gujarat, India in 1928). There were numerous thoughts racing through my crowded mind. With me was my wife Samim – who I had met at high school in Uganda, our son Amyn and his wife Zahra and our daughter Rehana.

The journey to Kampala from Entebbe, some 30 kilometers, used to take us half an hour back in the good old days. I started to point out buildings and places to my family. I even told our driver to take back routes to avoid traffic. Family was impressed and secretly I was too that I could recall so much. The excitement increased as we got closer to the Serena Hotel – one of the better ones in Kampala. That evening we ended up having the most magnificent buffet with all the local delicacies such as mogo (cassava), matoke (green cooking bananas), Nile-perch (fish), ougali and nyama (local specialty) as well as an impressive variety of Indian and western dishes and desserts. We felt like royalty.

My family had allocated the entire day for Samim and I to take them to the places where we were born, the Aga Khan Schools where we studied, the iconic Ismaili Jamatkhana where we had met and Makerere University where Samim had studied. I could hardly wait for the morning.

Overnight I started to recall the days back in 1972 when it all started.

Dictator’s Dream - Our Nightmare

It was 4th of August 1972 when the infamous announcement was made by President Idi Amin.

He was on television saying that he had a dream and that god had told him to expel people of Indian origin from Uganda.

A few days later, all people of Indian origins claiming to be Uganda Citizens were required to go through a verification process. After waiting for hours, I found myself standing in front of this Ugandan Immigration Officer. She was well spoken and asked me to present my documents. She took the documents and got my file where she searched for the original copy of the renunciation certificate. She could not find it. So, without any further discussion she unceremoniously cut the corner of my passport and threw it in a bin, which had many other “confiscated” passports. With that I became “stateless”. In other words not belonging to any country! I applied for migration to USA and Canada. Canada was most encouraging – thanks to the relationship of His Highness the Aga Khan with the then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Canada was very receptive and in fact flew Air Canada planes over to evacuate the deportees. My application to migrate to Canada was successful but with a few caveats - my qualifications would not be recognised. I would need to organise a new travel document and that if I wanted Samim to come with me then we needed to get married prior to issue of the visas. I started to get all the processes in place to go to Canada, when a university colleague

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Right: Shiraz, Samim & Ashak Below: receiving his Highness the Aga Khan at Sydney Airport – 7th November 1979.

I started to get all the processes in place to go to Canada, when a university colleague Ashok Metha suggested that I apply to go to Australia.

Ashok Metha suggested that I apply to go to Australia.

I went to the General Post Office on Kampala Road to post my completed Australian Visa Application to the High Commission in Kenya. By co-incidence I met Ashok Metha again at the GPO. He told me not to post the application, but instead to take it personally to the temporary Australian High Commission office, a hotel room at the International Hotel. I thanked him and went and knocked on the door of this temporary office.

Our house, No. 5 Bombay Gardens, Kampala

Mr John Paddick, the attaché, opened the door and welcomed me. I handed in my application and stated that he could call me for an interview when appropriate. To which he said, “Sit down – this is your interview.” I certainly was not expecting that. I nervously sat down. He asked me “What is your qualification?” to which I enthusiastically replied, “Mechanical Engineer sir”. He shook his head and said, “Oh no! Australia is full of Mechanical Engineers”. He had a list of eligible professionals and Mechanical Engineer was not on the list. He gleaned through my application and to my surprise asked me “Are you a member of the Ismaili community? What is the Aga Khan’s investment in Uganda?” I stood up and walked to the window of the hotel room to point out two nearby high-rise structures that were visible - the Aga Khan Diamond Jubilee and the Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) buildings.

I said there were numerous Aga Khan schools in all major locations as well as Aga Khan Health Centres – open to the public, not just Ismailis.

My Paddick stated that Ismailis were a very organised community. He added “Australia would certainly benefit if communities like yours were to migrate there.” Then came the question that changed my life. “So, what do you do now?”.

I said I was lecturing at the Uganda Technical College in Mechanical Engineering. “Ah ha”, Mr Paddick responded, “So you are a Lecturer, not a Mechanical Engineer. It looks like you are going to Australia. Where in Australia would you want to go?” My immediate reply was. “Perth.” Bearing in mind I was 23 and future of my family in Uganda was undecided, my thinking was that maybe some of them could end up in India. Perth looked a lot closer to India than Sydney or Melbourne. Mr. Paddick immediately retorted. “No you won’t. You will be much better off in Sydney.” How right he was. The rest, as they say, is history.

Out of Africa

Samim, Shiraz, my brother, and I left on 7th of October 1972. Due to security restrictions, the

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Fifty Year Journey

Receiving his Highness the Aga Khan at Sydney Airport – 7th November 1979

families could only come to a central point in Kampala to farewell those departing, where buses were organised to take us to Entebbe Airport.

Just before checking in our luggage, an army officer came to me to say that our luggage looked heavy and that he could help us get it through customs. I just nodded my approval. Once inside the departure lounge, this officer came to me and pointed to where the toilets were. I knew what that meant. I proceeded to the toilets, and he followed me. I placed a Ugandan one hundred shilling note in the top pocket of my shirt so that it was visible.

He brushed past me and took the money. That was his “reward” for helping us get our luggage through. At last the Air France plane arrived. Once on board we felt much safer.

After a brief stop at Nairobi, Kenya we were on our way to Mauritius. Mr Paddick had assisted in getting us accommodation in Mauritius, where we were received by Mr Gujadar, a Round Table Association member, who came in his Mercedes-Benz.

Two days later we left for Sydney.

On 10 October 1972 we arrived at Sydney airport.

To our amazement there were representatives from the Australian Council of Churches (ACC), Red Cross, Salvation Army, and the Indian Australian Association who had come to receive us. One of them even greeted us in Swahili saying “Jambo”. He was late Reverend Arblaster, who became a very good family friend and a ‘guardian’- as outlined

Order of Australia ceremony in 2017 with the Governor General His Excellency Honourable David Hurley

in Samim’s story. He asked us if we wanted to make a statement to the press. I recalled what Mr Paddick had suggested that if we were to create some publicity in Australia on the plight of the remaining people, then that could increase the chances of other refugees from Uganda to come to Australia. Hence, we agreed to the press interview.

Reporters from television channels and newspapers asked all sorts of questions about Uganda, about Idi Amin Dada, about our trip and what it felt like coming to Australia. There was a question on White Australia Policy to which we replied saying that we had come on our qualifications. Another question, I recall, was along the lines of “Has Australia done you a favour by allowing you to come to Australia”. My reply was “No, we have come here as we have qualifications. Australia would do a big favour if they were to take those refugees who did not have qualifications and were desperate to leave Uganda.”

From the airport Samim was taken to the YWCA, since we were not married, whilst Shiraz and I were taken to “Ningana” – a migrant hostel in Annandale, an inner suburb of Sydney. Philippa Donovan – Secretary at ACC had escorted us to this hostel. A certain Mr Almond was the manager at the hostel and upon our arrival I heard him say to Phillipa, “There must be a mistake. This hostel is for British migrants only.” She said she was only following instructions given by Miss Else Needham, the ACC Resettlement Director and left.

After taking us to the room, Mr. Almond said “Hope you keep it clean.” We were too tired to respond.

However, over the two weeks that we were there Mr Almond became friendlier. Shiraz even repaired a few table lamps for him at no charge. So, on the last day when we were leaving, Mr Almond said in a more jovial manner, “I hope you left the room clean.” My response was, “Cleaner than we found it” with an obvious smile. We shook hands as friends.

50 Years On

We moved to a house, 207 Trafalgar Street, Stanmore, and Samim became the bread winner. I often introduced her to my friends as my ‘financee’ instead of ‘fiancée’. She worked at David Jones as a clerk and got the princely sum of $50 every week. $30 went towards the rent, $10 was for all the food and incidentals and we saved $10. With Shiraz and I finally getting jobs (it was hard as we did not have the ‘local experience’ - an excuse used for rejecting applications by prospective employers – still appears to be the same excuse), we settled down and bought our first car – a second-hand mini-minor for $1,200 from a work colleague.

With the newly arrived Ismaili Muslim families from Uganda together with families that were already in Sydney, the first ever ‘jamatkhana’ (religious gathering place) was organised at 207 Trafalgar Street, Stanmore, on 13th December 1972.

Samim and Shiraz made ‘biryani’ (festive occasion rice dish) and there was traditional dancing, including ‘dandiya and rasra’. That marked the beginning of the Ismaili settlement in Australia.

Subsequently halls and office spaces were rented as ‘jamatkhanas’. Samim and I were integrally involved with the design and establishment of more permanent jamatkhanas, including early childhood and religious education facilities. We met the critical opening dates: Sydney on 13th December, 2002, Brisbane on 5th March 2011, Melbourne on

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We moved to a house, 207 Trafalgar Street, Stanmore, and Samim became the bread winner.

Left: National Migrant Monument Names Inscription Ceremony at ANMM, March 21, 2021 - L to R: Andrew, Nahla-Samim, Rehana, Ashak, Amyn & Zahra.

(Front row) Azrah, Kiyan, Zayn & Aydin.

Right: Maharaja’s farewell after 33 years with Norman Disney & Young 2011

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19th March, 2011, Perth on 31st Mar, 2012, Adelaide on 22nd Sept 2012 and Auckland in July, 2021. I feel privileged to be able to utilize my professional knowledge in architecture and air conditioning for community services.

On 7th November 1979, His Highness the Aga Khan visited Sydney for very first time ever. Gathering comprised 141 members. On 1st January 1987 was the second, and the only other, visit by His Highness the Aga Khan to Sydney. These have been very memorable occasions.

Since 2013, I have been involved with and have visited all the seven spectacular and iconic Ismaili Centres throughout the world, including the new one being built in Houston, where a change to a sustainable mechanical system resulted in a saving of US$1 million. Another challenging but equally satisfying project was the design (that was personally approved by the Aga Khan) and project management of the air conditioning of the jamatkhana hall in the Ismaili Centre Lisbon, which had no cooling facility since it was built some 30 years ago. I felt blessed to have been invited to operate the system during the Aga Khan’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Lisbon in 2018. Presently I am engaged by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) on carbon emission minimisation projects in Northern Pakistan and Tajikistan to meet AKDN’s 2030 Net Zero target.

My professional career commenced with Honeywell Pty Ltd followed by T O’Connor & Sons.

In 1978, Allan Disney and David Norman offered

me a role at Norman Disney & Young (NDY), a leading Consulting Engineering firm. I became a Director and Shareholder in 1995. I worked on prestigious projects like Y2K assessments for all Australian Defence buildings, air conditioning systems for Sydney Olympic 2000 venues, ABC and SBS Radio & TV Stations, National Australian Maritime Museum, 1 Bligh Street (a 6 green star building), Canberra Hospital, National Library, Pinewood Film Studios, Malaysia, and NSW Archival Storage Facility, boasting the largest geothermal air conditioning system in NSW. I retired from NDY in July 2011 and was given a Maharaja’s farewell, where the entire staff dressed up in Indian outfits and the office was set up as an Indian Palace.

I went to the University of Sydney in 2012 with the offer to continue my part-time lecturing. That was not to be because I was provided an office and a more permanent position. I designed and project managed the building of the new Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) Laboratory (first of its kind in Australia), for which I also raised $350,000 worth of donations from the property industry.

I also contributed to a new degree – Master of Architectural Science - High Performance Building, launched in 2014. Presently, I am a Senior Lecturer at the Schools of Architecture, Design & Planning and Mechanical Engineering.

I was awarded Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 2022 at a tender age of 72! My thesis title was ‘Comparative Analysis of Air Conditioning Systems in Commercial Office Buildings: Cost, Energy and Comfort’ – My research also addressed the role of air conditioning and ventilation systems with respect to Climate Change and Minimisation of Covid Transmission.

In 2017, I was fortunate to be on the Queen’s Birthday Honour’s List and was awarded an AM – Member of the Order of Australia, for services to the Ismaili Community in Australia, for sustainability at tertiary level and for engineering. ●

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Home is the community you serve WE WERE

reasonably well off, and I went to the Aga Khan School in Kampala. I continued my education at Makerere University, where I was a resident of Mary Stuart Hall. I was dating my boyfriend Ashak who is my husband now. When the problems started in Uganda in 1972, I only had three months left before finishing my degree.

Since I was over 18 years, I had to apply separately for visas to other countries from my family and so I applied to the Canadian Embassy in Kampala. Canada was everyone’s first choice because the bulk of my community was intending to move there. I was called for an interview and rejected as I had no particular skills needed in Canada. I was only a student studying English Literature and French. This left me with limited options and my family was not sure which country they were going to, at that time. Ashak came to see my family and asked if I could go to Australia with him. My whole extended family thought it was not a good idea as Australia was seen as a racist country and so far. My parents, however, were quite happy to let me to go for safety reasons plus their future was uncertain. My intention was that if I came to Australia, I would be able to sponsor them.

My temporary visas to Australia were as Ashak’s dependent on a stipulation that I should marry him within 6 months of landing. On arrival at the airport, I did not appear in the press interview because I was concerned about consequences to my family still in Uganda. I had no idea what was happening to them, and this was a constant worry. I was supposed to stay with a family however due to some unknown reason they declined to take me in because maybe I was not what they expected. Miss Needham of the Australian Council of Churches frantically rang around and found accommodation for me at the YWCA in the city. This was probably the worst night of my life because I was scared, lonely and could not speak to anyone on the sixth floor of YWCA as there were non-English speaking migrants from Europe. Fortunately, the windows had bars so I could only look over the roof tops of houses and building, I was too scared to go out and get lost.

The next day I was driven to Chiefly Square for an interview and offered a job (with immediate start) at David Jones in Market Street. It was a blessing to start work so quickly, because I was occupied during the day and started making friends at work. My salary was $50 per week. After staying a week at YWCA, Rev Ted Arblaster’s family kindly offered to look after me. Rev Arblaster realized that I was missing my family. He would take the train with me from Strathfield to Town Hall station and we would walk to Market Street where he would leave me at the door of David Jones. After dropping me, he would walk to work at the Horden Pavilion building. He made sure that I knew my way around the city. Mary, his wife assisted me, allowing me to help her cook and clean when I returned from work, as I had never done such chores before. In the meantime, Ashak and Shiraz had moved into a house at Lewisham on Henry Street,

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L to R: Almas, Salma, Abdulmohamad (my dad), Alnoor, Sakarbai (my mum), Yasmin and myself Below, L to R: Masters degree in Early Childhood Development – Macquarie University.

Bachelor of Arts in English and French – University of Sydney.

With Her Highness Begum Salimah in Sydney – November 7, 1979

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and I joined them. Later we moved to 207 Trafalgar Street, Stanmore, which became a ‘community house’ where many would knock on the door and come and join us for a meal; in a few cases some new arrivals would stay with us until they found a place of their own. This continued when we moved to Wahroonga I worked as a filing clerk at David Jones, and I was retrenched after 3 months as they were moving on to computers. I did not have any specific skills and decided to go back to studies. Meanwhile, Rev. Arblaster was considering marrying us in a church at that time. But fate had other things in store for me. I applied for a scholarship in Education and one of the conditions was that I had to be single so I could go and teach in the countryside. Ashak rang the Department of Immigration and explained

our dilemma to them – on one hand (immigration) required me to get married and on the other hand (education) I needed to remain single. Civil service, being what it is, he spoke to few immigration officers, and nothing was resolved. My visas were coming to an end. One day before my visa expiration date, we heard from the immigration department to go see them and I received my permanent residence to Australia.

We were delighted as that reduced our angst.

Thanks to the Whitlam government, University fees were abolished. Hence, I returned to university to finish my Bachelor of Arts degree. I found employment at the Dairy Industry Laboratories based at Sydney University and studied in the evenings. The person in charge, Dr McPhillips was very kind and allowed me to do my assignments

Top: At Rehana & Andrew’s wedding.

L to R: Zayn, Amyn, Ashak, Andrew, Rehana, Samim & Zahra. Below: With Rehana Samim’s Painting – "Last Journey" Samim holding the painting – “NOOR” presented to Professor Farouk Mitha for the Ismaili Institute

provided I had finished typing the results of the analysis of the milk and his letters. I worked there for 5 years and completed my basic degree. During this time, my family had settled in Vancouver, Canada and my father had sponsored me, so I had an Australian citizenship with a permanent residence to Canada. I did travel to Canada to see my family and worked in Canada for 6 months before Ashak came to Vancouver and we got married on 1st September in 1974.

On returning back to Sydney, via London, Europe (our honeymoon) and Bombay, I continued my education and obtained Diploma in Education and worked as a primary teacher at Wahroonga Bush School and Pymble Ladies College.. I subsequently acquired two degrees, Masters in Early Childhood, and a Masters in Humanities from Macquarie University. I worked as a Director at Paramatta

Child Care Centre and at Possum’s Corner. My focus was on autistic children and I was fortunate to have had an opportunity to look after a six-year autistic child and developed a great relationship.

Ashak and I laid the foundation upon which the Ismaili community in Australia and New Zealand was built. The first ‘jamati gathering’ was held at our house in 1972. I had taken a special interest in children and early childhood education, and I helped establish the Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre and the Religious Education (RE) classes. I was the first volunteer and RE teacher and was acknowledged for my services by His Highness the Aga Khan in 1979 and again in 1987. Together with Ashak we organised both of the Aga Khan’s visits to Sydney and shared many memorable and unique opportunities, such as providing him with ‘chicken samosas’.

I spent much of my time volunteering within and outside of the community. Outside the community I joined voluntary organisations such as Dial-a Mum. Within the community I was part of developing and training teachers and had numerous opportunities to travel to Canada, America, UAE, Syria and East Africa. After this I worked to assist many new migrants and overseas students to come to Australia and New Zealand. I was fortunate in my community work to travel to Uganda three times and was offered a citizenship by the Chief Justice for Uganda.

My hobby in later life is painting. I take inspiration from the land around me – the vast Australian landscapes and memories from my homeland of East Africa. We were lucky to have two children and be able to raise them with so many opportunities here in Australia. Our son Amyn is married to Zahra, and they have three sons, Zayn, Kiyan and Aydin. Our daughter Rehana is married to Andrew, and they have two daughters, Azrah and Nahla-Samim. It is amazing to think where we started and where we have ended up. It is something that not even I could have “dreamed” up!

Epilogue

In 2017 Samim was diagnosed with the insidious Motor Neurone Disease (MND). She passed away peacefully on 2nd November 2019. ●

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From Jinja, Uganda to Sydney, Australia – 50 years on JINJA, A

town located in southeastern Busoga region of Uganda, fifty miles from the capital Kampala, sitting on the shores of Lake Victoria and proudly boasting the source of the River Nile, Owen Falls Dam, beautiful parks, wonderful schools and a unique multicultural mix of Indigenous Ugandans, British, Asians and others. It is the town of my birthplace, and my earliest memories of life, till the day we left, were of an idyllic paradise. Life was filled with good friends from school (Victoria Nile, a British run school), from our Jinja Club, where we could enjoy dances, parties and an active social life with fellow Goans, drives to Kakira to visit friends, picnics by the river Nile, safaris to exotic locations like Murchison Falls, and a home so safe, that one could walk down the street, visit friends nearby and play with impunity. One of my earliest memories at three years of age, was at a Christmas party at the Jinja club, with Santa Claus gifting me a toy Kangaroo stroller on wheels. Little did I realise it was a portent for the future.

My name is Linette Gomes Sardinha and this is the story of my move from Jinja, Uganda to Sydney Australia, fifty years on.

The military coup by Idi Amin leading to seizure of power from President Milton Obote took place on January 25, 1971. My peaceful and idyllic life in Jinja was shattered on that fateful day, when violence, curfews, military rule and loss of freedom entered our lives.

My mother Ruth, and I, were alone with our maid Theresa, on the day it happened; my father Lasserre, and brother Lavier, being overseas in Goa. I remember watching the takeover on the news. As a child I was not concerned with politics but could sense that mum was worried. Then came the curfews, and the shooting! Jinja was subjected to fierce fighting and I still remember hearing the gunfire. It was a few streets from where we lived, but seemed like it was next door. This was my first experience of real fear. I trembled as I sat with Mum and Theresa, formulating wild plans to duck under one of the beds, pulling them both with me, should there be a knock on the door.

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Outside our Jinja Home: 1.Left to Right: Ruth, Linette, Theresa, Valente (visiting cousin from Goa) and Lavier. 2.

Lavier and Linette in our front yard

My parents started talking about moving overseas and leaving Uganda. Friends at school were all talking about the same thing Fortunately, that did not happen, and in the days, weeks and months which followed we watched in bemused horror as the takeover was completed. My father and brother returned, I went back to school and life returned to some kind of normality but it was the never the same. My parents started talking about moving overseas and leaving Uganda. Friends at school were all talking about the same thing. “Are you leaving” and “which country are you going to?” were the most common conversational topics.

Then came the expulsion in 1972, a retraction of sorts from Amin for professionals, and further threats of expulsion. My parents now seriously considered leaving. The choices for them were Britain, (as they were on British passports), Canada or Australia. I remember them sitting us down one day and asking my brother and I, our preference. Our family of four made a unanimous decision for Australia – land of sunny skies and opportunity. The down side was that Australia had only offered to take 200 families and not many of our relatives or friends had gone there.

The interview in Kampala with Mr. Paddick (Australia’s cultural attaché to Uganda) finally came. As a child and addicted bookworm, I had my nose buried deep in a Nancy Drew novel,

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refusing to put it down despite dad frowning me down, as Paddick ushered us into his office for this important interview. Paddick talked with mum, dad and Lavier, then turned to me, and to my surprise, as I ignored dad’s glares, he reached over and asked to see my book.

There followed a series of questions about Nancy Drew and her adventures, which I happily answered whilst triumphantly looking at dad. Paddick looked pleased and said that he too, liked Nancy Drew. That sealed Paddick forever in my mind as ‘cool’ and made me long for Australia more than ever.

It did not take long for our acceptance to Australia to come through. It was 1972, life was tense, and my parents were preparing to leave.

I was filled with sadness at leaving my beloved best friends at school, family friends, many of whom would go to all parts of the world, our dog Rico, and most of all, our maid Theresa who was like the fifth member of our family. I remember our last day when Lavier and I gifted Theresa with our favourite keepsakes and bid her an emotional farewell, her tearful waving handkerchief as we drove off, emblazoned on my mind forever. I still wonder what became of Theresa and have never forgotten her. Mum, Lavier and I left first, in December 1972 and dad saw us off at Entebbe airport, before returning to Jinja to finalise our affairs.

We left, taking our pet African grey parrot, Tootsie, with us to Goa. We desperately wanted to take Tootsie to Australia but its strict quarantine regulations precluded that, and might even have meant the death of Tootsie. By the time we had settled in Australia, Tootsie and my grandmother in Goa were inseparable.

He thrived and lived a very spoilt life for another 36 years in Goa, eventually outliving my grandmother and both her maids! In years to come we delighted in visiting Tootsie from Australia, as he represented our link with

Jinja wharf in the 1960s: Our family with the D’Costas – our family friends.

Front row L to R: Lavier, Linette and Clemy D’Costa. Back Row: L to R: Esoura and Rosario D’Costa, Ruth, Robert D’Costa, Lasserre

Tootsie – African Grey parrot, much loved family pet, emigrated from Uganda to Goa 1972

Jinja. We spent almost three months in Goa, before arriving in Australia on 6th March 1973.

Dad had left Uganda after us, briefly sojourned in Goa and came to Sydney Australia on 30th January, before us, so that he could welcome us and prepare for us.

We were taken to Endeavour hostel where we were warmly welcomed by staff, allocated to a lovely 2-bedroom self-contained apartment and slowly acclimatized to life in Australia. My parents, had not been allowed to leave Uganda with any of their hard-earned money, so money was tight in the first year of our new life.

I started school at Coogee South Primary in year six, within a week of arriving. My first and sustained impressions of Australians, particularly those at my new school, were that they were warm, friendly and generous. I was

My parents, had not been allowed to leave Uganda with any of their hardearned money, so money was tight in the first year of our new life. lonely and homesick for the friends and school I had left behind, but my new friends did their best to make up for it. My parents could not afford much in those first few months, so I did not have a school uniform, going to school in my lay clothes. I felt awkward initially, but soon realised that my appearance and clothes did not matter to my new friends. They accepted me unconditionally and I never experienced bullying or racism of any kind. Whenever I needed anything, like a fancy dress costume for a school function, a schoolteacher would step forward to provide it. I was very academically oriented and found the lessons easy. My class teacher, Mr. Crispin went out of his way to encourage me; I had my essays published in the school newsletter and by the end of the year, found myself frequently topping my class.

Thanks to Mr Crispin and my first Australian friends, my self-esteem, and love of Australia, was cemented and I never looked back.

Over the subsequent few years, as we moved, I went to four different high schools, finally completing my education at Santa Sabina, a private girl’s school, with inordinately expensive fees, which my parents, despite

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Whilst we had Uganda in the past, and Australia in the present, we also had Goa and the rest of India as part of our psyche.

Hard work paid off (literally) – especially for my PhD. I got an instant pay rise!

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having lost all their money just five years previously, had saved and sacrificed to send me to. It gave me an excellent education and I was fortunate enough to achieve my wildest dreams in my HSC, gaining entry into Medicine at University of Sydney. I became a doctor, specialized in Paediatrics and passed my FRACP exam in 1994, twenty-one years after arriving in Australia. I have subsequently completed a PhD in Attention Deficit Disorder, worked as head of department in the Hawkesbury and am now a senior staff specialist Paediatrician and Adolescent Physician at Westmead Hospital, working with young people with a range of developmental disabilities as well as eating disorders. I am also engaged in research with this unit, and hope to continue contributing to the wonderful community I was fortunate enough to become a part of. Along the way, I met and married my husband Luis, a senior physician who has also contributed greatly to Australian health. We have a lovely daughter, Stephanie, who is completing a medical degree and hopes to continue our family legacy of contributing to

health and society.

Socially my family and I derived much comfort from being able to mix with many Goan and Indian families who had also come from Africa, as well as others who came over the next two decades from other countries. In addition, the establishment of the Goan Overseas Association (of which my father was one of the founding members) afforded many opportunities for us to socialize and keep some of our culture alive. Whilst we had Uganda in the past, and Australia in the present, we also had Goa and the rest of India as part of our psyche.

Only in Australia, with its warm accepting hospitality, could we have been so free to mix all these cultural elements, and through all our experiences, it was always the Australian people who made our lives complete. We knew we were Australian when we started barracking for Australia in Australia vs India cricket matches (except when Sachin Tendulkar was batting!), and we felt pride in Australia’s sporting achievements abroad. After any overseas trips we took we were met with a feeling of excitement and relief when we finally boarded the Qantas plane home and heard that familiar Aussie accent.

At the end of the day, I consider myself a proud Australian, with a rich Goan ethnic background, who has been fortunate enough to start life in, and experience the wonders of idyllic Uganda. Fifty years on, I am truly thankful to my parents, and to all the Australians who have brought me here, who helped me fall in love with this great country, and who continue to inspire me every day of my life. ●

With my husband Luis and my daughter Stephanie, who have contributed greatly to my achievements

My Dad, Lasserre (sports coach) on extreme right of front (sitting) row of teachers at Jinja Senior Secondary School

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Family’s dedication and contributions to Australia continue THIS IS

the story of Lasserre and Ruth Gomes’ journey from Uganda to Australia, as a family of four. As their daughter Linette, I write this story fifty years on, on their behalf, and in their honour.

Lasserre’s story began in Jinja in the 1950s. Having been born in Kampala in 1927, educated in Goa and Bombay, he moved back to Jinja, with a BSc in Physics & Chemistry, to work as a high school science teacher in June 1952. He worked at Jinja Senior Secondary School, promoted to head of Physics and Senior Science, until his retirement in January 1973. He was a keen sportsman and was also a sports coach in various team sports. He married my mother Ruth in Goa in September 1957, and both returned to Jinja to work as high school teachers. Ruth herself having been born in Kenya and educated in Goa, was a geography teacher at the local high school. Lasserre was promoted to the status of Education Officer, Ministry of Education, Kampala, Uganda, in July 1971, a post he relished, until being forced to retire when he emigrated post the Idi Amin exodus. My brother Lavier and I were born along the way, in Kampala and Jinja, and our family of four lived as an integral part of the local Jinja community through the 1960s to early 70s. Life was as idyllic as could be imagined, being part of the local parish of Our Lady of Fatima, socializing at the local Jinja Goan club with regular dances and parties, interspersed with walks and picnics in Kakira, in the local parklands by the source of the River Nile, safaris to Murchison Falls, holidays to Malindi, Kenya, Tanzania and all parts of East Africa.

Turbulent times emerged when Idi Amin overthrew Milton Obote on 25th January 1971. Lasserre and Lavier were in Goa at the time. Ruth was alone in Jinja with me and our maid Theresa. Years later Ruth was to describe her fear, being one of two women with a child to look after, amidst Amin’s soldiers, curfews, and fierce shooting. Jinja was one of the worst affected areas during the military coup. As her daughter, I have come to realise the incredible strength and courage my mother showed, keeping Theresa and I calm and safe, while she herself must have been panicking. We stayed indoors as much as possible even outside of the curfew hours but there were risks inherent

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Lasserre and Ruth knew that the insanity of the Idi Amin revolution, the expulsion of Asians, the reversal of expulsion for professionals such as teachers, and the regular revisions of orders, meant that Uganda was never again going to be stable.

Picnic in the blue mountains in the mid 1970s, the Gomes family with Urmila & Jayant, Pratap & Renuka and familes

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to the situation, such as obtaining food and provisions, which could not be avoided. This was an era before mobile phones and easy communication, and we could not get word to Lasserre and Lavier who were also worried, watching from overseas.

Things settled down over the following few months to an uneasy and tense situation.

Lasserre and Ruth knew that the insanity of the Idi Amin revolution, the expulsion of Asians, the reversal of expulsion for professionals such as teachers, and the regular revisions of orders, meant that Uganda was never again going to be stable. They were concerned about the future for us, their

children. Lasserre visited Britain and seriously considered migrating to the UK as that was the easy option, both having British passports.

Canada also offered to take families and was considered. Then came the offer from Australia, to take 200 families. After a family conference in which we all voted in favour of Australia, Ruth and Lasserre applied. Shortly after, our family was interviewed by Paddick (Australia’s cultural attaché to Uganda) in Kampala and was successful. We accepted and made plans to leave Uganda. Sydney was our natural choice as it seemed to have more potential for jobs and schools.

The most important consideration for Ruth and Lasserre, having made the decision for Australia, was to leave with their hard-earned savings in hand. The 90-day expulsion period did not apply to them as they were teachers and Amin had exempted professionals. Idi Amin changed his orders multiple times as to whether the Asians could take their money with them or not. Ruth left first with us children, and spent three months in Goa, en-route to arriving in Australia in March 1973. Lasserre saw his family off at Entebbe airport, then was left to finalise affairs. However, despite waiting it out as long as possible, there was no revision

by Amin of the ban on taking one’s own life savings out of the country, so Lasserre finally made the tough decision to leave for Australia, leaving behind their hard-earned life savings.

He arrived in Sydney on 30th January 1973 with almost nothing. He was first taken to a bachelor hostel in Burwood, and immediately landed a job in Mount St Benedict’s Girls School, Pennant Hills, Sydney.

When the rest of our family arrived in March 1973, we were all re-located to Endeavour Hostel, Coogee and moved into a two-bedroom apartment.

Left: Lasserre and Ruth celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in their Greystanes home - one of many happy occasions. Right: at the church service.

The hostel was clean and comfortable with meals and all amenities provided for subsidised rates. As I understand it, we received welfare support for at least 12 months which covered all costs. Over the many years which followed, my parents never forgot the generosity of the Australian welfare system which saved our lives that year. They instilled into us as children, our very deep gratitude to this society which looks after its most vulnerable, and which encourages opportunities to stand on one’s own feet.

The subsequent twelve months for my parents were all about finding jobs, finding stability and a permanent home for us.

Having come to Australia, leaving behind all that they had earned and worked for all their lives, meant that they had to start from scratch, in middle age, with two children needing to be housed and educated.

The enormity of this crisis only dawned on me years later, when I too reached the same age that my parents were at the time, and I compared my comfortable circumstances, to

what they had to face then. The insecurity and fear of starting life again must have been a crushing weight, but Ruth and Lasserre handled it with aplomb and dignity. The welfare officers were always on hand to assist with financial and other advice. Lasserre did a bridging course to ensure recognition of his teaching degree and found employment with the Department of Education, eventually moving to his new job as science teacher in Doonside High School, where he was to teach until his eventual retirement almost 20 years later. Ruth initially got a clerical job with MBF in Sydney CBD, while at Endeavour hostel, often working long overtime shifts and returning back to the hostel late at night. In 1974, after moving out from Coogee, she landed a job as a primary school teacher in St Bernadette’s, Lalor Park, where she was to teach for the ensuing 20 years and where she made a serious impact on the lives and education of several generations of children.

Her retirement from that institution in 1993 was marked by multiple generations of her

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1973: Newly arrived in Australia: L to R: Lavier, Linette, Ruth and Lasserre.

In May 1974, 14 months after migrating penniless to Australia, our family moved out of Endeavour Hostel and into our version of the great Australian dream, a new home in Greystanes, close to Urmila and Jayant and other good friends who had also bought close by. students and their families toasting and celebrating her contribution to their lives, their faith and their education.

During that first year in Endeavour hostel, the family made some very good friends, many of whom were to become lifelong friends.

These families became our social support network. One family was that of Urmila and Jayant Patel, who were in the hostel at the same time with their three children.

The Patels had invested in a new home in Greystanes, an up-and-coming suburb in the

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west, close to their new jobs. One day, Ruth went on an outing with Urmila to Greystanes, excited to see the new home they had bought.

When she came home, we all expected to be regaled with details of the Patel home. Instead, Ruth calmly informed her startled family that she too had bought a new home! She had put a $1000.00 deposit (a huge sum in those days!) on a newly built home, the last one on the block, a few streets away from the Patels’ home. In her defense, she insisted that she had to have acted fast to beat other prospective buyers who were hot on the trail! As usual, Lasserre took this news in his stride, calmly embracing the opportunity to own a new home, and tasked himself with the paperwork involved. With their new jobs, and ability to save, they had no problems getting the required finance for their purchase. In May 1974, 14 months after migrating penniless to Australia, our family moved out of Endeavour Hostel and into our version of the great Australian dream, a new home in Greystanes, close to Urmila and Jayant and other good friends who had also bought close by.

The feeling for Ruth and Lasserre, on entering their new home, after years of insecurity, losing all their savings, migrating to a new country and starting a new life, was indescribable. As their daughter I still remember the day we entered our brand-new house, the excitement of seeing our bedrooms, the beautiful polished wooden floors, and the garden. For the four of us, it was our own little pocket of paradise, our piece of Australia, our security and our safety. Over the subsequent thirty-three years, that home saw us through

14th October 2007 – Lasserre’s 80th birthday: Lasserre and Ruth with their family, marking the milestones of 80th birthday and 50th Wedding anniversary.

Front row: L to R: Stephanie, Lasserre & Ruth. Back row L to R: Leanna, Luis, Linette, Maria, Lavier and Lauren.

school, university degrees, marriage and even housed a third generation, my family with our daughter Stephanie, their youngest granddaughter, for a few years. The home was extended and renovated, it was filled with laughter and love, and 48 years later, is still owned by Lasserre.

It remains a joyful and sentimental reminder of our safe-haven, our little piece of Australia, and for me it will always be a symbol of my parents’ strength, courage and resilience.

Ruth and Lasserre lived a long, happy and successful life in Australia, often returning to their beloved Goa for visits to their ancestral property and family, but always calling Australia home. Along the way, they made many more firm friendships. They had a small but loyal circle

Ruth and Lasserre lived a long, happy and successful life in Australia, often returning to their beloved Goa for visits to their ancestral property and family, but always calling Australia home.

of friends who were also experiencing similar journeys with their children, and these formed the social circles that would shape their lives over the next 40 - 50 years. They, with others, saw the formation of the Goan Overseas Association (G.O.A) in 1975, which provided further opportunities for socialization and which is now a thriving organization. They educated their children to their best ability, even sending me to an exclusive private girl’s school for my HSC years. They saw both children gaining medical degrees. Lavier became a Professor of Radiology, and I became a Senior staff specialist Paediatrician and Adolescent Physician. Eventually both children got married, both to spouses within the medical profession, who continued to contribute to Australian health and society. They have three grand-daughters, Lavier’s daughters graduating in Medicine and Occupational Therapy, and my daughter now completing her medical degree. All will hopefully continue to contribute to Australian society well into the next fifty years.

Ruth passed away in May 2013 at the age of 84 years, after a long 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. Lasserre has spent the last 15 years living with me and my family and is now also bravely battling illness at almost 95 years of age. In sickness, as in health, Ruth and Lasserre continued to demonstrate the same courage and determination that they showed throughout their exodus from Uganda and entry into new life in Australia. Their legacy to us, their children, and their grandchildren, is a deep appreciation of the endless opportunities afforded by the beautiful country they brought us to, a strong work ethic, and a never-ending inspiration of courage under hardship and adversity. ●

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From Kampala to Sydney via Mumbai and Taj Mahal AT LAST,

my father appeared, intact. He had been interrogated and the soldiers were looking for money – insistent he must have some. My father had no money to give them. We were leaving with a bare minimum of cash and a suitcase each. As that plane took off, I remember my parents’ relief and prayers of thanks that they were safely out of the country with their family. As a child I was just super excited to be on an aeroplane for the first time in my life!

My name is Ameeta. As a nine-year-old living with my parents, Jayant and Urmila Patel, brother Sanjay and sister Arthi in Kampala, October 1972 and the few months prior are a memory of bustle, packing and hushed adult conversations. There was excitement and trepidation when my dad came home and announced that we were moving to Australia – a country I knew nothing about except kangaroos and koalas. The household was packed into wooden crates, smelling of freshly sawn timber, being made ready to be posted to Australia.

Precious silk sarees, bedding, kitchen and dining ware, books, photo albums – things containing memories of a Ugandan life, and to help start a new life.

My family was leaving to go to Mumbai on the first leg of our journey to Australia. My father was also escorting the family of his civil engineering business partner. My parents were leaving behind a business, a house, car, and money. We were leaving Uganda within the three months’ notice. Our extended family members were mainly going to the UK and Canada – everyone was scrambling for visas.

The day we left is vividly clear in my mind; we were all standing in the front yard, tearful. My father handed the keys to our house and his white Isuzu Bellet car to Stephen, his Ugandan office assistant - his until the military would no doubt claim them. We hugged our Ayah, Joyce, and left for the city, where buses were ferrying people to Entebbe airport. It was chaotic; emotions were high – stories of looting, people disappearing, and violence had been swirling for months.

At the airport the family was separated into male and female queues to go through immigration. My father and brother went in one queue; my father did not appear on the other side and a kind stranger brought my crying brother out, telling my mother that my dad had been detained. Her enormous distress and anxiety conveyed itself to us – we were all so very very scared that we would never see him again. Her friend Bhanu kept reassuring her; they were all praying. At last, my father appeared, intact. He had been interrogated and the soldiers were looking for money – insistent he must have some. My father had no money to give

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Dad’s dream fulfilled – visiting the Taj Mahal

them. We were leaving with a bare minimum of cash and a suitcase each. As that plane took off, I remember my parents’ relief and prayers of thanks that they were safely out of the country with their family. As a child I was just super excited to be on an aeroplane for the first time in my life!

We then had a holiday in India, as my dad had not been there since he left as a young child in

The migrant hostel was an exciting place for me as a kid, we spent a year living there. the post war era. He had a dream of seeing the Taj Mahal and he made it come true- the family photo above is one of our treasures. We stayed at relatives and in two-star hotels; as a child it was enormous fun, but the poverty was shocking to us.

We also went to the World Expo in New Delhi in 1972 – the visit to the Australia pavilion was my first introduction to this beautiful land down under and we came away with show bags.

My father left us to go to Australia in December 1972 to try and get a job as a civil engineer. The government was housing families in Sydney at South “Koo-ghee” migrant hostel;

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he sent us a postcard from “Bondee” – we had no idea how to pronounce these Aboriginal names!

My mother flew with three young children at the end of January 1973 – we were so disappointed that my dad wasn’t at the airport to meet us, but he had a job interview to attend. Flying over Sydney, the little red roofs were like Monopoly houses; only later did I learn that the little blue shapes were backyard swimming pools.

The migrant hostel was an exciting place for me as a kid – we spent a year living there. For my parents it must have been hard – my mother was vegetarian and not much was offered at the cafeteria apart from boiled vegetables and salads.

We had a two-room unit – the front living room sofa was a fold-out bed that my parents slept in; bunk beds for us in the second room. We spent our time roller-skating, playing marbles or in the park. We were sent to South Coogee Primary School – my only friend was a shy but lovely Australian girl called Christine. We got milk and buns at recess time (just like in Kampala); my friend Linette Gomes and I won awards at the fancy dress assembly where I was so excited to be in Indian clothes. We walked to Coogee beach on hot summer days – up hill and down dale, past the old cemetery. My parents had always loved safaris, picnics, swimming, and the beach – this served them well in beautiful Sydney.

My mother got a job as a teacher and started full time work straight away - which she continued till retirement and was much loved and respected.

She proudly wore a saree to school every day and had endless children (and adults) asking her what the red dot on her face meant. My father worked with NSW Rail as an engineer – it must have been

Left: Linette and Ameeta Right: Our family with Elsie Needham from The Australian Council of Churches at out house in Greystanes

difficult after owning his own practice, but he accepted the need to provide security for his family above all else.

They made new friends – the Govindsamys, Nayanars and Amins in particular had come by the hostel to see if they could help the new migrants, and soon became our best friends. We had big family lunches where the mums would cook up a feast; us kids would swim and play. My parents saved up and bought their first car – a second hand white Holden Kingswood. They would pile us all in and go off on picnics on Sundays to the beach or the Blue Mountains. They saved a deposit to buy their own home at Greystanes – no bank would give them a loan but Mr Vernon Vandersmacht, an insurance agent with MLC, helped them get a mortgage. I know for this they were ever grateful.

One of my most precious memories is my mother cooking our first meal in our new home – dhal, roti, shak, rice, sheero – doing a puja, and the five of us sitting on the floor cross legged (we had no furniture) to share this meal. The sense of safety and security and for us as a family of being HOME was so strong. About six months after we moved in there was much excitement at receiving notice from the post office that parcels had arrived for us from Uganda. However, it was only the last two boxes that had been packed – all that had survived the looting. Bittersweet – for my parents the biggest loss was of photos and home films (my father was a keen photographer) and my mum’s sarees.

I think my parents did a wonderful job of shielding us from the trauma of being refugees and

starting afresh in a new country. Their optimism, professions, and values – family, work, humility, honesty, generosity, and hospitality – served them well. Our home was filled with love and friends and laughter – parties, picnics, and backyard barbeques. Aunties and Uncles were our close-knit family – and still are.

Settling into Australia was easy in my memory.

There were no brown people and only one Chinese kid in my new primary school. Mary Anne Bonello, my best friend who took me under her wing and protected me in the playground, adopted me. There was minimal racism directed to me – growing up in Uganda I think race consciousness was very much more embedded there. Other great friends came along – 50 years later we are still friends. I had opportunities and successes at school, study and in my career as a doctor and medical educator. I did go back and live in Kenya for 2 years with my first husband and sampled the life of safaris and holidays to Mombasa as well as working for Crescent Medical Aid in a Nairobi slum. I visited Uganda in 1990 – Kampala was as lush and verdant as ever, but very run down. Our old house is still there – but so small seen through adult eyes. The security situation remained precarious in East Africa, and I was very clear I would always return to Australia.

My children have also travelled to Uganda several times and explored the country widely.

The love of Africa seems to be in our veins – although my parents never wished to ever return.

I am eternally grateful my adventurous parents came to Australia and gave us a beautiful life here. ●

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Refugee from Uganda WE LEFT

Kampala when I was three years and nine months. I now know that this is the time when theory of mind arrives – when children learn they are separate to their carer, they develop a sense of self, and memories are lodged (but not in time sequence). So, that internal psychological process was accompanied by cataclysm all around me. I left my Ayah, Joyce who had held me every day, our home, my cousins, aunties, uncles, and grandparents.

All had gone leaving just me, mum, dad, big sister Ameeta and big brother Sanjay. Shocked, afraid, uncertain. Propelled forward. Dad was optimistic, somehow finding a way to keep going and re-start in Sydney.

I have no conscious memory of Kampala. I have searched and searched for some glimpses. Returning there twice now, the first time at twenty-one, I was convinced some memories would be triggered, but nothing. The second time I was hungry to understand the place, the history of our being there and what the country is now; book learning, watching people in the streets, conversations in my adult skin.

Growing up I heard the stories, the pleasure of life in Kampala. There were a few photos of my dad taking us gaggle of kids to Entebbe pool on Saturday for a swim and chips, picnics in the bush, on safari with my cool aunts and uncles, stovepipe pants dark glasses and scarves, and hippos in the river. Mum and Dad never wanted to return. Too much sadness there now. Mum said she didn’t want the happy memories to change. She told me I was lucky that I didn’t remember the leaving, the fear, the guns at the airport.

It’s true I don’t remember, but the feelings are lodged in my body. The trauma is buried deep in a place I can’t easily understand. I had no way of understanding what was happening around me, to me. It takes shape sometimes in a profound sense of aloneness, not belonging, uncertainty. Even though here I am amid my wonderful family, a lovely home, friends, meaningful work, garden and warm dog at my feet.

It can be hard to explain my story – am I Indian, but I was born in Kampala, what’s my connection to Uganda? Few people in Australia know anything of that time, that we were refugees expelled from our borrowed country. Oriented to western life, unable really to return to India, diaspora twice over. And

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Our home in Greystanes, starting school 1974, Holden in the driveway

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All had gone leaving just me, mum, dad, big sister Ameeta and big brother Sanjay. Shocked, afraid, uncertain. Propelled forward. Dad was optimistic, somehow finding a way to keep going and re-start in Sydney.

for so many years in Australia we were one of the few Indian families. I had a weekend life of aunties and uncles, dinners, and picnics, bhajans on Friday nights; and on weekdays at Brownies, and at school, where Vanessa and I were the only brown kids in a school of around 1000 students.

Now Parramatta-Greystanes has the highest concentration of South Asians in the country; we number close to one million.

My daughter complains she doesn’t know Gujarati but even here in Canberra she can go to Saturday school.

At fifty-three, with both my parents passed, I continue to puzzle at the events and legacy of this beginning-of-my-new-life story. ●

Joyce and me, in our garden in Kampala, 1972

Left: Aussie now – me and dad at the Gold Coast, summer 1976.

Right: Sanjay, mum, Ameeta & me, in our garden in Kampala, 1972

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Still a Ugandan at heart MY NAME

is Sanjay Jayantilal Patel and I was expelled with my family from Uganda in 1972. I am brother to Ameeta and Arthi. I was ten years old at the time. I now live in the Central Coast by the shores of Lake Munmorah. I work as a bus driver.

This is my choice though I have two degrees as a pharmacist and a chiropractor.

During the infamous expulsion my father and mother had ‘desirable’ qualifications’ (Civil Engineer and Teacher respectively) and so we were granted visas to come and live in Australia. The recent ending of the White Australia Policy meant that Indians were permitted to emigrate to Australia.

I don’t remember too clearly our journey to Entebbe, but I do remember somehow being separated from my parents at the airport. Nothing terrible happened but mum and dad had a massive shock as they did not know what had happened to me.

Eventually I was re-united, and we thankfully left. That was my first flight on a big jet plane. Like Ameeta, I too rather enjoyed it!

We had endured a difficult journey and we landed in India which was undergoing the terrible era of the ‘Emergency’. The poverty everywhere was a real shock. We had never seen such misery in Uganda. We stayed in India for a few months and after a while I enjoyed myself with kites at Uttrayan and firecrackers too. The taste of buffalo milk, rotla and ghee and ‘guar’ (molasse) still lingers as we stayed for some time with my mother’s aunt in a small village called Uttarsanda.

We arrived in Sydney. When we arrived at the old Kingsford Smith Airport, I was first struck by the stunning and awesome heat. We had arrived during a Sydney summer heatwave. Fortunately, we were welcomed with grace and generosity by the Aussies. We were well housed at the Endeavour Migrant Centre in Coogee South and soon began life at school and work. The Centre was quite comfortable and interesting to explore. The food at the canteen was rather strange but we got used to it and even looked forward to Friday night fish and chips, and Sundays we had spaghetti bolognaise and ice cream. It was especially hard for mum, who was a full Hindu vegetarian and there was very little apart from boiled veggies and salads, which came with a nice slice of ham or boiled eggs. It came as a great relief to all of us when we were finally given permission to use an electric fry pan to cook meals in our unit.

Life at school was hard to adjust to. I was the only Indian boy and quite a misfit.

I spent most of my time in the library which was fine. I made some friends at the Hostel and gradually our little community developed.

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Stephen Bukulu on the right was our driver and Dad’s assistant

At Martin Place – at the Xmas Tree

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Thinking about Uganda and the expulsion, I remember very well the fear, disbelief, and stress.

The deep sadness of losing everything, the breaking up of community and family.

The sadness of leaving our African friends behind to an undoubtedly terrible fate.

After a year or so at the Migrant Centre, my parents were able to buy a house in Greystanes.

I started school and gradually made a few good friends, discovered a love of cricket and music, and started enjoying school life.

Thinking about Uganda and the expulsion, I remember very well the fear, disbelief, and stress. The deep sadness of losing everything, the breaking up of community and family. The sadness of leaving our African friends behind to an undoubtedly terrible fate. Most troubling memories are of my father and an uncle being taken by some army guys during a Boy Scout camp. They returned safely but were obviously traumatised as was I. The decision to leave became real very quickly after that. I also remember the fear of being attacked in our homes which in fact did happen to our neighbours. The dead body down the road the next day remains a hideous and traumatic memory.

I fortunately also remember the beauty and wonder of Africa. The sights and sounds, the magnificent forests and wildlife, the smells and tastes, the many wondrous experiences I had remain a strong and positive memory and I am glad I have them.

Since coming to Australia I have not travelled to Uganda. I did make it to Kenya in 1985, which was a great experience. Unfortunately, at that time the borders were closed due to war.

I would like to return to Uganda soon, perhaps next year. I would like to go with my uncles and visit our old haunts, see what remains. I would like to see elephants again and warthogs, and crocodiles and monitor lizards and hippos at Murchison Falls. I would like to taste again the wonderful Ugandan matoke and mogo and peanuts. I want to hear the sounds of Swahili and the music and singing of the Ugandans and meet the Indians who are returning; and to dance and sing and celebrate that we have survived and thrived. ●

Sanjay as a young boy – family picnic at Entebbe

Swimming at the Apollo Hotel, Kampala – miss those days

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Composed by: Jayant and Urmila Patel - BLUE BAY NSW. Reprinted from – Forty Years Journey, 2012 – compiled by Samim & Ashak Nathwani

This is a chronicle of a fleet that sailed in ‘72 It sailed to the shores of the big True Blu And didn’t they know the Aussie history too well That’s why the fleet landed at the Endeavour Hostel A place where cooking cleaning and washing was all done for free So that’s what they meant when they said “ Welcome to the Lucky Country” Life was full of wonder and delight That’s why after tea we’d yarn well into the night The kids would tell of their newfound slang But complain they couldn’t master the nasal twang And as parents we had our own hurdles to try and flee Like saying “ Circular Kway” when they meant “ Circular Key” Then there was job hunting that would wear and get us down Especially the trains to Campbelltown Now that’d be O.K. that’d be cool But we just wanted to stop at Liverpool!

Through all this excitement and learning we weren’t left alone Because the Council of Churches helped show us our home Well time went by and jobs were found Now the crew of the Endeavour was outward bound N.S.W. was settled way out to Dubbo Interstate, Darwin, Shepperton & Adelaide....off they go Slowly but surely we all settled in 40 years down the track , we’re Suberb’n The transition was not easy, it was quite hard For we could no longer be ‘MAMAKUBA’ or the big ‘MEM SAAB’ No polished shoes or crisply ironed shirts laid out for the ‘BWANA KUBA’ Instead, there were dishes, nappies and old lawn mowers But with sacrificed privileges of country gone by There came busy but peaceful life that we wish all could try Weekend picnics and barbies, now they are the go Especially after you mastered the art of cold B.Y.O.

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Yes, we became accustomed to this country’s soul Like the sharing of a ‘middie’ at the local watering hole.

Children have grown and gone their way Yes, we are proud of them today Some have achieved beyond what we could They have scaled new heights and reached pinnacles in their chosen fields.

And we think they fit real good.

But beyond their academic and social grace We believe they can set this nation’s pace.

Grand children in UNIs and working as TRUE AUSSIES We watch them proudly as they contribute to this clever Country Surely some will find their way to Canberra or SCG. Their sights are set on IPL , or to woo dove eyed Bollywood star.

So, the future for them looks very bright.

We hope you will think of the unfortunate’s plight Don’t forget to extend a helping hand To any new immigrants of this land Think of our fellow Ugandans and their community.

Let’s hope they will enjoy peace and stability Amins and Gaddafis of this world will come and go But humanity and compassion we hope, always show.

However, there is still one question that bewilders us If Australia and India or Pakistan were to play at S.C.G Which team we would clap Let’s be diplomatic and say the WINNING CHAP Sadly Jayant & Urmila Patel are no longer with us. Later part of their lives they had retired at Blue Bay NSW after successful careers in Engineering and Teaching.

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First speaker of parliament of Uganda – family journey MY NAME

is Akshaya Patel. I am now retired engineer. I was 16 years old when we left Uganda. My father, Narendra Patel would be well known by all Ugandans and indeed internationally as he was the first Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda from 1963 to 1971, when Idi Amin took over the country and created havoc and misery.

My father, Narendra Manubhai Patel, was born and raised in India in a small town called Nadiad in the Kheda district of the Gujarat Province of India. He studied in India, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Bombay in 1947. After graduation, he worked as an advocate of the Bombay High Court for one year, before moving to Uganda. His father and my grandfather, Manubhai, had been practising law in Kampala since the turn of the 1940s decade. Narendra migrated to Uganda in 1948 to join his father’s law practise in Kampala. In 1954, Narendra went to the UK for further studies and qualified as a barrister at law. Upon returning to Uganda in 1957, he moved to Mbale, where he started his own practise which flourished.

Narendra’s law practice in Mbale made him very popular with the locals, especially as he always argued cases on their behalf. Narendra at times represented the locals against the colonial masters free-of-charge, thereby earning immeasurable popularity among them.

Narendra also, together with friends, set up a paper and book manufacturing firm in Mbale, called UGESNA, where many locals were employed. It is additionally said that natives were treated well and paid handsomely at the factory. So, when nationalism started growing among the natives, with the Asians on the side of the locals, Narendra was one of the Asian-Ugandans who joined UPC and strengthened its hold in Mbale. When the 1962 general elections came around, Narendra rode on his popularity among the natives and was elected as an MP for the constituency then called Mbale. He held the position of Home Minister before he was appointed to the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda, becoming the first nonEuropean and the youngest Speaker in the whole of the commonwealth at age of 37.

The background is that in 1963, the British expatriate whom the colonialists had left behind as the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda, Sir John Bowes Griffin, left the country and Narendra was unanimously elected by fellow parliamentarians as the Speaker. Narendra was to see the country through the turbulent early post-independence years of the 1960s, until 1971 when Idi Amin usurped power and dissolved Parliament After the coup in January 1971 Narendra moved from the Speaker’s residence in Kampala

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to Mbale. My brother Paresh and I joined the family and commenced school in Mbale early 1972.

August 1972 Idi Amin decreed that all Indians had to leave Uganda in 90 days. Living in Mbale was relatively peaceful compared to Kampala. However, family and friends were concerned when it was falsely reported that Narendra had been killed!

Times after the announcement of evicting Indians were chaotic. It was doubly hard for Narendra as he was under two conflicting decrees.

One required him to leave the country as an Indian and one required him to not leave the country without permission as a former Member of Parliament. He was fortunate that being in the political field he had contacts in the Australian mission. Narendra was given a one-way visa to

commence work. Paresh and I commenced school at Nightcliff High School. This was my fourth school in as many years! It was hard to make any friends as all the students had their own groups. As luck would have it we went through another one of those life experiences when cyclone Tracey ripped through Darwin. Narendra was known to say that he had telegraphed Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin that he had survived again!! I completed matriculation in Darwin and went on to study engineering at Adelaide University. Staying in a college I made life long friends.

The early days in Darwin were difficult. It was particularly hard for my mother, Hansa.

She had to look after the house and do all the house work which in the past had been done by servants. She took on teaching cooking clases, worked at a day centre and then joined the public service as a clerk. Darwin became a home for the family. Hansa passed away in 1996.

Narendra considered Darwin as his home and ended his career as Master of the supreme court a position he held from 1976 to 1985.

Narendra did go back to Uganda a few times.

But the highlight was when he was invited back to Uganda for the 50th independence year celebrations where he was recognised for his distinguised service as speaker from 1963 to 1971.

He was also given a Ugandan passport which made him very happy.

From what I gather, the current lady Speaker of the Parliament sent a special invitation to Narendra Patel, and he accepted the invitation Australia to be used, if required. in spite of his poor health. Narendra was My mother, Hansa, my younger brother Paresh, met at Nairobi and taken to Entebbe in the and I left Uganda in August 1972 and went to India private plane of the Nanji Kalidas Mehta settling in Baroda. Paresh and I commenced School. family. Mahendra Mehta acted as host to Narendra and his oldest son, my eldest brother, Narendra while he was in Uganda. He was Deven, left Uganda in October 1972. Narendra flew treated with great honour by the Uganda to India and Deven to London to commence his Government and was invited to visit Chartered Accountant studies the Parliament.

Narendra tried to obtain a visa for UK but the In the Parliament, he was seated on the immigration authorities were being painful and speaker’s chair and Uganda’s President slow. Though India was explored as a potential, Musaweni presented Narendra with a special Narendra eventually elected to use his one-way visa to Australia and migrated to Sydney arriving Crystal Plaque showing the new parliament and honouring him as the first Speaker of on 24th May 1973. He was 48 years old. He stayed Parliament of Uganda. He visited the Speaker’s at the Migrant Hostel in Coogee. He was fortunate corridor where his portrait is now hanging that he had his sister Urmila and her husband with that of other five speakers since 1972.

Jayant Patel to give him some social interaction.

At a reception held in his honour, at a He was unemployed, had left all his savings in Resort for 1000 dignitaries, Narendra was given Uganda and had to start afresh. His applications a special welcome by President Musaweni. He for lawyer positions were rejected as he was was honoured for his services to Uganda. Many either overqualified or had lack of Australian past ministers of the Obote regime and other experience. At the end of July 1973, he accepted a position in the government insurance office at the leaders, from all walks of life, were present.

Sadly, Narendra passed away in 2012 not long most junior level at an annual salary of $6,530. He after the Uganda visit. commenced work on 13th August 1973.

I took my family to Uganda in 2013, 41 years Once Narendra commenced work, he started since leaving. Showing my wife Pallavi and our making new friends. I don’t have knowledge of his three daughters Megha, Kruti and Tosha our old experiences during this time but it would have house in Mbale brought back many memories. It been challenging starting afresh and far from was disappointing to see how run down Mbale his family. Finally, he obtained a position at the was. The Mehtas of Lugazi, who are still in courts in Darwin, which increased his annual Uganda, were very hospitable. salary to $11K. At this time, he arranged for his I worked in the Alumina Industry from 1981 to wife Hansa, my mother, together with Paresh and I 2006, when I retired. We have settled in Mandurah, to join him.

Western Australia since 1992 and consider it as We landed in Sydney on 9th Jan 1974. I found home. I am grateful that my father migrated to Sydney so clean and peaceful. I was amazed at Australia to find us a country and home worthy how nobody honked their horns when on the road!

We moved to Darwin soon after for Narendra to of replacing Uganda. ●

Though India was explored as a potential, Narendra eventually elected to use his one-way visa to Australia and migrated to Sydney arriving on 24th May 1973. He was 48 years old.

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L to R: Paresh, Hansa, Narendra, yours truly & Devendra at the Taj Mahal, Agra

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Recollections of Devendra Narendra Patel FCA ON 4TH

August 1972 the peace and tranquillity of a beautiful day in Mbale Uganda was destroyed by terrible news from Tororo some 50kms from Mbale. President Idi Amin Dada had announced that all Asians (some 50,000) were to leave Uganda within three months. This was the start of a journey where I ultimately ended up in Darwin Australia.

The first decision taken by the family was that my mother, Hansa, and two younger brothers, Akshaya and Paresh, would leave Uganda as soon as possible. By mid-August they were on their way to India. That left my father Narendra (ex-Speaker of the Uganda National Assembly) and myself in Mbale to organise, and plan to leave by October 1972 before the deadline.

Whilst we were in Mbale a very close friend of my father Mr K B Patel (auditor) was arrested by Idi Amin’s army and taken to Kampala. My father, despite the objections from other friends, went to Kampala to seek his release and thankfully both returned safely after three days.

During the following days we got big crates made and shipped by rail as much personal belongings as we could to my uncle in Kenya. In the process I had made friends with a few army personal as I would give them a lift in our car to the barracks when it was raining and they helped us. Once we went to Tororo as we were told it was easier to send parcels from there. There were many army personal at the railway station. One of them came and told us that they were the good guys and Idi Amin’s army was on top of a hill watching them.

During the ensuing days we went to Kampala to get my UK Passport, as I had not turned 21 yet it was easy for me to get the passport. It was issued on 3rd October 1972. I had to surrender my Uganda passport. During our stay in Kampala my father decided to visit the Australian mission in Kampala to thank them for what they were doing to help the stateless persons. This is where we met Mr J H Paddick the attaché. He convinced my father to get an entry visa to Australia as he was stateless. He told me that I could continue to go to the

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That night was the last night we spent in our home.

The next day we left for Kampala leaving the keys of our home to our staff who cried when we left. On the way we stopped at many army check points, they got us to open our bags and stole some personal belongings. My father had many ties in his bag so they used to say "you don't need so many" and take a few at each stop.

UK and finish my studies and it would not be a problem joining the family latter on.

13th October 1972 my 21st birthday was spent at Mr K B Patel’s home. As get togethers were not permitted some one would pick a few friends up so that there are not too many cars parked outside the home. We had champagne for my birthday however all the adults did not drink champagne so after I had a couple of glasses the bottle was given to the staff to enjoy. That night was the last night we spent in our home. The next day we left for Kampala leaving the keys of our home to our staff who cried when we left. On the way we stopped at many army check points, they got us to open our bags and stole some personal belongings.

My father had many ties in his bag so they used to say “you don’t need so many” and take a few at each stop.

In Kampala we stayed at Mr M C Patel’s

The debate continued between my father and I as to who leaves Uganda first. In the end we decided to leave on the same day although my flight was a bit earlier that his. I landed at Gatwick airport in London on 15th October 1972 It was a miserable cold and rainy day and I had no warm clothes.

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home again a close friend of my father’s, that night the army came and arrested him luckily my father was left alone. Mr M C Patel was released the next day.

The debate continued between my father and I as to who leaves Uganda first. In the end we decided to leave on the same day although my flight was a bit earlier that his. I landed at Gatwick airport in London on 15th October 1972 It was a miserable cold and rainy day and I had no warm clothes. Some charities at the airport were giving away raincoats and warm clothes however my ego or pride did not make me avail of the charity so I suffered in the cold.

In London I joined a firm of Chartered Accountants to start my four years of Articles. I completed my articles in 1977 and passed my final exams to become a Chartered Accountant so it was time to re-join my family which had settled in Darwin Australia. Once again Mr J H Paddick assisted us in getting my visa. I arrived in Australia on 13th October 1977. Coming from London to Darwin should have been a shock, instead as I got out of the plane, I thought this is home.

I started work with KPMG Chartered Accountants on 17th October 1977. I became a partner of the firm in 1985 (perhaps the first partner to be of Indian origin). I retired in 2008 and continue to live in Darwin.

We did return to Uganda in 1998 as tourists.

I had to show my wife Priti and children Ruchi and Niraj the country where I grew up.

The experience was not what I was expecting.

Kampala seemed to be a completely different city to what I remembered. We did not go to Mbale. Uganda was still beautiful Idi Amin could not destroy that.

Over the years I also got involved with the Australian Red Cross and have been a volunteer for nearly 40 years including being the chair of the NT division for seven years.

I have been awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Australian Red Cross.

Finally, one unanswered question will always be: what would our lives have been if we were still in Uganda? ●

Parliament House, Uganda

Left: Yours truly at Murchison Falls Right: Hon. Narendra Patel QC First Speaker of Uganda

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Tanga born Migrant from Uganda calls Australia home MY NAME

is Narendra Nagardas Vanza MBBS (Bombay). I was born in Tanga Tanzania.

After completing my primary and secondary education in Tanga and passing the Senior Cambridge examination, my parents encouraged me to go for further studies; I was sent to Bombay (India). After doing two years of college studies, which according to Australian standards is year 11-12, I was fortunate to get entry in a Medical College. I was trained in Nair Hospital (Topiwalla National Medical College). I graduated in 1970.

After finishing my medical degree five years after the graduation and doing internship, I returned to Uganda. I was able to get a position in Mulago Hospital, as part of an internship or first year resident, in February 1972. I was kept busy doing my residency at the hospital, when in August we heard the news that Idi Amin was expelling all the Asians from Uganda.

There was a lot of tensions and worries in Kampala. People queuing up in different High Commissioners Offices. For me the choices were limited. Being a Tanzanian citizen, I could not go to UK or Canada. Someone suggested that I try Australia and I was fortunate that I got the migrant visa.

I did not have any money for the airfare to fly to Australia. Fortunately, Dr Sultan Adatia offered me the money for my airfare. I borrowed the money which I duly returned to him once I started earning in Sydney. I had to stay in a hotel in Kampala the night before and ironically, I was rostered to work at Mulago Hospital the day I was flying out in the early morning.

I managed to get to Entebbe without any issues, but I was worried that at the airport, if they checked during immigration that I was a Medical Doctor working in Mulago and that I had an exemption from leaving the country, they would not allow me to leave the country. Fortunately, there was no problem, and it was a relief to board the plane. When the plane took off, I gave few Ugandan shillings and notes left with me to the person sitting next to me and prayed to God for getting me out safely from Uganda. I came to Australia with 20 British Pounds, what was the official allowance.

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L to R: Deepti, Neil, Samir, Nayana, Rashmi, Jaiman & me

I arrived in Sydney in November 1972 with another friend of mine and on arrival we were welcomed by an official person with a chauffeur from the Australian Government who took us to Migrant Hostel in Maroubra. That was the first time that non-European migrants were allowed to stay in that hostel, which had great facilities. They provided hot meals every day and it was a very comfortable hostel

Being an Indian graduate from Bombay, I was told that they would offer me a conditional medical registration, that involved working for four years in hospital 84

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with good accommodation. There I met the other arrivals from Uganda, especially Dr Kiran Phadke.

Australian Council of Churches helped us with the money until the benefits started.

They, together with Australian officials, looked after us and helped in every way.

They even took me to Fairfield Hospital for my interview. I would like to acknowledge their support and assistance. I sincerely extend my deep gratitude to all the individuals involved. Thank you.

Being an Indian graduate from Bombay, I was told that they would offer me a conditional medical registration, that involved working for four years in hospital, or years in a hospital with two years under a GP supervision. Also, there was an examination after one year and we had to pass that to proceed further.

Finally, after my four years, I got my full medical registration to practise on my own.

On acquiring my full registration, I was fortunate to join Dr Avi Joshi as a partner in his medical practice, after two years of initial supervision with him. The whole family helped me a lot and treated me like his younger brother. Dr Gunu Naker and his family also looked after me extremely well since I was not married at the time.

I married Rashmi in Sept 1976. This was the first Indian wedding in Sydney and was attended by all the Gujaratis in Sydney.

Rashmi’s brother Dr Vajoo Ghelani was living in Dapto. At that time. His family’s story is also covered in this publication.

We have 2 sons (Neil & Samir), born in Sydney. They are now 41 and 39 years of age and we have four grandchildren. My eldest son Neil is an anaesthetist, and his wife Deepti is in General Practise (Medical Centre) and they have a daughter Nayana, ten and a son Jaiman, eight years of age.

The youngest son, Samir is in Corporate Finance at Macquarie Bank and his wife Kiran is Gynaecologist & Obstetrician.

They have two sons – Aan aged four and Josh, aged two.

My wife Rashmi contributed a lot to the Indian community in starting the garbas in which 2 brothers Ashak and Shiraz Nathwani helped a lot in providing the music. The Navratri festivals started in a small hall, but over time with more Gujaratis migrating to Sydney, we had to accommodate everybody in larger venues.

Rashmi also started different activities for new arriving younger migrating families. Sadly, due to few health issues, my dear wife Rashmi passed away in April of 2021.

I don’t miss Uganda or Africa at all, as I consider myself one of the fortunate ones to come to Australia and settle in one the best countries in the world. I have no regrets regarding my migration to Australia.

I think us as migrants from Uganda in Australia should consider ourselves very lucky and fortunate to be living in this beautiful and welcoming country.

Australia is our home. ●

Top: Aari & Josh Bottom left: Neil & Deepti with Jaiman & Nayana; Bottom right: Jaiman, Aari, Nayana & Josh

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From Zanzibar to “The Gong” via Uganda MY NAME

is Chandrakant, and this is my story about growing up in East Africa and my journey to the lucky country, Australia.

I was born in February 1950 on one of the most beautiful islands in the world, Zanzibar.

Call me patriotic but most people who I have talked to or have visited Zanzibar tend to agree with my view. The Zanzibar archipelago lies off the east coast of Africa, about six degrees below the equator, so the weather is amazing all the year round. The archipelago is also known as the Spice Islands which is the main reason why many Indians, including my parents, moved to Zanzibar in the early 1900s.

My memories of Zanzibar were of a peaceful place, friendly people, and a very relaxed lifestyle. Zanzibar was ruled by the Sultan of Oman while under British rule and gained independence in 1963. A year later, a revolution took place which led to the deposing of His Majesty, Sir Jamshid bin Abdullah, the last reigning Sultan of Zanzibar. The new leader, Abeid Amani Karume, emerged as the first president of Zanzibar. A few months later Zanzibar united with the Tanganyika mainland giving birth to Tanzania under the leadership of Mwalimu Julius K Nyerere as the President and Abeid Karume as the Vice President. The new government brought in a lot of changes and unfortunately the safe place I knew and loved changed for the worse after the revolution took place towards the end of 1964.

My brother Ramnik resided in Kampala, Uganda. He sent a message that he had decided to tie the knot to a lovely lady Lila who lived in Thika, near Nairobi Kenya. The wedding was to take place in December 1965. My parents and I flew from Zanzibar to Kampala, Uganda, some 1,200 kms, around the beautiful Lake Victoria, to attend his wedding. The wedding was in Thika. In order to get to the wedding, we travelled by car from Kampala to Thika, about a 700km journey. There were suitcases in the trunk of the car however mine happened to be on the roof rack. Somewhere along the journey, unknown to all of us, my suitcase had fallen off the top of the car. It contained all of my clothes, including the suit I was going to wear at the wedding and my and my brother’s, father’s travel documents. It wasn’t the best start to the wedding, but all was well when I was able to borrow my friend’s suit and clothes for the

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With my wife, Karuna

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I was lucky to have left Uganda when I did because in August 1972 President Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of all people of subcontinent origin, namely from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (referred to as Asians) from Uganda, giving them 90 days to leave the country. All these Asians had less than 90 days to leave Uganda and go to any other country.

Unthinkable one would say!!!

wedding festivities.

Few days after the wedding, my brother asked me if I wanted to stay in Kampala. Given that Zanzibar did not hold too many opportunities, I decided to stay with my brother and subsequently started my secondary schooling at Kololo Senior Secondary School. I was not the only one in my family who was on the move, my second brother, Champak, also left Zanzibar and travelled to Mbarara, Uganda, which is about 270km southwest of Kampala. Champak and his wife settled in Mbarara, where he worked with the local bank and raised his family.

In order for me to reside in Uganda, my brother Ramnik applied for a ‘pupil’s visa’ and there I stayed with him as his dependent. After turning 21, I could no longer stay as my brother’s dependent. Hence in 1971, I had to leave Kampala.

I travelled to my cousin’s place in Dar es Salam some 1700km away from my brother, and stayed with my cousin.

Back in Uganda, President Milton Obote was in power, presiding over the country. It is popular belief that Idi Amin, a General in the Ugandan Army, learnt that President Milton Obote was going to arrest him for misappropriating army funds. On 25 January 1971, Obote was away on official duty, attending a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore. Given that the President was out of the country, Amin, through his fiercely loyal army, sealed off Entebbe Airport and took control of Kampala. With that coup, Amin took power.

I was lucky to have left Uganda when I did because in August 1972 President Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of all people of subcontinent origin, namely from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (referred to as Asians) from Uganda, giving them 90 days to leave the country. All

these Asians had less than 90 days to leave Uganda and go to any other country. Unthinkable one would say!!!

I vividly remember when Idi Amin made the announcement as both my brothers still resided in Uganda. Fear set in; I had no idea what was happening with my brothers. Where will they go?

What will they do? Are they safe? Remember, there were no mobile phones or social networks to be able to keep in touch. For a while I lost contact with my brothers, which didn’t make things any easier for me.

I believe they were busy sorting out where they were going to go. After a few months of not hearing from either of my brothers, I received a most welcomed phone call from my brother Ramnik. To hear his voice again brought some relief but we all were not safe yet. He called me to tell me that he was going to Australia.

Australia seemed like a strange place to go, given that most of our family and friends were

travelling to India, the UK or the United States. My brother explained that he was stateless as his passport had been confiscated by the Amin regime. At the time, Australia was the only country willing to grant him a one-way travel document. I was also quite curious as to where my other brother Champak was going and as far as Ramnik knew, Champak was going to the United States.

I found comfort in knowing that both brothers had exit plans with their respective families and would eventually be safe.

I continued to stay with my cousin in Dar es Salaam and work in the local printing press. One day in early November 1972, I received a phone call from Ramnik saying that he and his family had reached Sydney, Australia.

Ramnik mentioned that as soon as he

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I had no knowledge of Australia. Google wasn't around back then. All I knew was Richie Benaud was the captain of the Australian Cricket team and Australia was famous for wool and wheat production. I was frantically trying to find out more about Australia in case I get asked questions in the interview. I memorised a few facts about Australia and they came in handy.

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was settled in Australia he would apply for a visa to allow me to travel to Australia. This was one of the happiest days of my life. I very much looked forward to be reunited with my brother again.

In January 1973 my brother received a telegram from the Private Secretary to the Minister for Immigration, Mr Grassby, stating that the Minister is making personal enquiries into the matter raised.

In April 1973, my brother received a letter from Minister Grassby that he had requested the Australian High Commission in Dar es Salaam to interview me to determine my suitability to admission to Australia.

I received a letter from the Australian High Commission asking me to go for an interview.

I had no knowledge of Australia. Google wasn’t around back then. All I knew was Richie Benaud was the captain of the Australian Cricket team and Australia was famous for wool and wheat production. I was frantically trying to find out more about Australia in case I get asked questions in the interview. I memorised a few facts about Australia and they came in handy.

A date was set for the interview and you can only imagine how nervous I was; a young lad, from the Island of Zanzibar, going into the Australian High Commission for an interview so he could be back with his family once more. Looking back now, there was a lot at stake. The interviewer had two questions “tell me about myself?” and “what do you know about Australia?” Lucky, I had done my research beforehand.

I told him my life story and talked about Richie Benaud, wheat and wool production. He was impressed with my knowledge of Australia and my English, and said I would fit in well in Australia.

The next six months felt long, I was a little lost in what to do with my life. Here I was, a twenty one year old, living in Dar es Salam with my cousins, my parents, brothers and sisters were all in different countries and we had little contact. On 30 August 1973, my brother received a telegram from the Australian Government stating that my visa to travel to Australia had been approved. You cannot imagine how happy I was. At the time, Australia was only offering permanent residency visas to professional non-white people.

I had no qualification and hence felt extremely lucky to have been granted permanent residence visa. I look back now at this moment and realise how monumental it was. I often wonder what life would have been like had that visa not been granted.

After completing the formalities, I travelled to Australia in February 1974. I first travelled by boat to India to see my parents and then got an Alitalia flight to Sydney Australia.

I fondly remember getting off the plane and seeing my brother, his wife and my nephew and niece. I was delighted to be reunited with my brother again. We all lived in Parramatta, Western Sydney, which is why my family has a soft spot for the Parramatta Eels. I went to the local Employment Agency and they said there was a job at Westfield as they were building a new shopping complex in Parramatta. Given the proximity and the fact I needed a job, I applied for one with Grace Brothers (now Myer) and was

Our beautiful, cheeky and loving grandchildren – Samuel, Amali, Kiana, Aarav and Ishan

the new receiving clerk during the construction period. Life was taking shape quite nicely.

This was my first job outside East Africa and to say that there were differences in colloquial English and what I studied at school is an understatement and a half. In the beginning, I had a lot of difficulties understanding Aussie slang and pronunciations. My boss would say “Mate, bring your gear with you tomorrow” I had no idea what that meant. At school, I was taught that a ‘gear’ was something you put your car in.

It took some time to settle down in Australia but I felt quite comfortable in my new home after about 6 months I vividly remember that I couldn’t distinguish between the pronunciation of “V” and “W”. And guess what, I ended up working with a ‘Vicky’ in my first professional job in Australia. Vicky used to laugh at me whenever I called her “Wicky”. I could never quite work out what I was saying incorrectly. Over the coming months Vicky helped me with my pronunciation and looking back, I feel I learnt a lot about the Australian way of life and this ‘new’ language I had to learn. Thanks ‘Wicky’, sorry Vicky, for all your help, mate!

Having been brought up in an Indian family, in East Africa, it was hard to understand the nuances between Australian and Indian cultures.

My Grace Bros colleagues used to tell me that they would “pay board” to their parents to live with them, which is quite different to the way I had grown up.

It took some time to settle down in Australia but I felt quite comfortable in my new home after about 6 months. While working, I attended TAFE part-time in January 1975. I subsequently furthered my education and went on to complete my accounting degree at the University of Wollongong.

In 1974 I moved to a beautiful seaside town called Wollongong “The Gong”, about 1.5 hours south of Sydney, which is where I still reside some 48 years later. In 1979, I married a wonderful woman, Karuna, who has been my partner in crime for the past forty-three years. We have raised our three loving children Sanjiv, Rakesh and Roshni, who have grown up and been educated in “The Gong”. They have all flown the nest and have moved to Sydney and Singapore. More recently, we have had the absolute pleasure of being the fun grandparents to our beautiful, cheeky and loving grandchildren as shown below: Casting my mind back to 1973, I feel it was absolutely the right choice to come to Australia and start my new life but by no means has it been an easy ride, but not as rough as my brothers had to endure. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger became my motto. I am truly grateful to the Australian Government for granting me a visa to come to the lucky country. Life in Australia has been bloody beautiful mate! ●

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I talked to Idi Amin who claims to have talked to God! MY NAME

is Ramnik Shah. I arrived with my wife Lila and two very young children, Arti four years old and Rajiv was three, with three suitcases full of personal belongings and very little money. In fact I had to borrow some money from a Japanese friend who obliged and gave me $50 US. We arrived in Sydney in September of 1972.

Uganda was considered as the Pearl of Africa. Let’s face it life in Uganda was easy-going and really rosy. After graduating from the Makerere College, I was posted to Mulago Hospital where I did my internship. Slowly moving up the rank, I was posted to various regional hospitals.

I recall my telephone conversation with Idi Amin. I was posted to Jinja Hospital to head the operating department. It so happened, one day a group of injured solders were brought in. They were involved in an accident and were badly hurt. I was in my office when the telephone rang. The voice at the other end said: “Are you the doctor in charge?”

I said: “Yes” with a bit of a shake in my voice.

“Do you know who I am?”

I said: “No sir” “I am Idi Amin Dada and my son, who is injured, is in your hospital. Doctor look after him and transfer him to Mulago Hospital immediately” Needless to say that the quickest arrangements ever were made to transfer Idi Amin’s son to the Mulago Hospital.

Another event I recall very well, I was in a remote regional town called Gulu when Idi Amin Dada made the announcement. At first I was shocked to hear, then the panic set in and frantically trying to work out where to go and what to do.

I had no idea where Australia was; the only thing I knew or heard from friends was that the Australian High Commission was accepting professional Indians. I am not sure why I chose to come to Australia. For me it was a question

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Above: with our grandchild; below: my graduation

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There was whole lot of uncertainty surrounding when I landed at the Sydney airport. The questions I had in my head were that I did not know where I was going to go or what I was going to do, where I was going to take my family, what and how was I going to feed my family?

of leaving Uganda safely within the time frame announced. Come to think of it, I didn’t have any choice as the Ugandan Immigration confiscated my Ugandan passport and I had become stateless. The Australian Embassy was kind enough to issue me with a Certificate of identity to go one way to Australia. I couldn’t even have a stopover in India to see my parents.

My journey from Gulu to Kampala was eventful.

Along the journey of 340km, I was stopped at gunpoint three times. Each time (everyone was pulled) all of us were pulled out of the car, they (the army soldiers?) were asking for money, anything valuable and jewellery. They took all our valuables from us. At the Ugandan immigration office, I was made to lie down with a gunpoint on my back thinking it would go off any minute, and that would be it. Praying hard and luckily I was spared. My passport was confiscated. (To this day I am not sure why?)

In Kampala we stayed with friends. As the time drew nearer friends started leaving one by one to different parts of the world and we kept moving from one house to the other. Finally it was time to depart Kampala. Question was how to get to the airport. Taking a taxi with the Ugandan drivers wasn’t safe, and not many people dared to take anyone anywhere. Luckily a neighbour of my friend (agreed/obliged) ventured and took us there.

Journey to the airport was no different; we were pulled up twice at gunpoint. Eventually, I reached Entebbe thinking we are safe now. When I looked around, there were so many military personnel at the airport, I could recognise some of them were my patients when I was at the Gulu Hospital. I was trying to hide from them by lying low on the sofa. Eventually we boarded the plane and as it took off, we all felt so safe and took a breath of relief. I don’t think I would have the courage to go through the nightmare now.

With Lila.

“Smiles to see them smiling”

Before leaving Kampala, I managed to contact my younger brother Champak who was at that time living in Mbarara. I informed him that I was leaving for Australia and my brother said he would be departing for the United States. Sad part was we were not sure when we were going to meet again. We conveyed each other “best wishes and good luck “to the future wherever it takes us.

I was thirty-eight years old when I came to Australia. There was whole lot of uncertainty surrounding when I landed at the Sydney airport.

The questions I had in my head were that I did not know where I was going to go or what I was going to do, where I was going to take my family, what and how was I going to feed my family?

After passing through customs and immigration we came out and to my surprise a lady from YWCA and officials from The Australian Government greeted us and took us to the Coogee Hostel. We were there for about two weeks. In the interim Professor Huckstep had arranged for my interview and got my first job at the old Parramatta District Hospital, starting from scratch as a junior medical doctor, then S.R.M.O., the surgical registrar.

We were initially put up at the YWCA, Migrant Hostel I was greatly assisted by the Australian Government. I received tremendous support from Professor Ron Huckstep of University of NSW coincidentally Professor Huckstep was also my senior at Mulago Hospital. I also received support from Professor Rowan Nicks of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. I am ever so grateful for the support we have received from everyone in particular Professors Huckstep and Nicks.

Coogee Hostel was bit too far to travel to Parramatta and hence we were transferred to Villawood Hostel. All we had was one room for all four of us. But the good part was I had a job and hence a regular income.

Gradually and certainly life started to

take its shape in Australia without any fear or hindrance. Initially I had difficulty in understanding Australian accent and they could not understand my English!

My first “dole” money was at the Coogee Hostel; I noticed a big chunk of the money was deducted by the medical funds. The agent telling me that the organisation was non-profit and all Australians are supposed to be covered for medical treatment. Managing the family with the remaining amount was hard. I saved every penny for building a better future for my family.

My youngest brother Chandrakant, who lived with us all the time luckily, had left Uganda few months earlier for Tanzania. I had no way of contacting him. As soon as I settled down in Sydney, I applied for his sponsorship luckily my application was successful and we were united in February 1974.

Looking back I feel that migrating to Australia was the best choice I ever made.

Since coming to Australia I have been to Uganda twice. Each time I re-lived the good old memories of Makerere College life but was saddened to see Mulago Hospital was in a very poor condition. I found that overall general conditions of buildings, roads, and farms were in a very poor state.

The saddest day of my life in Australia was 5th October 1999 when my wife Lila passed away.

I have two wonderful children, Arti who is a dentist and a son Rajiv who is an ophthalmologist.

Six clever grandchildren, two have graduated, three are at the university and one is preparing for HSC this year. I feel this country, Australia, has given me a lot. I feel blessed that I have achieved my goals; whatever I had set to achieve.

I have served the Wollongong community for the past fifty years. I remarried on 15th December 2001 to Manjula who looks after all of us extremely well. ●

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Leaving Uganda at the tender age of four MY NAME

is Arti Shah. I work as a dental surgeon. I am married and we have three adult children, and we live in Concord Sydney.

When I left Uganda, I was only four years old. In 1972 when the public order that all foreigners had to leave Uganda in 90 days came, things changed drastically for us. After being held at gun point three times on the road from Gulu to Kampala my parents decided, we, as a family, had no choice but to flee. United Kingdom was the obvious destination, but the UK would not accept us as my father and my brother who both had Ugandan passports had their passports confiscated and were left stateless. A life in Australia (population of about 12 million back then) was not part of the plan. But Australia wanted professional people and dad had an occupation that Australia needed.

On arrival in Sydney, the first port of call was Coogee Refugee Hostel then Villawood, Ashfield then to a home on the grounds of the hospital in North Parramatta. We had help from so many amazing Australians in the community and Australian institutions like the YWCA, Parramatta Hospital, and the Australian government.

For a child of four years old receiving second-hand books and preloved music records from a stranger was like gold. From that time I read a lot. The second most exciting thing was the arrival of my Chandrakant kaka from Tanzania whom my parents sponsored. I loved his pop music. After a few years In Sydney, we followed Vaju Ghelani and family to Wollongong and that’s where my father remains today.

My mother Lila has since passed, but I remember how difficult it was for her as a wife and mother as it was for so many others. She quickly discovered the amazing opportunities Australia had to offer. Soon she immersed us into various activities like tennis, football, piano, swimming and ballet lessons while ensuring we studied hard and aimed high. My mother played golf with

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From left: At 7, ready to go to Naren & Rashmi Vanza’s wedding; my graduation; Diwali in Uganda; me and my teddy bear that I still have; thank you mummy for the cake

the ladies social group and was owner builder of our beautiful family home. Australia offered her all this and more.

I vividly recall my mother’s emotional stories of ‘leaving everything behind’. But then she would also always end her stories with ‘we are so lucky Idi Amin made us come to Australia’.

I have been to Uganda a few times as an adult, with my parents, and also with my husband and my three young kids at the time My husband, Vasi, greatly encouraged by my father’s connections, collaborated with Mulago Hospital and to this day has work connections in Kampala.

My kids also have very fond memories of Uganda. We all agree that Uganda holds a special place in our hearts despite our expulsion fifty years ago. ●

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I vividly recall my mother's emotional stories of "leaving everything behind". But then she would also always end her stories with "we are so lucky Idi Amin made us come to Australia".

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A refugee's’ empathy towards fellow refugees MY NAME

is Rajiv Shah, I am an ophthalmologist.

We left Uganda in 1972 and landed in Sydney. I had just turned three. I don’t have firsthand memories of Uganda and most of what I know are second hand stories told by my parents, relatives and friends. All the stories are still so vivid and after hearing them so many times I feel as if they are my own memories.

The common thread of these stories was that life was happy, lifelong friendships were started and that this was a beautiful country with an abundance of food and wealth. The ‘pearl of Africa’ as it was known. The people were friendly and different cultures, races and religions lived harmoniously.

On returning to visit in 1992 there was no animosity or tension but only a warm welcome from our fellow countrymen and women. For me the resemblance between Kampala and Wollongong, where my parents settled, was also uncanny. The hills and the rainforests were similar. It may have been a coincidence but perhaps this felt like a bit of Uganda in Australia and they were drawn to it.

The stories of leaving Uganda and arriving in Australia were harrowing and remarkable. Something that I can’t see myself having to go through now. The kindness and generosity of complete strangers and the Australian government were things that stood out as remarkable. Something that is perhaps lost (hopefully not forever) these days.

When speaking to those who were older when they arrived they recall a very happy and liberating time. Life in the 70’s in Australia was good.

Being born there, I have a deep affinity with Uganda. There is a permanent connection with Uganda that lies deep in my psyche. I can’t help cheering on the Uganda runners in the Olympics and always have a sense of pride when I hear good news stories about Uganda and Ugandans. I have a sense of pride in being born there and it’s something I don’t hide. Quite the opposite in fact. I don’t hesitate in bringing it up and it’s certainly a great conversation starter.

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From left to right: My wife Kamille Eldest daughter, Annika, 23, at university in Melbourne studying business and law Youngest child, Anoushka in year 12, it was her birthday Manju Shah - my stepmother (my mother passed away in 1999) Rohan, my 20 year old son, studying electrical engineering and commerce at Sydney university My father, Dr Ramnik Shah, Myself

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The common thread of these stories was that life was happy, lifelong friendships were started and that this was a beautiful country with an abundance of food and wealth. The "pearl of Africa" as it was known. The people were friendly and different cultures, races and religions lived harmoniously.

Coming to Australia and living in Villawood as a refugee is something that gives me a deep sense of respect for all of today’s refugees. We could have been any of them. Anyone who escapes war or persecution with a young family in tow to a strange country deserves our compassion and help. It has moulded my ethics, politics and the way I treat people. I also try to make sure my grandchildren understand that this is how their grandparents came to Australia.

Overall I am extremely grateful that we settled in Australia and love the Australian way of life but also proud to have a strong connection to Uganda. ●

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Lucky refugees in lucky country IN 1972

my grandparents arrived at Sydney Airport — my grandpa, Vaju Ghelani, in October, and my grandma, Manju Ghelani (with her two children in tow — Surin, and my mum, Shameen) in December. He had arrived from India first to get an idea of what the country was like after one of Manju’s close friends had moved here and recommended settlement. Today, as retired medical practitioner and retired receptionist, they reside in Dharawal land, in Sutherland with four grandchildren and many stories to tell, In essence, they were lucky. The Whitlam government had just extended refugee settlement rights to non-white people, allowing them to be placed in the new Coogee Migrant Hostel. My grandparents both reminisce on their first impression of Australia as a beautiful and clean country with gorgeous weather. “Welcome to my country. You’ll be right here, mate,’ said the government driver who had picked up Vaju from the airport.

Having secured an Australian visa four years in advance due to their friends’ recommendation, the trials they faced in fleeing Uganda occurred before their arrival in Sydney. Being a practising medical professional in Soroti, Vaju was formerly exempt from the expulsion rule. Understandably, this didn’t make them feel safe given the circumstances — they had already heard that people were being killed.

On their journey to Entebbe Airport, they were stopped by soldiers on multiple occasions. The first time, Vaju was able to use his exemption letter and a carefully crafted lie about travelling to his assigned hospital to make it past.

Another time, his medical bag and its contents served as their out, working as an unintended bribe for a soldier who threatened to take them to Makindye prison (it was well known that this was essentially a death sentence). At the last checkpoint, and within the airport itself, their fortune was at the mercy of superiors who happened to let them pass with Manju’s gold jewellery intact. Only upon flying past Ethiopia were they able to breathe a sigh of relief, sure that they had finally made it out. They made it safely to Manju’s mothers’ ashram in Gujarat, India, and it was from there that they travelled to Australia.

By the time the whole family arrived in Sydney, they were starting their lives

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Right: Vaju, Manju, Shameen and Surin Below: Vaju and Manju

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from scratch. They were allowed to take 50 pounds out of Uganda, with any excess amount being forfeited. When Vaju arrived in Australia, he had the Australian equivalent of $25 left, $23 of which was used to register himself as a medical professional. They relied on the generosity of government-issued provisions and accommodation, and the kindness of others. The NSW Building Society granted Vaju his first loan despite his lack of credit rating, and a new friend, Bob Sailsbury, gave him the money to open a medical practice in Kanahooka, Dapto.

However, settling in a new country brought other challenges. When I asked her about these, Manju recalled the Anglo-Australian eating culture in the Coogee hostel. ‘Meat and three veg’ at 5pm was far from her comfort zone. With some of the first money they earned, she bought a Sunbeam electrical cooker and began cooking vegetarian cultural food from her room. Once they settled in Dapto, they struggled with a multitude of issues, from bullying of their children in school, a lack of Indian community, and raising children with limited resources.

This said, they both regularly express their gratitude for a country that allowed them to build a safe, enjoyable, and prosperous life within a vibrant multicultural community.

My Mum and Uncle Surin describe their childhood as idyllic. The opportunities afforded to Vaju allowed him to build a beautiful house with a pool, close to the sublime South Coast beaches, and to enrol his children in a multitude of activities including horse riding, tennis, netball and cricket. The family was able to connect with the small Indian community, forming a network of family friends and celebrating traditional cultural events in their backyards.

Because they both spoke English fluently, they were also able to join in with locals through memberships to organisations such as the Lion’s Club and the Soroptimist Club, providing them with a community outside the Indian diaspora.

This eased them into their life in this country, allowing them to eventually regard Australia as their home.

My mum finds it important to give back to other refugees seeking asylum and settling into a new country, knowing how harrowing it can be.

She does this via community groups such as ‘Mum’s for Refugees’, providing second-hand clothes, toys, and books to assist new families.

Understandably, they feel disdain for the continued regime of offshore detention and ‘stop the boats’ ideology. “We’re all ‘boat’ people”, Vaju explained to me — whether descended from immigrants, refugees, or convicts, Australia’s non-Indigenous population has settled here from elsewhere.

We shudder to think about how we might have been treated if we were refugees today, instead of in the 70s with the privilege of a visa, plane ticket, and high-demand professional skills. Perhaps we would have been turned away, perhaps my mother would have spent her childhood years in offshore detention, perhaps none of us would be alive today. In a country that commonly regards itself to be ‘lucky’, it is so important that the generosity we were awarded is extended to all people in need. ●

Right: My Mum’s graduation; Below: Manju, Surin and Shameen; Our family

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Doctor expelled from Uganda 50 years ago by Idi Amin thanks adoptive country Australia

By Murray Trembath Updated April 27 2022 5 6708am, first published 6700am

Grateful: Venilal and Manju Ghelani, of Sutherland, are grateful to their adoptive country. Picture: John Veage

Doctor Venilal Ghelani has never forgotten the encouraging welcome he received when he arrived in Australia in 1972 after he and his wife and their two young children were kicked out of Uganda by dictator Idi Amin.

Along with others of Indian or Asian ethnicity, they were given a one way airfare and allowed to take just 50 British pounds after all their assets were seized.

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Initial struggle but good life now WE ARE

the Dattani family, that is Bachoo, Bala and Rima Dattani Shah. Bachoo, my husband, is a retired pharmacist and I, Bala, am a retired pharmacy assistant. I have a degree in Chemistry and Rima, our daughter, has a Business, degree majoring in Finance. Rima is married to Mehul and they have two sons, Sachin and Aaryan. Aaryan, who is twenty years old and has cerebral palsy, is a third year Psychology student, a national Boccia player, a radio host, he swims and surfs and is a board member at a radio station. Sachin is a consultant at Deloitte Digital.

My daughter recalls that she does not remember anything about Uganda or her early life in Australia as she was too young. However, from what she can recall, she, like all of us, does miss the easy ‘hakuna matata’ life and the people.

We were in Mbale, and when we heard this announcement at first, we thought it was a big joke, but soon it became a reality. A few times we saw some bodies floating in the creek near the school where we lived and there were a lot of military personnel going around the town. We applied to the Australian Immigration Department for an entry permit, and we were accepted because of our academic qualifications.

We left very early in the morning on the 14th of October 1972, handed the house keys and everything we had to James who used to work for us and walked out with two suitcases. On the way, we were stopped about three to four times by the military. Rima who was two and a half years old, could speak fluent Swahili, so she started joking with the military about not having a bath at the first checkpoint. The military thought this was very funny; so, they let us go, the same thing continued all the way to the airport. Therefore, we were not really harassed by the military. At the airport after quite a few checkpoints, we finally boarded a plane to London.

We came to Australia because we heard that the weather was much warmer than England. Bachoo arrived in Australia on December 1, 1972, whilst Rima and I followed soon after on December 15 of the same year. We came through

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Rima who was two and a half years old, could speak fluent Swahili, so she started joking with the military about not having a bath at the first checkpoint.

The military thought this was very funny; so, they let us go, the same thing continued all the way to the airport.

Right: Jinja – Source of the River NileJinja – main street - 2018 Having two amazing grandsons in Australia and seeing the people in the villages in Uganda are our memorable moments.

Far right: Bachoo, Rima and Baba – Emu Plains; Our grandson

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London. Our first impressions of Australia were that it was a big, beautiful country with very few people. There was an obvious curiosity about us when Australians met us first. But everybody was very friendly.

Bachoo had managed to get a job at a pharmacy in Petersham before we arrived in Australia through newspaper advertisement in the UK. We did not get any assistance or help from any organisations or the government. We found the cost of living very high and life was very tough. We came here with only $60, and we didn’t get paid well initially. Over the years, we have called Australia home and we have found people to be very friendly and helpful, and we have integrated into the community well. Starting our own business and working as a volunteer at the Sydney Olympic Games had a big impact on our lives.

Our First House

We were active in the Emu Plains community, members of a Probus club and in the Northern Beaches, we are active members of an organisation called the University of Third Age (U3A) and I worked as a volunteer at Manly Art Gallery.

We went back to Uganda at the end of 2018, people were still very friendly but the infrastructure and schools, where we studied and worked, were in a bad state. ●

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Australia – our f irst choice MY NAME

is Hemant Raval, son of the late Dr Anilkumar D Raval (1/1938-12/2012), and Taruna A Raval. My mother, popularly known as Tarlaben in the Indian community, is very happy for me to share my parents’ experiences for this unique publication.

Starting from the beginning, Anil’s father, Durgashankar Jethalal Raval had been the headmaster of the Government Secondary School, Kololo, Kampala and was married to his mother Mahalaxmi Durgashankar Raval.

Anil had grown up and studied in Uganda, graduating in 1966 with a medical degree from the University of East Africa. He and Taruna were married in February 1967, in Joravaranger, Surendranagar, India, and settled as a married couple in Kampala.

Anil had been a member of the Uganda Medical Association – Kampala since 1967 and was registered as a Citizen of Uganda on 30th August 1963. Life in Kampala changed significantly when the expulsion order for people of Indian sub-continent origins was announced by Idi Amin in August 1972, as under his dictatorship it was no longer a safe place. The military presence was visible around the neighbourhood where they lived while the atmosphere and environment were tense and volatile.

As a result, Anil and Taruna made the difficult and heartbreaking decision to flee and leave behind what was a beautiful country they called home.

They left their personal belongings, household, and other assets, while only taking with them a suitcase with clothing and passports.

The journey to Entebbe Airport on the planned day of departure was one filled with heightened fear, and concern that the military would stop them at random as they risked interrogation or the reality of being shot. It was not uncommon for people to have ‘disappeared’ as they were aware of a family connection (a high-profile individual with a young family) who was taken by the military, never to be seen again, presumably shot.

At the airport, security was very tight, and the military would examine closely every individual. They removed people at random or took their belongings before they even boarded flights to escape. Other countries were also helping other

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Left: My Mum and Dad; Right: My grandfather; below: My Dad’s graduation

Their early impression of Australia was of a beautiful country, friendly people, and importantly a new start.

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immediate family members to flee and be accepted as refugees.

Fortunately, as a medical practitioner, Anil had travelled out of Uganda before and had visited Australia in 1971 prior to the expulsion. Australia was his preferred choice of country to migrate to and after fleeing Uganda Anil arrived alone on 19th September 1972, followed by Taruna and son Hemant two months later. We settled in Wollongong and their second son, my brother Ravi was born in 1975.

The family received initial assistance and support from a friend who had been residing in Wollongong and helped Anil secure employment. Their early impression of Australia was of a beautiful country, friendly people, and importantly a new start. While Australia was now their new home, Anil did miss life in Uganda where he had grown up with this family, studied, and built a large social network of friends and peers.

In Wollongong, Anil was a medical practitioner by profession and with Taruna both were actively involved in the nurturing and growth of the local Indian community groups. Taruna is still an active member to this day. ●

Above: The Raval Family - My Dad and Mum at the extreme right; Left: My Grandmother; Right: My Dad’s Certificate - our ‘passport’ to Australia

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A worldly and spiritual journey MY FAMILY

migrated to Australia during the contrived political exodus from Uganda. We arrived in Sydney on 17th October 1972 via Mauritius, Perth, and Melbourne. Whilst leaving Uganda everything was taken away from us at Entebbe Airport. When we departed Melbourne, we had no idea as to who was to receive us in Sydney! We had no money or no indication as to what the arrangements were to be! Even when we landed in Sydney there was still no clarity on what was happening or what was to happen. To our surprise, we were welcomed by an official who took us to a hostel where we met other migrants from Uganda. This is where we commenced our new life in this lucky country. Certainly, a lucky country but we did find it strange in same ways and initially full of anticipation. At that initial stage, we were just too glad to escape Uganda and did not worry about the immediate future!

We moved out of the hostel, and I started work in Sydney. I was also a pioneer for the settlement of the Ismaili Community. I was the first ever Mukhi of Sydney Jamat Khana appointed officially by the 49th Imam, Nur Mawlana Shah Karim Al Hussayni in 1975.

After an initial period in Sydney, we moved to Coffs Harbour, and I started my medical practice there.

Following the scientific attempt to dive into the field of Neurophysiology of Addison’s Disease, which would require almost further two hundred pages, I decided to branch out into the depth of personal search into spirituality which has intrigued me because I wanted to pen down two aspects which I wanted to attempt to clarify with the little Ilm (knowledge) that I harbour!

Firstly, despite my strong belief in spirituality, I have always tried to comprehend why my struggle to understand the development of events of my life create barriers in my communication and achieve what I have set to master? Are these obvious impediments repeated or predetermined by Supernatural Power! Or these events are to teach me what I would not be able to accomplish with my prowess?

For instance, there was always a lack of facilities in my life. I had to settle my education needs by being the only non-African student to attend ‘All Black School’. Had to use pushbike to travel a total of 32 miles a day to ensure that I would receive education like my Ismaili, Hindu, Sikh, Goan, and Muslim friends!

I attended Catholic Primary School and hence had to make special effort to make friends and imbibe religious knowledge. One blessing was that I managed to make more senior school friends and the Catholic Priests particularly were kind to me by giving me extra tuition to ensure that I do not lag the privileged students!

I also learnt the subject of Agriculture and native languages. Eating the same meals as the

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African students while at school! Sometimes it was nothing to eat except maize porridge after ‘extracting’ gecko lizards! Apart from my meagre ventures in the school and university, I managed to be a member of the Editorial Committee of Muslim Students’ Association. After this I secured the position of Editor of the Makerere Medical Journal. Organised the first ever Undergraduate World. World conference at Makerere, Medical Games, Fashion Show in Makerere University and promoted Research on Prostaglandins and presented original research in the University.

Raised money for Anglican Hospital and did three voluntary terms in Leprosy Camps. I had to accept my destiny as a thread spun, measured and cut by those who determined my FATE! Above preparation made me industrious and promoted ‘Selfless Service’. The experience taught me to Listen to God’s “voice” and through the Solitude even hear my own voice ! There was no question of HALLUCINATIONS!! It was indeed a technique of what I believe was the ability to withdraw into myself! May be what I came to understand after several years was a bridge between the material world and the REALM of Spirituality.

I also learnt the subject of Agriculture and native languages.

Eating the same meals as the African students while at school!

Sometimes it was nothing to eat except maize porridge after "extracting" gecko lizards!

The third part could be another 200 pages but I just want to briefly mention the sudden popularity of CLIMATE CHANGE! First of all latter is not new. Our Pirs have not only expressed their relevance for several hundred years but delved into the history of the world, climate, time (Joogs) and scientific evolution. There are Ginans (hymns) which not only highlight the history of environment and massive amount of insights into the transitions in the world and the universe!

Amazing facts entirely overlooked by the MATERIAL MINDED - so called Scientists. They only write about physical phenomenon BUT DO NOT comprehend much about the outcome of effect on the Universe and our minute globe related to the SPIRITUAL PRACTICES AND THE SACRILEGIOUS IGNORANCE OF THE HUMAN neglect, arrogance and the effect of spirituality. From the figures touted around more than 55% do not believe in GOD! We need to think of Human Solitude, Plan, Symbolic Communication.

In order to face the challenge and present this contribution from Australia with particularly in mind of Spiritual Pursuit of Singular purpose to emphasise the Solitary Search for the NUR, I must

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resort to the grasp of the Origin of Knowledge. It is through works like “The Mysterious Universe”

by Sir James Jeans (1877-1946) that attempted to expose The Universe as it began to look more like a great thought than like a great machine!

Immediately, it dawned on me that knowledge is power and hence I once again recited the little prayer again that I always offer every day, “O Lord! Increase me in knowledge”. (H.Q. 20: 114). To put it simply, I would have to adopt the same attitude which marked the Origin of the Spirit of Inquiry. George Sarton in his book “Introduction to History of Science” enlightens us by pointing out in no uncertain terms that If anyone tells you that Middle Ages were scientifically sterile, just review the names of individuals who flourished within the relatively short period between 750 to 1110 AD. Following the advent of the revelation to Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.), it is historically stated that based on the (H.Q. 45 : 13): “And He subjected to you, as from Him, all that is in the heavens and on the earth : behold, in that are signs indeed for those who reflect” . Consequently, he had remarked “Learning comprises treasure houses whose keys are queries. The Prophet (S.A. W.) even announced that “Learning and searching after knowledge was a sacred duty and that knowledge had to be acquired even if one had to go to distant places in search for it.” Thus, it is indeed this spirit which is now accepted to be the impetus for the European Renaissance. This New Spirit of Inquiry promoted through study of Nature led to the development of method investigation, method of experimentation, observation, measurement and the development of mathematics in an unprecedented form far beyond what Greeks knew.

Leave you with this thought - I do not think, I have enough time, but I did as a first Medical Student in Uganda used ELECTRON Microscope for research into muscle regeneration and published an original scientific paper on the subject! My humble contribution to ilm – knowledge! ●

Right and middle: with His Highness the Aga Khan in 1979.

This appeared in the Advocate in 2011 when I had clocked up 36 years in my practice at Coffs Harbour

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Uganda's loss, Australia’s gigantic gain MY NAME

is Anil. It was Monday 16th January 1973 when we arrived at Sydney Airport.

My father, Mr Jagdish Aggarwala, and mother, Mrs Perkash Aggarwala, together with three of their children arrived early in the morning. We arrived as migrants and not refugees. I was aged 13 at the time. My elder sister, Asha, was aged 16 and my younger sister, Seema, was aged 11. My brother, Ashok, joined us a few months later as he was studying in Delhi and my parents decided it was best, he join us in Sydney and continue his education here. My brother’s name is Ashok. I distinctly remember the day as it was early in the morning, and we were greeted by personnel from the immigration department. They took us through some back corridors at the airport without having to go through customs and 2 taxis were arranged for us to take us to a migrant hostel in Coogee. My first recollection of Sydney at the time was how quiet it was.

There were hardly any cars on the road.

My parents had initially migrated to Uganda from India in about 1954. My father was recruited by the British Government, and he worked as a mathematics and physics teacher and worked his way up the ranks and eventually became a school inspector. Idi Amin came into power in 1972 and later in the year, announced that all Asians had to leave the country within 90 days. This announcement was later changed and Asians in Uganda who were employed by the British Government did not have to leave within those 90 days. The situation in Uganda was becoming dangerous at the time and a lot of my parents’ colleagues were exiting the country.

My father therefore decided to go to the British Embassy which was based in Kampala, and we were living in a place called Jinja. He wanted to go to the embassy to get separate passports for the children with a view to getting the children out of the country to India and with my parents joining later. When he got to Kampala, there was a large queue outside the embassy, and he realised that he would not be able to achieve anything that day. He therefore decided to go to the Nile Hotel to get himself a drink and bumped into a colleague of his. His colleague mentioned to him that the Australian Ambassador was upstairs, and it may be wise to see if he can get an appointment. My dad went and knocked on his door and the attaché John Paddick was kind enough to ask my dad to come in and asked for his qualifications and paperwork. As my father did not have the relevant documents on him at the time, he was asked to come back the next day together with a completed application form. When my father went back the next day,

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Life was hard in those early years as we were not used to Australian lifestyle, the local jargon or to Western cuisine. We really had no friends and did not know anyone in Australia.

L to R: Mr & Mrs JC Aggarwala, Mr & Mrs Ashok Aggarwala, Seema, Anil & Asha

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my father did not have the relevant documents on him at the time, he was asked to come back the next day together with a completed application form.

When my father went back the next day, he was given a letter of acceptance to come to Australia even before he had handed in his application. Our initial intention was to either go to the United Kingdom or to India. As fate was to have it, we were going to end up in Australia.

My dad went to the education department on the 17thApril 1973 and was offered a job to start as a maths teacher at Canley Vale High School. Within a short period of time, we moved to the Cabramatta migrant hostel and the 3 children all went to Cabramatta High School. I distinctly remember that we were the only Indian students at Cabramatta High School at that time. Interestingly, each of us kids skipped a year in high school as the standards of education in Uganda were so high that after

some IQ testing, it was decided we would each skip a year. In my case, I was put straight into Year 9 having done Year 7 in Uganda. My parents had the total sum of 50,000 shillings when they came to Australia which was the equivalent of $5,000 Australian dollars at that time.

Life was hard in those early years as we were not used to Australian lifestyle, the local jargon or to Western cuisine. We really had no friends and did not know anyone in Australia. Cost of living was high even at that time and within a short period of time, my mother decided that she would have to enter the workforce to keep the family going. My heart still aches to this day when I think about it. My brother joined us from India within a month or two and enrolled at Cabramatta High School. He went on to become an electrical engineer. My elder sister went on to become an optometrist. I was the third child and became a cardiologist. My younger sister also became an optometrist.

My father bought a house in Canley Heights in August after taking out two loans. Within a fairly short period of time, we quickly realised Australia was now home. The Australian Government has been very kind to us in giving us opportunity and we have formed great friendships and bonds.

My parents have left a great legacy. Education was of paramount importance, and they taught us to be kind and considerate. Interestingly, all my three siblings and myself ended up having three children each. My brother’s three children ended up doing medicine as well. The daughter has become a plastics surgical fellow, his son is a radiology fellow, and his daughter is an anaesthetist. My elder sister’s three children have also excelled and the eldest became a lawyer. Her daughter became

Above: The Agarwalla Family at Blues Point - Sydney Below: Mr & Mrs Ashok Mr & Mrs Anil & J C Aggarwala

an event manager and the younger son ended up doing accountancy and has a senior position at a bank. My three children have also gone into the medical field and my eldest daughter became a root canal specialist. My other daughter became a general practitioner, and my youngest daughter has become a clinical psychologist. As for my younger sister, her three children have also gone into the medical field. Her eldest son has become a plastic surgeon. Her daughter is in general practice and the youngest son is just finishing off final year at medical school. My parents have left a true legacy and my parents were always extremely proud of their children and their grandchildren.

Unfortunately, my mother passed away in her early 80s about ten years ago. My father passed away two years ago at the age of 88.

My siblings and I obviously got married along the way and have been blessed to have caring partners. From my parent’s perspective, there are now great grandchildren. My mother was fortunate enough to see one of them and my father was fortunate enough to see four of them. We have all become successful in our own right with hard work and dedication. None of us have had to put our hand out for social security at any point in time and sincerely believe that we have contributed and continued to contribute back towards the community and economy. We are eternally grateful to the government of Australia for giving us this opportunity and to the people of Australia. I am hopeful our children and grandchildren will continue to be good citizens and contribute back towards the community.

As a point of interest, my very first day at school at Cabramatta High was memorable. My form master at the time said to me in a very polite and non-threatening manner to go easy on the other students as they have never seen an Indian before.

That same form master has become a colleague over many years and comes to see me as a patient from out of the Sydney region. Additionally, I have seen some of my other ex-teachers as patients and some of my student colleagues have also come to see me as patients. I am also privileged to have an exprime minister of Australia as my patient. I won’t name this person for confidentiality reasons. I find this particularly satisfying and wear it as a badge of honour considering I first knew these people as a young 13-year-old who did not know at that time as to what was in store for him. I advise to my colleagues and friends who have come from Uganda, stay humble and forever grateful. Have high ambitions and opportunities will arise. ●

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Serving communities at all levels MY NAME

is Chappie Lobo. At the age of 45, I arrived in Australia on 1 January 1973, with my wife Bernadette, aged 35, and my daughter Marie, aged 6, We were well received by immigration and customs officers. Transport was provided to take us to the Grayland Migrant Centre.

As it was late at night the residents had had their dinner and gone to their accommodation. We were given a large dinner and then taken to our accommodation.

These were known as Nisen Huts. I was accommodating two families with shared facilities, toilets, and showers. Later Francis and Sylva with their children Jackie and Noel joined us. The following morning, we went for breakfast. All the people having breakfast were White Pommes, and Italians. They were surprised to see us. We were the first coloured family at any migrant centre in WA. After breakfast we went to the office to complete the paperwork.

We would get a weekly dole of $32. Of this $24 went towards our meals. The balance $8 helped us to get a pack of beer from the local liquor store. Every Friday we were issued with fresh laundered bed linen and towels.

Shortly after Ernest and Laura Da Silva with their daughters Coryn and Sharon arrived. Also, Pat and Gerry O’Sullivan joined us. Gerry was a nurse in Uganda and was a good friend of Judy’s dad.

I got a job at the University as also did Ernest and Laura, through the assistance of Wilfred De Souza, who was a lecturer at the University. We built a house close to Wilfred, Ernest, and Francis.

When I was at the hostel, I joined the Lions Club. In February next year I will complete 50 years membership. I have been President three times and Treasurer eight times. I was awarded the prestigious Melvin Jones Fellowship and made a Life Member.

In November I have been sponsored by my Lions Club to be induced to Lions Hall of Fame. I am also a Life Member and Founding member of the Indian Society. I am a

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We were given a large dinner and then taken to our accommodation. These were known as Nisen Huts.

I was accommodating two families with shared facilities, toilets, and showers . .The following morning, we went for breakfast. All the people having breakfast were White Pommes, and Italians. They were surprised to see us.

We were the first coloured family at any migrant centre in WA.

Above right: Chappie Lobo – 95 years old Below: Nisen huts accommodation

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member if the Australian Asian Association.

Secretary once, and Treasurer six times. At the 50th Anniversary celebrations I received a special award for getting a special government grant to build seventeen offices for ethnic communities. The offices were rent free for 10 years but they had to pay for the electricity in the general area and also the kitchen. They also paid for the consumption in their offices.

The GOA has an office there. Every two months when I receive the sub meter readings, I bill the associations.

I was a member of my Church Parish Council for three years, Social Committee Chairman for eight years and have been forty-four years on the social committee. At the last AGM of the Parish, I was humbled to be presented with a special award for my service to the Parish.

I was President of the National Seniors Australia for eight years and Treasurer twice. At the last AGM I gave notice that I would step down

when I reached aged 95. This has just happened.

Terry Flanagan is the President and Adolph is the Vice President. I agreed to continue as the Treasurer for two more years to help with the transition.

Noteworthy events:

When President Obote of Uganda got married, I was part of the organising committee. After the function we were presented with 5 large bottles of French Champagne and 25 glass champagne glasses.

22 glasses which I still have with me in Perth.

On February 6, 1952, a young Catholic English working at the telephone exchange in Mbale, Uganda was asked to transfer an urgent call to the Royal party in East Africa. It was the night that Princess Elizabeth learned that her father King George VI had died unexpectedly in his sleep, and that she had become the Queen.

I feel blessed that I continue to live a fulfilling life in the service of humanity. ●

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From Makerere University to Macquarie University MY NAME

is Mark D’Souza. On the morning of 4th August 1972, we awoke to the announcement from Idi Amin that all Asians (he meant Indians) had to leave Uganda within 90 days. That brought shock waves to the over 50,000 strong Indian community who had been in Uganda since the 1890s and successive generations had built a successful and vibrant community.

I was in my first year at Makerere University studying Commerce. My sister Roberta was at Mt. St. Marys College as a boarder in Namagunga, which is some 42 Kms from Kampala. My other siblings Jude and Michelle were at the Norman Godinho school. My mother Merlyn was a teacher at the Muslim Girls School and my father was a Warehouse Manager at Uganda Breweries at Port Bell. My mother held a British passport, and the rest of the family were citizens of Uganda and held Uganda passports.

Initially we thought the expulsion order did not apply to us as we were Ugandan citizens. So, we continued with our normal life while all around us there was this great upheaval. After a couple of weeks into the 90-day deadline we soon realised Idi Amin did not want any Indians in Uganda. Furthermore, there was general lawlessness as we witnessed troops harassing our neighbours one night and the police did nothing.

So approximately six weeks before the deadline my parents made inquiries of countries who would take our family. There was no success with the Canadian and Australian Embassies. So the only option was to use my mother’s British citizenship and obtain British visas for the four children as dependants of my mother. My father was not able to obtain a British visa and was to remain behind in Kampala.

Hopefully he was to join us some time in the future. Such were the desperate times Indians faced.

A couple of weeks before the deadline Australia accepted us and a number of other Indians. I suspect the Australian media highlighted the desperate situation in Uganda along with the Council of Churches. We decided to come to Sydney as very

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Our family of six flew out on the final day of the deadline with six suitcases and $60. My parents lost everything including their pension fund with Prudential which the insurer refused to recognise outside Uganda. I remember being nervous along the 44 km road trip to Entebbe Airport. We had heard reports of lawless troops stopping cars and taking what they wanted from the fleeing Indians.

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good family friends, Joe and Martha Delima, had emigrated to Wollongong a couple of years before this and Wollongong was not far from Sydney.

Our family of six flew out on the final day of the deadline with six suitcases and $60. My parents lost everything including their pension fund with Prudential which the insurer refused to recognise outside Uganda. I remember being nervous along the 44 km road trip to Entebbe Airport. We had heard reports of lawless troops stopping cars and taking what they wanted from the fleeing Indians. I had such pleasant memories of previous trips to swim at Lake Victoria, visit the Zoo etc but not this time.

Once we had been through immigration and body checks (to see we were not concealing anything) we waited for what seemed a very long time to board our flight.

We flew to Bombay, India to spend a couple of months and Christmas with my mother’s relatives before flying to Sydney arriving on New Year’s Eve 1972.

The Australian Government from the start were very good to us ferrying us in a couple of black commonwealth limousines to the Endeavour Migrant Hostel in Coogee. We were assigned two apartments. Each apartment had a bedroom, lounge, toilet and wash basin. There were communal showers on the floor. There was a cafeteria which provided us with all meals.

We were well looked after. However, by the Management did tell us were lucky to be the first coloured people to stay at this Migrant Hostel. The Labour party under Gough Whitlam had come into government in early December and directed this change.

My three siblings went to local schools, my mother secured a job as a teacher at St Agnes in Matraville, my father found a paymaster position at a construction company called TC Whittle which went on to build the Law Courts at Macquarie St. I needed to work to help with the family finances and got an accounts job at Commonwealth Industrial Gases (CIG) at Alexandria. I was fortunate as the company had selected another candidate, but the Finance Manger Graeme Turk preferred me and so the company employed both of us. A year later the other candidate resigned, and Graeme told me he felt vindicated in his selection of me.

I worked during the day and attended Macquarie University at night studying for a Bachelor of Economics so I could be a CPA. Fortunately, the Labour Government had made University free otherwise I would have been unable to pursue my studies and career. The first year to attend University was tough as not having a car, after work I caught a bus from Alexandria to St Peters, a train from St Peters to Epping and a bus to Macquarie Uni for lectures at 6 PM. After lectures at 9 PM I caught a bus to Wynyard Station, another bus from Macquarie St to South Coogee. Mum would collect sandwiches from the cafeteria for my dinner. One rainy night while waiting for the bus at Macquarie St I stuck up a conversation with an elderly man. He told me in his youth he was a jockey in India. My grandfather owned racehorses in India when my mother was in her teens. Turned out he knew my grandfather (who I never met as he died when my mum was in her

L to R: Octavio us, Michelle, Roberta, Jude, Mark, and Merlyn D’Souza in 1973 - Archibald Fountain – Hyde Park, Sydney

teens). What a small world! Needless to say, after a year I took a loan and purchased a car.

CIG was good for me, and I rose to be Finance Manager of NSW by the time I was 30 (a goal I had set myself). After completing my degree and becoming a CPA I went on to complete an MBA at Macquarie University by 1983. I remember going to the information night and asking the head of the school about the fees. To my surprise it was free. I said to him why there was not a queue around the block for a free MBA. At the time MBAs were only offered by Sydney Uni, Uni of NSW, and Macquarie.

My brother Jude went on to be an Electrician and a Union delegate, my sister Michelle studied nursing and ended up a theatre nurse. Roberta studied early childhood and oversaw a pre-school in Summer Hill. They all have successful careers and wonderful families.

Jude married Magda and have Joshua and Jessica. Michelle married Bernie and have Justin and Gabriel. Justin is engaged to Stephanie and have Aidan and Marley. Roberta has a son Omar who married Sharina and have Anika and Octavius (named after my father).

I married Candace and have Dominic, Simon, Alice, and Evan. Dominic’s partner is Bronte,

Simon is engaged to Abi, and they have Beau and Amber, Alice was engaged to David who unfortunately died shortly after of Covid in 2019 while holidaying in Iceland.

Over the years several of my cousins migrated to Australia from India and there is now a very large family community here, at last count around fifty!

I ended up as a Financial Controller for a few multinationals including a 12-month secondment to India as an MD. When I look back on the expulsion from Uganda, I view it as a blessing in disguise. We were so fortunate to come to Australia (instead of the UK) and avail of tremendous opportunities.

We have been well accepted here. I believe in putting back and now that I am retired. I have joined the board of my local golf club to make a positive contribution.

Dad died in 2002 aged 78 and Mum died in 2013 aged 94. They lived full lives in Australia. It was hard relocating the family halfway around the world to a new country and not knowing what the future held. Their friends were scattered all around the world. They were warmly welcomed in Australia, established new friends, embraced their new homeland, and gave us a great future. ●

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Stories A

s the expulsion deadline of 8th of November 1972 was approaching, there was panic as to what would happen to those who were left behind.

Idi Amin had many insinuations has to how he would treat them. The light at the end of the tunnel was seen as the oncoming terror train with Idi Amin as the ruthless driver.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) through the commissioner at that point in time, His Highness Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, played an important role in the resettlement of many who could not find a country that would take them. They were taken to various camps in Europe.

There were individuals like Mr Rajabali Gulamali Nanji who carried out extraordinary work organising UNHCR or Red Cross travel documents for those families who did not have any documents (in some cases not even birth certificates). Mr Rajabali Nanji’s diary provides a vivid account of the situation just prior to and around the deadline. It outlines the dire situation with dead bodies in the streets of Kampala.

Wave two includes stories of those families who ended up in camps from where they came to Australia. There is also a story about an individual who stayed back as he was a professional and he finally came to Australia in 1973.

Facing cold weather in European countries is a common thread in many stories, bearing in mind that Uganda, being on the equator, had equal lengths of day and night throughout the year. Hence no summer or winter. Enjoy reading the refugee accounts.

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Migration to Australia via Austria and New Zealand MY NAME

is Aarif Panjwani and I was born in Masaka, Uganda. My father was also born in Uganda and my mother was born in Kenya, but later moved to Uganda after marriage. Along with my two older sisters we were raised in Kyotera, a very small village town about 175 km from the capital city Kampala. While in Kyotera my father owned and operated a shop, the modern-day equivalent to a convenience store.

Later when I was about six years of age, we moved to Kampala to live together with my uncle’s family. My other extended family of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins were all living in Kampala.

We are Ismaili Muslims and speak Gujarati at home. Social life was very much centred around family and the Ismaili community. Both our families would go together to the main Jamat Khana (prayer hall) in the city centre on Friday evenings in my father’s Kombi van, the centrepiece for most of our family outings.

I have fond memories of our weekly trips to the drive-in cinema where you could watch Bollywood movies on a giant outdoor screen right from the comfort of your car. I was too young to understand the movies, nonetheless it was very exciting to huddle up in our Kombi van with family and get to have ice cream at intermission.

Other things I remember from my early childhood in Kampala are Lake Victoria, Entebbe, the Crest on the Ugandan Flag, Nambirembe Rd (where we lived), hippos at Murchison falls, Daktari & Tarzan - the popular TV shows, and the taste of matoke and mandazi, both popular African dishes.

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As a young child I couldn't possibly comprehend the situation, but I can imagine the lead-up to the deadline must have been a time of panic, despair, and confusion for my parents. Not having any tertiary qualifications or a valid passport would have severely limited their options. Our only hope was to get accepted by another country as refugees.

In August 1972, President Idi Amin declared that all Asians, primarily those whose origins were from the Indian Subcontinent, had to leave Uganda within three months. It was not clear if this also applied to Asians that were Ugandan citizens. However, in the weeks to follow, it became clear that it was no longer safe for any Asian, citizen or not, to remain in Uganda because of the political instability. Everybody it seemed, was busy preparing to leave the country as quickly as possible, and certainly before the declared deadline in November 1972.

Although my father was a Ugandan citizen, his papers were confiscated and destroyed by the Ugandan immigration authorities during the verification process, and he was denied a Ugandan Passport. This happened to many others, including my uncle’s family that we were living with at the time. As a result, both of our families became ‘stateless’ meaning we did not belong to any country!

As a young child I couldn’t possibly comprehend the situation, but I can imagine the lead-up to the deadline must have been a time of panic, despair, and confusion for my parents. Not having any tertiary qualifications or a valid passport would have severely limited their options. Our only hope was to get accepted by another country as refugees.

Many countries were accepting small numbers of refugees. The United Nations and the Red

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Cross were assisting with the evacuation and organizing emergency flights out of Uganda. We managed to get an official travel document, much like a passport, issued by the Red Cross.

With only a few days left until the deadline, our two families headed out to Entebbe airport in the hope that we could get on a flight out. We literally camped at the airport for a couple of days and nights before our departure. We were only allowed to take a suitcase full of clothes, everything else that was valuable would be confiscated by the army. We did not have much, but whatever assets we had were left behind.

I remember seeing the army soldiers patrolling the airport with their rifles strapped over their shoulders. They took my father away for questioning and we were scared that we would not see him again. Fortunately, they did not harm my father, instead they took whatever little cash he had in his pocket, and his packet of cigarettes!

We finally left Uganda on the 8th of November 1972, only hours before the deadline. We were taken to a refugee camp on the outskirts of Vienna, Austria. There were about 300 refugees at that camp, all ex-Ugandan Asians.

The Austrian Government was unbelievably kind to the refugees, providing accommodation and meals for the entire duration there. They even issued fur coats, hats, and boots to each family to keep us warm in the cold winter months. The rural neighbouring Austrian residents also generously donated clothes and toys for the children.

As a young child, the refugee camp felt like one big holiday adventure! We didn’t have to attend school and there were plenty of other children to play with. I remember playing in the snow for the very first time.

We knew the refugee camp was only a temporary arrangement and that we would eventually have to choose a country for permanent settlement.

My parents wanted to settle in Canada, but our application was rejected since Canada was only accepting educated professionals. Our application to New Zealand was accepted, along with my uncle’s family.

After staying in the refugee camp for over a year, we left Austria together with my uncle’s family in Nov 1973 to go to Christchurch, New Zealand. We were greeted at the airport by a volunteer from the Inter-church Council, Mr. Heyman, and another ex-Ugandan Asian family that had already settled there some months before our arrival.

We were taken to a large house organized by the Inter-church Council in the city centre where both our families would be living. We were a total of ten people, five in each family. The house was furnished with beds, appliances, tables, chairs, and the kitchen was stocked with utensils and basic food items. The rent had already been paid for the first month. My father, uncle and my two older cousins all had jobs ready and waiting, and the children had school placements.

Mr Heyman would regularly check-in with us to make sure we were okay. We took over the responsibility of paying the rent after the first month. We could keep the furniture and other household items that had been donated to the Inter-church Council.

Initially there were times when we felt a

Our family at Refugee Camp in Austria

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I consider the expulsion from Uganda a blessing in disguise, and the opportunity of a lifetime. We have been fortunate, and our journey has been good.

It has shaped my values of gratitude, empathy, and hopefulness. little isolated. New Zealand didn’t have a multi-cultural society back then. They knew very little about the Indian history or culture, and even less about East Africa and the plight of the Ugandan Asians.

Luckily, we had each other’s support within our two families.

It didn’t take long to adjust to the new way of life in New Zealand. The “Kiwi’s” have a reputation for being the friendliest people on the planet, and rightly so! The Christchurch Indian community itself was also very helpful and accepting. This close-knit Indian community was only about a hundred and fifty in total, consisting of half a dozen Indian exUgandan families, and the rest from India that had settled there during the 1960’s and earlier.

I was eight and half years old when we arrived in Christchurch. I could not speak, read, or write English and lagged behind other children in my class. I remember receiving special one-on-one tutoring from the teachers for the first few months at least, until I caught up with my English language skills.

After learning English, I was able to interact and make friends easily at school. I never experienced any prejudice or bullying even though I was the only dark skinned Indian Asian kid in the whole primary school.

I went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Canterbury. Later I migrated to Australia in 1990 where I currently reside with my wife. My parents have

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since passed away and my sisters are married and settled overseas, one in United Kingdom and the other in Canada.

Thinking back, I can’t imagine the trauma my parents must have felt being expelled from their home country and birthplace, and the uncertainty surrounding their future, nevertheless, they managed to take it in stride. I consider the expulsion from Uganda a blessing in disguise, and the opportunity of a lifetime. We have been fortunate, and our journey has been good. It has shaped my values of gratitude, empathy, and hopefulness.

We are very grateful to all the assistance that we received along the way and would like to thank the United Nations, Red Cross, the Austrian Government, the New Zealand Government, the Indian community of Christchurch, my early schoolteachers, and all the “Kiwi” people we met along the way.

A special thank you to Mr Heyman and the Papanui-Redwood Inter-church Council for providing us such a solid foundation to start a new life in our new home country New Zealand. ●

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140 Fifty Year Journey

J

Christchurch – not Uganda – provided a good life MY PARENTS have shared their recollections and experiences of their

ordeal like many other Asians who were expelled from Uganda in 1972.

My father, Bahaduralli Rajaballi Ahmed was an accountant born in Kampala, and my mother Rashida Shasultan Ahmed, born in Mengo, was a secretary when they left Uganda to arrive in London as refugees.

My name is Nazir. I was born in London on Christmas Day, 1972. New Zealand House / Consulate had sent invitations to our parents to apply to emigrate to New Zealand on several occasions. My parents eventually succumbed to the invitation under the apprehension that New Zealand would be like Uganda in terms of lifestyle “a place in the sun” and not crowded. New Zealand had also been described by others to them that it was like a “little England”. However, on arrival to Christchurch, New Zealand, they were shocked to find the climate was very cold as it was in the middle of winter.

My parents really missed Uganda and the expulsion had affected their mental wellbeing severely. They missed family gatherings including picnics.

My mother remembers with fondness Entebbe botanical gardens and the hot weather all year round. Jinja, in southern Uganda on the shore of Lake Victoria, was also a treat to visit for my mother. She fondly recalled the drives and runs through the mountains whilst also enjoying the seaside there.

She also misses the home help that was available when she was growing up in Uganda with the “house boys” always helpful with household chores.

Both my parents’ siblings and parents had owned several lucrative businesses around groceries and bakeries. All those were taken from them when they were expelled.

However, my mother has enjoyed aspects of New Zealand including the beautiful gardens and friendly people, particularly the Dutch friends we had.

We are very grateful for what New Zealand has given us in our lives.

Although very different from Uganda, New Zealand in its own way provided comfort, security and peace after a turbulent and horrible ordeal experienced during the expulsion. ●

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Journey from Kampala, Uganda, to Neutral Bay, Sydney, Australia MY NAME

is Allan Coelho. I am 85 years old. My wife Joyce and I currently live at Bougainvillea Retirement Village at Neutral Bay in Sydney – where we have security, support, and friendship.

I was born in Kampala. In 1920 my father moved from Mangalore, India to Kampala to work in the Civil Service. He was 20 years old. With my mother also from Mangalore, they set up home for a family of 7 children. All born in Kampala. That was our home. We never thought one day we would be forced to leave.

I worked for Grindlays Bank. Joyce taught at Kololo Senior Secondary School. Idi Amin’s announcement shocked everyone. He was expelling doctors, teachers, people working in government, banks, businesses, corner shops!

However, when reality set in, everyone had to leave!

Our family scattered - moved to Australia, Canada, England, and India.

Sadly, my father passed away in India in 1973. The expulsion from Uganda was too much to bear.

My younger brother who migrated to Sydney persuaded me to join him. The wide-open spaces, the natural environment was like East Africa, he would say. I had great hopes of a new life in Australia. I had worked in banks in Kampala, London, and Bangalore. Regrettably I was told “no local experience”.

Then I secured employment in a bank in Kuwait. My family joined me. I worked there for 12 years. I returned to Sydney for vacations to keep in touch with family and friends. In 1990 just before we returned to Australia, Saddam suddenly invaded Kuwait. With thousands of people, we too fled Kuwait,

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Regrettably I left when I fell ill and moved to Bougainvillea Retirement Village. At Bougainvillea I met Tommy who was born and grew up in Namibia. "African brother" Tommy called me. We shared stories of our youth. I recalled driving miles from Kampala to Mombasa or Zanzibar to see the ocean, or to gaze in admiration at the Victoria Falls or the flamingos at Lake Nakuru.

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leaving everything behind and arrived in Sydney in December 1990.

Our Kampala friends Jayant and Urmila Patel who had moved to Sydney after Idi Amin’s expulsion helped us immensely – finding and setting up a home, getting over the trauma of Kuwait.

Unfortunately, again my efforts to get into banking were unsuccessful.

I offered my services as a volunteer at a Seniors Club run by Cumberland Council.

Every Friday morning for 4 hours we, volunteers, organised music, games, exercises, celebrated birthdays and served a delicious meal for around 60 seniors. I volunteered there for 23 years – celebrated my 60th, 70th and 75th birthdays.

Regrettably I left when I fell ill and moved to Bougainvillea Retirement Village. At Bougainvillea I met Tommy who was born and grew up in Namibia.

‘African brother’ Tommy called me. We shared stories of our youth. I recalled driving miles from Kampala to Mombasa or Zanzibar to see the ocean, or to gaze in admiration at the Victoria Falls or the flamingos at Lake Nakuru.

When you are born and brought up in Africa, the continent captures a part of your heart forever. ●

“The Australians we met were so kind”

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Story of the Australia-Uganda contribution I HAD

and continue to have fond memories of my study and working period in Uganda, in particular the Ugandan Africans who I came to know well. As a member of Makerere University’s Convocation I was approached by Professor Margaret MacPherson, the Head of the Literature Department, who upon her return to Lakes District in Britain, continued to compose and maintain an Annual Convocation Newsletter for Makerere. She asked me to make copies of the one master copy of the newsletter and distribute it to the alumnus of Makerere residing in the Australasian region. I posted this newsletter annually to some 64 people in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea who were previous academic staff or graduates of Makerere.

I did this for a few of years. It was through a group of ex-Makerere academics and prominent people who had settled in Australia that we were able to lobby the Australian Government to positively respond to give aid to Uganda after Idi Amin’s downfall in 1979.

The Australian Government working through the UK Commonwealth Secretariat and the British Government went on a mission to Uganda and agreed to focus their aid to what became known as Australia’s contribution to the reconstruction efforts. Australia’s aid was focussed on education and within it was a staff development component to which the AusAid had asked for my help in placing the newly recruited Makerere staff into graduate programs across Australian tertiary institutions. AusAid knew that as an Admissions Officer at a major tertiary institution I had links through the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee (AVCC) with a network of Admissions officers who oversaw admissions in all Australian universities. Therefore, they felt I was well qualified to do the government a favour by negotiating with Australian universities the placement of newly recruited Makerere graduates to do their Masters’

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and PhDs in Australia. My task was not easy.

Placements were needed in the fields of veterinary medicine, business and commerce, education, nursing education, social work, and computer science. Australian universities used the Committee on Professional Qualifications (COPQ) guidelines regarding recognition of foreign qualifications to determine eligibility into our graduate programs.

Because Makerere degrees had an unfavourable rating from the time of the Idi Amin regime, most Australian universities were reluctant to grant admission to such graduates. I therefore had to work with my networks to ask ‘special dispensations’ for admission into graduate programs. This task was not always easy – given that the Australian Government guidelines also required me to ensure that the scholarships (and therefore Federal aid) were spread widely across Australia and not focussed only on my State. My network of academic professors – who were ex-Makerere staff- in fields like veterinary science, anatomy, commerce etc helped me overcome some of the placement difficulties I had. In addition, the Director of WAIT, the late Haydn Williams, gave me full support of my project which naturally was, over and above my normal duties. It was through his help I was able to place quite a few Ugandan graduates in the Accountancy, Business Management and Nursing schools at my own institution, whereas Murdoch, UWA, La Trobe, Monash, Flinders, RMIT, UNSW, ANU and Tasmania were also recipients.

I found it difficult to place graduates in the so called older more conservative universities in Australia – although these universities were later eager to recruit the students once they had completed their Australian Masters’ degrees and some went on to complete their PhDs in Australia.

AusAid also asked me to arrange, on behalf of the Government, the formal visit of the Vice-Chancellor of Makerere, Professor Asavia Wandira to Australian Universities and places of interest. I was therefore closely involved in arranging his itinerary to a select number of Australian Universities where his staff were placed for higher degrees. He was also interested in meeting indigenous Australians.

This I arranged through my wife, Carmen, who was involved with Aboriginal education.

The positive relations with Australia were recognised by the Ugandan Government who decided to set up a High Commission office in Canberra.

That was the limit of my formal involvement with Uganda after my migration to Australia.

At an informal level I was advised when one of my Ugandan work colleagues at the former University of East Africa, Steven Bazirake, asked me to say ‘hello’ to his daughter who had an Australian Government scholarship to do a graduate program at Curtin University. My wife and I were happy to welcome her to Perth and we kept in touch with her until she graduated with a Masters’ degree and returned to Uganda.

It has been a privilege and pleasure to have had the opportunities to contribute to the education of Ugandans in Australian Universities. ●

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Because Makerere degrees had an unfavourable rating from the time of the Idi Amin regime, most Australian universities were reluctant to grant admission to such graduates. I therefore had to work with my networks to ask "special dispensations" for admission into graduate programs.

This task was not always easy - given that the Australian Government guidelines also required me to ensure that the scholarships (and therefore Federal aid) were spread widely across Australia and not focussed only on my State.

Carmen and me

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Departure from Uganda and settlement in Australia MY NAME

is Carmen de Sousa, my parents are Joseph and Angela and I have four siblings Valerie, George, Cynthia and Derek. We have a two-generation history in Uganda.

My grandparents Eugene and Mary Pinto migrated to Uganda in 1904. They established the Kampala Oriental Company (KOC) a grocery store. Eugene was very active in the community.

In 1910 he was one of the founding members of the Kampala Goan Institute and at one of the meetings he said “The past has been glorious; the present is prosperously passing and the future is in trust with the younger members”. He was also a major benefactor for the building of Christ the King Church. On behalf of the Kampala Goan Institute in 1926 he gave an address to the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) when they visited Kampala. He was also introduced to Queen Elizabeth when she visited Uganda in 1959. He will be pleased to know that hundred years later these members and their children are spread around the world and his granddaughter is in Perth Western Australia.

My mother Angela and her four siblings were born in Kampala. We were a very close extended family and would gather at my grandparent’s home for Sunday lunch. The Church, Club and school were our community where we shared our faith, knowledge, and friendship.

I taught at Shimoni Primary School and then decided to make a career change and worked for the USAID in Kampala. This was a great cultural experience working with the Americans. In 1970 I got married to Adolph de Sousa and we moved to Nairobi as he got a job with the University. I was fortunate to get a transfer to the USAID in Nairobi.

In July 1972 I decided to join Adolph on a business trip to Uganda as I wanted my parents to meet their first grandchild, Jean-Louis. During my stay in Kampala Idi Amin made the announcement that Asians had to leave the country in 90 days; this edict caused a lot of stress and trauma to a family that lived under one roof. After an enjoyable stay with my family, we made our way home to Nairobi. At Entebbe Airport the authorities gave my son Jean Louis a Kenyan citizen and Adolph a Tanzanian citizen permission to leave the country, I was not allowed to leave as Kenyan authorities barred Ugandan Asians

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Adolph did extensive search as to which country would best serve our needs. Gough Whitlam was Prime Minister and made two significant policy announcements; disband the White Australia Policy and abolish all fees for higher education.

Australia was the choice. entering Kenya. I had to stay back in Uganda with Jean-Louis until a solution was found.

My parents were most distressed that we were separated as a family. I love my parents and it was difficult to see how traumatised they were as they too had to decide to leave a country that was home for a long time. My family had to leave Uganda like most of the Asians with only a suitcase and memories of carefree days in Kampala.

Adolph returned to Nairobi and tried relentlessly to bring us home. He spent many days and hours in long queues at the UNCHR office to be processed as a refugee. His boss Solomon Karanja became aware of the predicament and used his influence to contact the Immigration Department and arranged for him to meet the Immigration Officer. The staff at the department were very kind and supportive, they took down all the details, made a couple of phone calls and arranged for my entry to Nairobi. I was told to take the next flight to Kenya much to the relief to my parents and a welcome from Adolph in Nairobi.

This experience was unnerving to my family as my Uganda passport would soon expire.

A decision had to be made to leave Africa.

Adolph had a wide experience in working with universities, especially since the East African Universities were aligned with the University of London.

Adolph did extensive search as to which country would best serve our needs. Gough Whitlam was Prime Minister and made two significant policy announcements; disband the White Australia Policy and abolish all fees for higher education. Australia was the choice.

He lodged an application with the Australian High Commission to migrate to Australia. Six weeks later he got a letter from the Attaché for Immigration advising that the application was rejected because their Canberra office had determined that he would find it hard to get a job. He could not reconcile the rejection as he had received positive letters from the Universities regarding his job opportunities.

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This positive feedback encouraged him to get a visitor’s Visa to Australia and meet with the Universities. After a three week stay in Australia, he returned with six letters of appointment. On July Friday the 13th I got a call at the USAID to inform that the migration visa had been approved. Attaché Mr Anderson informed that he would apply for special visa category available at the time only to British migrants. Our visas were stamped as an SAP Visa (Special Assisted Program) which entitled us to a refund of our airfares and subsidised hostel accommodation. The offers for a job were in Canberra, Adelaide, and Melbourne but we chose to come to Perth where he also had a job offer.

Adolph, my son, and I (pregnant with my second child) arrived in Perth on August 21 ,1973 - a cold wintery night. We were greeted with a warm reception at the airport and at the Graylands Migrant Hostel. The welcoming staff were told that we were non white, and they asked if we spoke English - on hindsight we should have said we learnt it on the plane coming to Australia!

We were fortunate to share our new life in the hostel with three known Ugandan families. Life at the hostel was very comfortable; my son JeanLouis was the centre of attraction and always got an extra scoop of ice-cream. We stayed at the hostel for a year, this gave us the opportunity to save sufficient money for our first home. We built our home in the hills as it reminded us of Nairobi. We needed to establish ourselves in this new community. The church and the local playgroup parents contributed to developing long term relationships and friendships. Adolph’s mother Ophelia and sister Olga joined us and took charge of my young family; so, this gave me an opportunity to upgrade my teaching qualification to a Bachelor of Education and get back to work.

The happiest days of my teaching life was working with the Aboriginal people. In 1979 I was given a teaching position in the Adult Aboriginal Program. These were Aboriginal people who had limited educational experiences.

The location was a disused church in suburban Perth. There were about 100 indigenous adults participating in the program. The students formed a bond with the community and were greeted with a G’Day on their way to college - a positive outcome to the negative perceptions of the indigenous people. In 1982 the program was integrated into mainstream TAFE; this exposed the students to many more vocational and training opportunities. During National Aboriginal and Torres Islander week the students would celebrate by offering the wider student body an insight into their culture with kangaroo stew prepared by them on campus, dance and art and craft. This helped break down barriers and share their rich culture with staff and students. In 1996 the TAFE Metropolitan awarded Thornlie Campus as best College, Aboriginal Student as best Student and I an Outstanding Lecturer of the Year. I was fortunate to take a group of Aboriginal students to the top end at Broome to visit the traditional communities. This was a wonderful experience; they observed the differences between urban and community living. We shared their bush tucker and enjoyed crocodile and witchetty grubs. A

lasting memory.

I formed a great and lasting relationship with the Aboriginal people and continued to teach the next generations. The one important lesson I learnt from the Aboriginal people is that you teach from the heart (trust) first then the head. I was able to take this lesson when I taught in the New Opportunities for Women (NOW) program. A diverse group of women wanting to improve their personal and educational skills to transition to mainstream TAFE courses - Certificate in General Education and English as a Second Language Program. I enjoyed working with these groups of students and the reward was seeing them move to the next step in their training.

It was time for me to say goodbye and take happy memories into retirement.

We have three children the younger two decided to take a career pathway very much like their parents Jean-Louis chose a career in medicine.

Jean-Louis is a trained Ophthalmologist at the Lions Eye Institute Perth. He completed a fellowship in ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery in Oxford and East Grinsted in the UK. He is Head of Department of Ophthalmology and Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Royal Perth Hospital.

He is also a consultant and visiting Surgeon and Lecturer for Humanitarian Eye Projects in Bali and East Timor.

My daughter Charmaine lives in Melbourne.

She is Leading Teacher Careers and Pathways,

further training.

Justin has extensive experience in the Higher Education sector and has worked across three Universities in Western Australia. He is currently National Director (International) at the University of Notre Dame. He leads the International Office for the University Fremantle (WA) and Sydney Campus (NSW). He is responsible for International Student Recruitment, International Admissions and Global Partnerships.

We have five grandchildren. In retirement I dedicated my time to take care of them. We spent happy times together, picnics, walks and story time. The one rule in the house was that they left their devices at the front door. It is ironic that I now go to them on advice as how to use certain applications on the computer and communicate with them on a regular basis via Facetime or messages.

Benjamin is studying Engineering and Caitlin Psychology at the University of Western Australia. Carys is in her final year at school and has set her path in the legal field.

Dylan and Michael are still at school.

I volunteer as a member of the Social Club at St. Pius Church. Our priest Fr. Patrick Lim has brought the community together especially the seniors who do not have the opportunity to meet other parishioners. We have a lunch once a month fully catered by the Social Community, organise fundraising activities and international food nights. Service to others makes a full filling life.

I was fortunate to take a group of Aboriginal students to the top end at Broome to visit the traditional communities. This was a wonderful experience; they observed the differences between urban and community living. We shared their bush tucker and enjoyed crocodile and witchetty grubs. A lasting memory.

Manor Lakes School. With her experience in career pathways and relationship with industry she has been able to assist Indigenous students enter the workforce. She is very passionate about making a difference in the work life of students and has been recognised for her commitment and dedication by receiving the following awards and nominations: 2018, 2019 and 2021 Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority – Student Excellent Award for Indigenous Student Traineeship in QANTAS, ANZ Bank and Australia Post 2020 Victorian Education Excellence Award for Indigenous Student Career Support 2020 Western Melbourne Region – Acknowledgement for Work with Students to stay in school or transition to employment or

I enjoy my garden and spend happy days weeding, pruning, and sitting back with a coffee and enjoying the fruits of the garden.

With the recent lockdown we have taken advantage of WA’s covid free zone and have visited some beautiful and unique places in the country and see the wildflowers at their best and the majestic Bungle Bungles and the pristine rivers in Kununurra, north of WA. Writing this 50 years Australian Story has given me a chance to reflect on my journey and say thank you to the Aboriginal people and all those who we met over the years through our spiritual, work, and social interactions and hope and pray the next generation will build on the foundations and experiences we established in this lucky country. ●

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In Uganda past the expulsion deadline THE EXPULSION

of Asians from Uganda in 1972 profoundly changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. My family and I are amongst that unique group of Ugandan refugees.

In fact, I only left Uganda in September 1973, which was several months after expulsion day in November 1972. Essential professionals such as doctors, engineers, teachers, and government servants were exempted from the Ugandan government’s decree so quite a few decided to temporarily remain in Uganda – I was one of them. Virtually all those who stayed back in Uganda were male professionals and had sent the rest of their family to India or elsewhere overseas for safety, so those remaining in Uganda were single men. I stayed back so that I could finalise my financial and migration affairs. However, whatever money and assets Ugandan Asians had locally, those leaving Uganda were only allowed to take Fifty UK pound sterling with them.

I was living in Gulu at the time and at 8pm on the evening of expulsion day (8 November 1972), we were told that those individuals who had chosen to stay back should meet the District Commissioner the next day at 11 am with their passport and exemption card. The next morning, all of us who were staying back in Gulu met the District Commissioner. There were 8 people there - one doctor, one chief Magistrate, one bank manager and five teachers. Our passports and exemption cards were then checked by the District Commissioner.

Overnight everything had changed and there were very few shops that remained open. The majority were locked up and only a few African shops were open. We had a lot of wheat, rice and spices in our houses so we managed to get by reasonably well. A few days after expulsion day, we were able to visit Kampala and get most other essential items we needed from there.

Following expulsion day, I stayed back for approximately nine months at my place in Gulu. During the time I remained in Uganda, I witnessed how the abandoned shops that were owned by the Asians expelled from the country,

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were given to the local people. For example, my surgery was located next door to a shop which sold motor spare parts. This shop was locked up before the owners fled but a committee of army officials broke the door open and those who were interested in buying the shop were interviewed by the committee and it was then handed over to the successful buyer. The other shop next door to my surgery was a Stationary shop. I was a silent business partner of this Stationary shop. However, it was not given back to me nor given any compensation but simply handed over to the local school. The person who ended up buying the motor spare parts shop sold off whatever stock that remained in the shop within a few months and left - abandoning the shop. This was a common occurrence - most of the shops had been taken over by locals with no business experience so new stock would not come and all these businesses ultimately went bankrupt or were abandoned.

During my final months in Gulu, I still managed to go to the UK once and India twice for immigration and money transfer matters.

Before I left Gulu permanently, I telegrammed the Australian Immigration Department to inform them of my arrival and also did the same to the Church of England in Sydney (as was advised by the Bishop of Gulu). Whilst in Gulu I was also in communication with Dr Vaju Ghelani who was a friend of a friend - he gave me a lot of information about what to do on arrival in Australia and hostels that I could stay at. I finally left Gulu on 28 September 1973 for Sydney and travelled via India to collect my family and bring them with me to Australia.

When I arrived at Sydney Airport on 29 September 1973, I told the immigration officer that I had come from Uganda and that I did not know where to go. He told me to wait at the airport and he would organise some help.

While waiting for him, I remember going to the then Bank of NSW at the airport and exchanged some money and received $A6.20!

After waiting for an hour, two taxis arrived for me but I had to tell them that I could not afford two taxis. The taxi drivers told me that I had a lot of luggage as well as family and so two taxis were necessary, but I was also reassured that I would not need to pay anything. From the airport, we were taken to Coogee Migrant Hostel where I met a lot of other Ugandan migrants; some known to me, others not. I was given a 2-bedroom flat at the hostel (similar lodgings were provided to others). The next day, the hostel manager organised health insurance, social security enrolment and other essentials. Within 2-4 days of arrival, I started looking for work and shortly after I was offered an interview at Goulburn and Fairfield Hospitals. We used to travel for the interview by train and bus and were given expenses remuneration for attending the interview, even if we ultimately declined the position. The hostel would provide us a packed lunch so that we could save money.

Not long after arriving in Sydney, I took up the position at Fairfield Hospital and my

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family and I were transferred to Westbridge Migrant Hostel at Carramar/Fairfield. I worked at Fairfield Hospital for 3 months and subsequently was offered a post at Nepean District Hospital with a rent-free 2-bedroom flat. I worked there for almost a year before starting my GP practice in Smithfield. I went on to work and live in Southwest Sydney and built a house of my choice in Greystanes into which I moved in 1977 and this has been my home ever since.

Australia welcomed me as a Ugandan refugee, and I feel proud to have contributed back to the country by serving an area of need in Southwest Sydney and pioneering and serving in various community organisations.

I feel very happy that my children who had the benefit of free education in Australia have also gone on to successful professional careers serving the community. ●

When I arrived at Sydney Airport on 29 September 1973, I told the immigration officer that I had come from Uganda and that I did not know where to go. He told me to wait at the airport and he would organise some help. While waiting for him, I remember going to the then Bank of NSW at the airport and exchanged some money and received $A6.20!

Navin and Dhanlaxmi Patel

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Mistaken identity saved my Dad's life THIS IS

the story of Mohamed Aziz and Yasmin Din’s uprooting from Uganda to Australia via Spain. As their daughter Shaira, I write this story fifty years on, on their behalf, and with utmost love for them.

My dad Aziz is presently a retired motor mechanic, and my mum Yasmin has recently sold her business and now enjoys life as a dedicated wife and mother. She is one of the best Indian chefs, in my unbiased opinion. And my dad is the kindest and most humble person ever!

Our migration story begins with my grandfather, mum’s dad, leaving in 1969 for India.

He still had a British passport because he was brought by British to Uganda to work on the railways, when he was only 16 years old. Then my aunt, my mum’s sister, left in 1971. It looked like everyone separated at different times and to different countries. We were the last ones to leave and were on the last planes as refugees.

We left Uganda on 9th November deadline in 1972 and arrived in Australia on 7th June 1973 after spending time in Calela - close to Barcelona, Spain in a refugee camp.

When the infamous announcement was made by Idi Amin in August in 1972, we were at home. Soon everyone knew about it. Local people were shouting that “muyindies’ (Asians) must leave, it was on the news everywhere. My grandmother, dad’s mum, who was a midwife and was going to people’s houses would tell us what was happening. She brought newspaper clippings and showed my parents photos of how Indians were going to Britain and were in big coats.

She was adamant that they would come back to Uganda as it would be too cold for them in the UK! There were big trucks that had big microphones blaring “Asians leave the country”.

Africans chanting, “Indians go back to India”. When an Asian was seen walking on the street or in the bus, locals would shout out “Indians go away!” Fear was that the locals could grab you and could harm you. There was no security. My family was very frightened to go out and all the shops remained closed. When we saw everyone leaving, my aunt, mum’s elder sisters told us to get into the queue. The decision was made to depart from the country my parents had called home.

Why did we leave it so late to depart from Uganda compared to other families?

Logistically there were long queues at each of the Embassies and my dad and mum were not keen to leave in the beginning. The key reason that they did not qualify for any country

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Left: My Mum, right: My Dad

According to my mum Idi Amin wanted only black people in the country and no other colour. Mum felt hopeless, rejected, abandoned and an outsider in her own country.

She felt very upset and often cried when she found out that other families she knew were leaving.

It was heartbreaking. It appeared everybody was too busy with their own lives and doing everything just for themselves. was that they were made stateless and did not have travel documents.

According to my mum Idi Amin wanted only black people in the country and no other colour.

Mum felt hopeless, rejected, abandoned and an outsider in her own country. She felt very upset and cried when she found out that other families she knew were leaving. It was heartbreaking. It appeared everybody was too busy with their own

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lives and doing everything just for themselves.

My dad recalls how confused he felt as we didn’t know what to do or how to go about it.

With limited funds, my mum went to the Ismaili Jamatkhana for help. They only offered her a little money (3,000 shillings) saying that she would only get this amount because her husband was not an Ismaili. Dad was understandably ‘pissed off ‘with that. It was ironic that, as per newspaper reports, Ugandan soldiers had invaded the Ismaili Jamatkhana later that month and had taken millions of shillings from the jamatkhana, that were hidden in boxes. On the other hand, my dad went to the Gurdwara – Sikh Temple, where he was given ten times more money (30,000 shillings) regardless of his religion. A true demonstration of pluralism in practice.

We went to Kampala from Mbale – a journey of around four hours. Kampala is where all the action was. There were long queues for the British, Canadian, and other Embassies. People with no passports went to the United Nation’s line. We went there – they also said that we could stay in Gurdwara, whilst in Kampala.

Dad went to get the remaining belongings and money from Mbale. Whilst coming back to Kampala, as they were on the tarmac road that went through the Mabeera forest (a massive dense forest where it was believed that anybody that went through was lucky to come out alive) around ten Ugandan soldiers stopped the car and took all the passengers, including my dad, the only Indian in the eight-seater taxi carrying ten people, into the forest and started pointing guns to their heads. Fortune had it that one of the senior soldiers recognised my dad and asked him in swahili “Hey Mohammad, what are you doing here?”

He then took my dad’s hand and took him back to the taxi and said “Don’t you worry, you can stay in Uganda. We need good people like you”. My dad thinks that he was fortunately mistaken for my uncle Saru, who was popular with the army people.

Not all the passengers returned to the taxi and the journey to Kampala proceeded. Subsequently, mum wanted dad to go to Jinja, fifty miles away, to collect some of her things. His reply was “I am not going to Jinja as I was nearly killed coming back from Mbale”.

My parents used to go to the Immigration

My parents used to go to the Immigration Department to get travel documents to get out of the country. They would line up for hours at a time, for 3 days; taking turns to stand in the queue. My mum would take me. I was only one year old! And she was 7 months pregnant!

Department to get travel documents to get out of the country. They would line up for hours at a time, for 3 days; taking turns to stand in the queue. My mum would take me. I was only one year old! And she was 7 months pregnant!

On the last day before we left, Idi Amin came with his soldiers and guns, etc. All the people just stood in line and Idi Amin came to greet everyone to say goodbye and shook everyone’s hands. He said, “Thank you very much you all are going” According to my dad, his handshake was strong. He spoke nicely and gently that he was pleased to see them leaving.

Grandma came to say goodbye and gave a milk bottle and bottle brush for me. She said, - “This is for my dear Shaira”. Dad begged his mum to join him, but she refused and said that she had to stay in Uganda. .Even from Spain he tried for her to leave Uganda and also got immigration people from Spain to interview her, but she still refused.

Dad, to this day, really regrets not having had his mum with him. When we arrived in Australia, he saw many new migrants with their parents, and he felt sad that he had left his mum behind. He really missed her.

Our journey from the Gurudwara in Kisenyi to Entebbe, where we were to catch the flight, was not pleasant. My mum was crying continuously as she had no idea where they were going. As she describes, “It was like putting on a blind fold and forcing you to walk with no idea of where you were heading. It felt like you were going to die. I felt betrayed that I was born in Uganda and had lived all my life in Uganda and here it was that I had to leave not knowing what our destiny was going to be”. She was extremely frightened and there were millions of questions running through her confused mind; what was the destination, how were they going to live, where were they going to stay, no house, no country, what were they going to do with no money?

They managed to get on the last plane that was leaving on the night of the deadline, 9th November 1972. They had initially organised for us to go to Austria in Belgium, but the planes were full, so we ended up in Spain. For the last few days before the deadline the United Nations had organised several flights to evacuate the remaining victims.

As soon as we landed in Spain, my parents recall how beautiful it was as we were driven

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Dad, Mum, my bother Mirajdin (just born) and me, in Spain

As soon as we landed in Span, my parents recall how beautiful it was as we were driven in the bus to a luxury hotel - Osiris, where we stayed three months.

My dad and mum felt like royalties.

Mirajdin – at birth in Spain

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in the bus to a luxury hotel - Osiris, where we stayed for three months. My dad and mum felt like royalties. The country looked very tidy and very clean with great fruit and vegetables. Coming from rural Uganda, where you had to burn wood to heat water, this was 5-star luxury. We felt lucky going from a village to a proper city, where white people were very kind and welcoming. They really looked after us. My brother Mirajdin became the first refugee baby, as he was born in the camp.

When the tourist season commenced, we were moved to Madrid, where we stayed for five more months. After that we had to choose which country we would like to go to. Many countries were available, but dad had made up his mind to come to Australia.

When we arrived at the airport in Sydney government cars came to take us to the hostel. Free Government service covered stay at the Endeavour Hostel (Coogee), including food and boarding

facilities. There was an employment officer, who organised a job for my dad within 3 weeks. The people at the hostel were so good to us and gave us bus route and 20 dollars for fares. They really took good care of us. We also met many other arrivals from Uganda – at the hostel and in Sydney.

When mum spoke in English the receptionist at the hostel was surprised and said, “Oh you speak English!”.

Mum could speak English because she used to go to the Lakra (wooden) School, where they taught in English and Swahili Mum’s first reaction was that she was appreciative of life. She still often ponders what life would have been if we were back in Africa. We are very lucky that we are in a good country and have access to so many good things in life. Life has changed for the better.

My dad also was very appreciative of the facilities and the free service we got. However, he kept changing jobs to survive. According to him there was a lot of racism. Whenever he applied for a job over the phone it was fine. However as soon as they met him, they would say ‘Sorry that the position had been filled’. He felt that it was due to the colour of his skin.

We stayed at the hostel for about a year, and then we rented a 3-bedroom house for about 3 years.

We changed homes a few times. Finally, we bought our own house.

Mum’s contribution to Ismaili community started very early where she served in various capacities including social welfare involvement and cooking committee and as a dedicated jamati member. She felt blessed that she was able to provide chicken samosas, which His Highness the Aga Khan enjoyed during a tea-party, held during his first historic visit to Sydney in 1979.

Initially, she operated a small business in

My son Sahil, my husband Salim, and my daughter Sophia

My dad had a soft spot for Uganda. But when his mum passed away, within a few hours of his arriving he felt "Oh my gosh what am I doing here!"

Lakemba (Indian spice and video shop) and then had her business at Harris Park for 19 years in Indian clothing and accessories. She feels her contribution to Australia was that by having this business she was educating white Australians in Indian culture through fashion. She also participated in NSW aging project in 2016 - highlighting how people over 60 were making a significant contribution to society Dad enjoyed attending and participating in mosque functions in Surry Hills although it meant travelling from Mount Druitt, where we lived. He

had developed a good circle of friends.

Ten years after we had left Uganda, my parents went back to Kampala to visit my grandmother, my dad’s mum, in 1982. She was not keeping well. It appeared that she was waiting to see her favourite son and then she passed away. My parents reached her home at 3.45 pm. My dad went to give her medicine at 12 pm and she had just passed away. Her body was still warm. RIP Grandma.

My dad had a soft spot for Uganda. But when his mum passed away, within a few hours of his arriving he felt “Oh my gosh what am I doing here!”

He, like my mum, considers Australia home.

The Din family presently comprises one daughter, who has a son and a daughter, and three sons – Mirajdin, Karim & Rahim. All very well settled. For my parents, the most memorable thing and best thing that happened to them in recent times is the births of their grandson, Sahil and granddaughter, Sophia. They proudly proclaim: “They are amazing, they make us feel good and very happy. We get a nice feeling when we see and hug them. As with all our children, we feel loved and appreciated very much. We realise that they all are a big part of us”. ●

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First Australian from Uganda to receive national recognition ALADIN RAHEMTULA,

an Australian, originally from Uganda, has made history as the first ex-Ugandan to be awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on Australia Day 2011. The official citation reads: “For service to librarianship through the Supreme Court of Queensland, and to the community through the preservation of legal heritage”.

Aladin, and his wife Mary, came to Australia in 1976 from London. After an initial period in Sydney, they have been living in Brisbane since 1983, where they have raised three lovely daughters - Emma Nafisa – a lawyer, Zahra – a teacher and Aliya – a doctor.

Aladin obtained his first degree at Makerere University in Uganda and did further studies in Australia at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University.

Aladin was the Chief Librarian at the Supreme Court of Queensland Library in Brisbane before he retired. This Library is the primary legal information service for the Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts. It also services members of the legal profession and those engaged in matters before the courts. Aladin also served on the State Library Board and the Board of the Commonwealth Archives.

Aladin’s key major achievements include: • Rationalising library services for the Qld legal profession, and bringing these under the management of SCQL. • Foundation of the Supreme Court History Program in 2000, as a formal structure for the collection, preservation and dissemination of Queensland’s legal heritage.

• Aladin has successfully secured grants for special projects such as: • Incorporation Council of Law Reporting for the State of Queensland (Queensland Legal Heritage Museum) 2010.

• Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for the State of Queensland (Q150 Anniversary of the Establishment of the Supreme Court) 2010 • Aladin has also several publications attributed to him. Some of them include: • Review of Books edited by A. Rahemtula (quarterly) Supreme Court of Queensland Library,

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Her Excellency Penelope Wensley AC – Governor of Queensland and Aladin Rahemtula OAM

The OAM Medal of the Order of Australia - is awarded "for service worthy of recognition in a particular area We are very proud of his contributions and achievements.

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Brisbane, 1999 to date Queensland’s Constitution: Past, Present and Future ed. M White and A Rahemtula Supreme Court of Queensland Library, 2010 (ISBN9780980322088) Supreme Court History Program Yearbook ed. M White QC and A Rahemtula, Supreme Court of Queensland Library, Brisbane, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 (ISSN 1833-5667) Lore and the Law by John O’Keeffe, Supreme Court of Queensland Library, 2007 (ISBN 978 098 0322019) – adapted from a series of oral history interviews conducted by A Rahemtula in 2004 Justice According to Law: A Festschrift for the Honorable Justice BH McPherson CBE ed.

A Rahemtula, Supreme Court of Queensland Library, 2006 (ISBN 097512305X) A Woman’s Place: 100 Years of Queensland Women Lawyers ed. S Purdon and A Rahemtula, Supreme Court of Queensland Library, Brisbane, 2006 (ISBN 0975123041) Table Talk of the Selden Society in Queensland ed. M White QC and A Rahemtula, Supreme Court of Queensland Library, Brisbane, 2005 (ISBN 0975123025) Shared Vision: Recollections of the life and achievements of an inaugural Queensland Churchill Fellow Dr Brian Wilson, ed. A Rahemtula, Supreme Court of Queensland Library, Brisbane, 2005 (ISBN 0975123033)

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Queensland Judges on the High Court ed. M White QC and A Rahemtula, Supreme Court of Queensland Library, Brisbane, 2003 (ISBN 0975123009) • Sir Samuel Griffith: The Law and the Constitution ed. M White QC and A Rahemtula, Law Book Company, Pyrmont, NSW, 2002 (ISBN 0455219001) These above certainly are significant achievements. The OAM – Medal of the Order of Australia - is awarded “for service worthy of recognition in a particular area”. We are very proud of his contributions and achievements.

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Stories T

here were a few families who came to Australia pre-expulsion. The driving force in each case was the fact that general security and the political environment in Uganda was worsening.

The decision to move was encouraged in a few cases by the fact that Australia had officially abolished the White Australia Policy in 1971. The common element in each story is how they welcomed the increase in migrants from Uganda.

“The coming of other Ugandans to Australia in 1972, was a bonus for our family. It meant that we would not be as isolated from our lives left behind in Uganda. Some of our very close friends and relatives chose to come only as far as Perth, WA - closer to India, if required. But thankfully others came to Sydney, and this resulted in our family making a regular trek from Wollongong to Sydney nearly every weekend to catch up with friends and community - be at one with our cultural familiarity again” writes Dr Delima.

Thank you to these families for sharing their enthralling stories.

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Legacy f lourishes in Uganda MY NAME

is Arthur and my wife is Shera. We arrived in Australia in May 1973. We are now retired and have four children--three girls and a son--all married and professionals in their fields. Shera and I have been lecturers/ teachers in various institutions in Australia. Shera was in science and Mathematics; I was in Agricultural Science and Business having many qualifications from Australian Universities. Australia is and was a paradise to live in.

We are still engaged in Church related activities, including at St. Mary’s Cathedral and doing social work. We have separately been back to Uganda approximately 15 years ago.

Shera and I owned the CALTEC Academy before donating it to the Kisubi Missionary Brothers when we left Uganda. It is a college of about 800 students and about 75 staff teaching mainly secondary school subjects. We continue to help with monetary and academic including technical resources like computers and hydroponics We keep in contact with two people in Uganda, both of whom continue to do great service: Principal of CALTEC Academy in Makerere, Mr John Ssenkabirwa—(ssenks.j@ gmail.com) and Fr (Dr) Richard Buyinza (buyinza57@gmail.com), who is Rector of a large Seminary in Jinja. There are about 200 seminarians. We are continuing to resource the Seminary--- so far providing the finances for building a Library/Computer Lab, including three dozen computers and connection to the Internet plus equipping the Chapel with overhead screens and musical instruments. The Seminary obtains continuing resources to be self-sufficient in food production and other activities.

We would like to acknowledge and appreciate all the Australians from Uganda who, from what we hear, continue to contribute positively, in all the fields, to Australia – our home. ●

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From city to rural life as a GP MY NAME

is Jennifer Delima. I am a Medical Specialist - rural and remote General Practitioner, an Addiction and Clinical Forensic Medicine Physician. I arrived in Australia in 1971 with my family, when I was only 11 years old. As an 11-year-old, there were vivid memories of games played around the home, primary schooling, socialising only within the immediate locality and childhood friendships. The local and tropical foods were things also missed, but as Australia continues to expand its palate, these tastes and culinary delights have become increasingly available.

Two generations ago, began the story of many “Ugandan Asians”, now identified as Australians from Uganda. January 1971 saw a Presidential coup by Idi Amin in Uganda, forcibly deposing the then President Milton Obote. This was followed with much political strife and civil disharmony and an eventual directive and expulsion of all non-Ugandans from the country within a 3-month period with a deadline of November 1972.

Our family story begins with the Presidential coup of Idi Amin in January 1971 and its following escalating civil unrest and political instability. Interestingly, each of us, children and parents have differing perspectives on the events and subsequent impact upon us, but all share the thanks and gratitude that this traumatic political coup has provided opportunity for us here in Australia to fulfil our dreams and be able to contribute to the Australian community.

The coup precipitated my parents’ migration applications to Canada and Australia to exit Uganda. After the onerous machinations of immigration assessment, our family was accepted under ‘Non – European’ migration to Australian in August 1971, noting particularly that Australia was then in dire need of teachers.

Thankfully we were accepted to come to Australia, as the advertising tape reel described “A land of milk and honey…blue skies and warm sand” Our parents understood the political issues and personal safeties that were now at risk by remaining in Uganda, as well as the struggles of migration and acceptance into countries able to afford better circumstances of safety and political stability.

My earliest recollection of the period, as an 11-year-old child, is of the excitement and thrill of armoured tanks rolling down the valley street to be heard rumbling onward somewhere on the hillside street somewhere above. We children, gathered in excitement to watch this parade, whilst being frantically called indoors by our parents who were

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trying to maintain a sense of calm and non-fear.

The implications of civil strife and personal safety were nowhere on our radar as our parents actively protected us from this trauma. The only wisps of ‘’trouble” being that of a sensed tenseness and hypervigilance in our parents.

Importantly, the servants (paid house and childcare help) had also not attended this day.

The ensuing months, saw our parents actively and frantically seek migration to either Canada where we already had other family members in residence, or Australia where there was only one distant family member present. There was preference for Australia, with its advertised warm, sunny clime.

We arrived in Sydney, a family including my parents with four children (11-4 years age) on 21 August 1971, all attired in our warmest Ugandan clothing - but no match for Sydney's August winter winds. My first impression of Sydney was a sunny but cold place, and a bewilderment at the very "Caucasian" environment. Our immigration as "non-Europeans", meant no eligibility to access assistance through the then government funded migrant hostel.

Thankfully, both our parents were well renowned teachers, Dad, the principal of the Shimoni Teacher Training College and Mum, a well-respected high school teacher at Kololo Secondary School, which enabled them to pass the stringent ‘non-European’ migration criteria to enable us to come to Australia – no mean feat!

The months between the coup and our eventual departure for Australia, were met with several events of home burglary, stories of carhijackings, physical assaults upon other people

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more distantly known and the continued severe political unrest and increasing civil violence.

It is no wonder that our parents slept extremely lightly and with a cricket bat and panga (grass scythe) at their bed in readiness for an attempt at family protection! Reflecting upon these times, provides me with much awe for the courage and fortitude of my parents to calmly bring us to Australia with little conveyed inkling of the emotional or other trauma that they were experiencing.

We arrived in Sydney, a family including my parents with four children (11-4 years age) on 21 August 1971, all attired in our warmest Ugandan clothing - but no match for Sydney’s August winter winds. My first impression of Sydney was a sunny but cold place, and a bewilderment at the very ‘Caucasian’ environment. Our immigration as ‘non-Europeans’, meant no eligibility to access assistance through the then government funded migrant hostel.

We were however lucky enough to be met by my mother’s cousin, Dr Ives Lopes, who generously accommodated us for a week in Epping, Sydney at his family home, whilst my parents sought and finalised employment as teachers. Success was to be found in Wollongong. Here we were met by friends of my mother’s cousin, Dr Frank D’Sousa and his family, who again assisted us to find accommodation and some basic furniture items from the Salvation Army to enable us to commence life in Australia.

Our family was very much a ‘novelty’ and the teachers and children had not met other ‘brown’ people before. We joined the schooling system at the end of Term 2 and at the time TV news was mainly that of the Biafran War in Nigeria and the Bangladesh genocide of early 1971. So, we were repeatedly asked if we had lived in ‘(plumbing) pipes’, knew how to live in a house and marvelled at that we spoke in ‘unaccented’ English and could read and write!

The flip side of this was that upon explanation of where we had come from, and that we had been living a similar lifestyle to Australians, albeit with having house servant assistance, at school we were not permitted to join our classmates in the end of term clean-up.

I remember pleading with the teacher and then school principal to be allowed to join the others in this task and assuring them that my parents would be OK with this.

The first many years in Australia were forged in a country where ‘assimilation’ was the goal. Change accent, change handwriting style, change foods (no spices in our home prepared school lunches!)- we had to become mainstream Australians. The coming of other Ugandans to Australia in 1972, was a bonus for our family. It meant that we would not be as isolated from our lives left behind in Uganda. Some of our very close friends and relatives chose to come only as far as Perth, WA- closer to India if required.

But thankfully others came to Sydney, and this resulted in our family making a regular trek from Wollongong to Sydney nearly every weekend to catch up with friends and community- Be at one with our cultural familiarity again. This was a significant journey to access friendship and solidarity – approximately 2-3 hours each way, journey by car, along a treacherous, steep, and

In Alice Srpings

winding road – no freeway back then!

Thankfully, the next ten years, would change this as ‘integration’ superseded ‘assimilation’ and we could more publicly partake in some of the customs and foods etc that we had grown up with but more importantly, also be accepted in Australian society as equal human beings – one of the foundational aspects of why my parents sought to migrate to Australia.

There are many memories of the early days in Australia, and our families have become proudly Australian Indians who once hailed from Uganda, and who now celebrate and share achievements and joys together with the wider Australian community. Our history and memories of Uganda and the life there are now more distant as we have actively embraced our new country ‘Australia’ and keep the memories of our past culture, travel, and experiences to pass onto our children and grandchildren.

Australia has become more multicultural, more flexible, and informal. I have had the privilege to serve: Community Level: local Church, Rotary Australia community engagement, Professional Level: Central Australian Health Service, Australian College of Rural and Remote medicine – education, junior doctor supervision and mentorship; Professional college membership and active participation of education program delivery to junior doctors, nurses, and pharmacists My story is also on YouTube: https://www.

youtube.com/watch?v=6zWFBF_r-yE It was made by ACRRM – WIRP (Women in Remote/ rural practice) to promote women GPs to consider remote / rural medicine as a career path.

My academic contributions are covered in: https://www.researchgate.net/scientificcontributions/Jennifer-F-Delima-2067215362 I have also received recognition in relation to achievements: -Paul Harris Fellow (Rotary Foundation of Rotary International) for ‘assistance and better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world’; -Flinders University (NT) Supervisor award for Interprofessional collaboration I count myself extremely fortunate, the struggles and self-sacrificing support of my parents and our small knit Ugandan community have enabled me to achieve my dream of becoming a medical practitioner, working with the impoverished populations of remote Central Australia since 2000 and further follow in my parent’s footsteps as an educator (medicine).

I am blessed with one son, who has also taken up the vocation of medicine and our family embraces now the broader experiences and lifestyle of rural Australian lifestyle. The harkening’s of Uganda are now a savoured memory of a past time, a trauma that enforced change that has proved itself a gift of gold. ●

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Escaped the declining political landscape of Uganda MY NAME

is Jonathan Delima. This is the migration journey of our family. The family of Joseph and Martha de Lima came to Sydney, Australia in August 1971. The family included four children, Jennifer (11yrs), Jonathan (9yrs), Jacqueline (7yrs) and Maria (4yrs). They had travelled from Kampala via Bombay and Bangkok shortly before the military coup that disrupted the fledgling African democracy.

Joseph had been the Principal of the Shimoni Teacher Training College for 10 years before his migration while Martha had been a teacher at the Kololo High School. They had met in Kampala and were married at Christ the King parish in 1958. Both had been committed teachers and educators in Uganda and enjoyed an outgoing, social, and family-centred life in the capital city.

In early 1971, acutely aware that the political landscape was changing rapidly, Joseph and Martha realised that migration out of Africa would become essential for the safety of their family. A chance article in a popular magazine ignited an interest in Australia. This was further encouraged by letters from a cousin of Martha, Dr Ives Lopes who had lived in Sydney since the mid-1950s.

After deep consideration of other possibilities, Joseph applied for a migrant visa to Australia. He chose the warm and temperate climate, open spaces, and the relative youth of the country despite knowing that few of his countrymen and no Ugandans had yet made the journey.

The migration was facilitated by the Australian High Commissioner to Kenya, Mr John Paddick, a man whose humanity left a lasting impression on Joe and Martha. In preparation for migration, Joe secured a job with the New South Wales Education department - to teach high school mathematics on the Illawarra coast.

On a cold but crisp sunny day in August, the de Lima family was met by Dr Lopes and his wife, Anne at the Kingsford-Smith Airport, Sydney. He and his wife helped orient the newly arrived family to Australian life in New South Wales. Without delay, the family was put into contact with Dr Frank D’Souza- who was well established in Unanderra (south of Wollongong in the Illawarra).

Despite a busy household (Frank had seven children), the much-loved general practitioner and Frances, his wife, made the de Lima family feel welcome. Their immediate and generous support

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1995, our family founders in Australia Joseph and Martha Delima

marked the real start of a new life for Joseph and Martha. In time, the de Limas’ settled in Wollongong- with the older children enrolled in the local Cathedral school and Martha teaching English and Religious studies in a girls High School.

The early years in Wollongong and the challenges of learning a new way of life were eased through the friendships and welcome of the wonderful migrant communities of Wollongong. A close connection to the Cathedral parish of St Francis Xavier continued to reinforce the strong faith of Joseph and Martha.

Within 4 years and as the children reached high-school age, Joe and Martha decided a move to Sydney was necessary to provide greater educational opportunities for their children.

With much effort, the family made the move in 1974- settling in the Northern suburbs of Sydney, within the parish of Our Lady Help of Christians, Epping. Joseph and Martha continued their teaching careers in local schools and raised their children in secular schools that fortuitously encouraged a strong sense of faith.

Through the 1970’s, several more families who shared a common story of migration arrived

Meeting regularly at social and sporting events, the de Limas enjoyed the comfort of shared stories of migration and the joys and tribulations of growing into and adjusting to the new society 1971 – The move to Australia

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in Australia from Uganda. This allowed a tightly knit community of Goan families to form. Meeting regularly at social and sporting events, the de Limas enjoyed the comfort of shared stories of migration and the joys and tribulations of growing into and adjusting to the new society.

The children completed their studies successfully, married and brought their parents much joy through children of their own.

Their education, careers and spouses brought opportunities to study and work across the globe from Canada to London, the USA, France, and remote Australian communities. All have returned to metropolitan Australian cities.

Joseph and Martha retired from teaching gradually and gracefully, spending many subsequent years enjoying the arrival of grandchildren, ten in all. Joseph died in 2021, 50 years after making his courageous decision to migrate to Australia. He is buried in the Northern Suburbs cemetery, Ryde and remains an inspiration to his whole family and many who knew him. ●

Fifty Year Journey

1972 beginning the Australian lifestyle – family backyard BBQ

2007 – Joseph and Martha Delima with their grandchildren

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Perth – our home for over f ive decades MY NAME

is Rosina. I was born in Masaka and got married to Fredrick David in 1965. Fredrick David was an expatriate and teaching in Masaka. One day my husband picked up The Reader’s Digest and saw an article on Australia. Our greatest attraction was the variety of fruits in Australia. We had visas for Canada and Australia but as David was an expatriate, he could not terminate his contract early enough to go to Canada. I guess Canada’s loss is Australia’s gain.

We arrived in Australia with our two children on October 1971. The children, at that time, were three and two years old respectively. At that time, we did not know a soul in Australia. Even though we were fluent in spoken English, to understand Aussies was a major feat. My husband was offered a teaching position in Kalgoorlie. Soon after the schools opened, we were asked to bring a plate and we thought that it was strange that the school was asking for plates, so as there were four in the family, we took four plates on the day with 4 glasses, 4 sets of knives and forks. Imagine our embarrassment when we got to school hall and we were asked to produce the four plates .We gave them empty dishes. That taught us our first lesson. My parents and rest of the family joined us after the coup in Uganda and my father found it very difficult to settle in Perth as there was no community around and therefore, they decided to go to live in Canada. In the meantime, there was another addition to the family and my youngest was born in Fiji. As my qualifications in Montessori teaching was not accepted, I studied Diploma in working with special needs children. I worked in that field up to 1985 and then for women and children escaping domestic violence. I was passionately involved in changing laws in Western Australia.

The most memorable part of the trip in Australia was when my sister and I travelled by car all the way to meet His Highness the Aga Khan in 1979. This is when we met the other members of the Ismaili community outside of Perth. We are very grateful to have received his blessings. Presently we have an Ismaili community of about 60 people and are gathering at a recently completed new prayer place in Perth.

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9/9/96 - Mrs Rosina and Frederick David (second and third from left) with daughter Gulmina ( second on right) and son Moses ( far left) who emigrated to Perth Western Australia in 1971( before the expulsion from Uganda); together with son Nasir ( third from right).

Granddaughter Arusha on the lap of Nasir and Grandson Zulfiqar on the lap of Rosina. Arusha Miocevich sitting on the lap of Nasir David. On the far right, Gulmina and Chris Miocevich.

2019: On the appointment of His Honour Chris Miocevich (second front right) as Magistrate and now Judge of the District Court of Western Australia. Top row, Grandchildren, all grown up : Dr Arusha Miocevich MBBS, Joseph MIocevch MSCHE BSC, Michael Miocevich student.

Dignatories His Honour Chief Justice Wayne Martin QC, Attorney General John Quigley, His Honour Ben Tyers.

Other Family: Dr Len and Mrs Margaret Miocevich, Rose, Mary and George Miocevich.Front row, Proud grandparents Fred and Rosina David ( front left); Gulmina Miocevich LLB (far right

The old cinema in Masaka Town

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Australians from Uganda March 1973 with members of the Australian Council of Churches and new found friends

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Many of the expelled Asians were citizens of the United Kingdom and subsequently emigrated to the United Kingdom. Others became stateless after being stripped of Ugandan citizenship. Most of the Ugandan Indians, who were accounted for, went to Britain, which took around 37,200. 12,000 went to Canada, 4,500 ended up in India and 2,500 went to nearby Kenya.

Malawi, Pakistan, West Germany and the United States took 1,000 each with smaller numbers emigrating to Australia, Austria, Sweden, Mauritius and New Zealand.

Coverage >> 1976: Bollywood movie Charas has a pilot plot about the expulsion of Indians from Uganda. >> 1991: Mira Nair’s film Mississippi Masala portrays the story of an Indian family which flees Uganda during the turmoil and settles in Mississippi. It is a love story. >> 2006: The expulsion was also portrayed in the novel The Last King of Scotland and the subsequent 2006 film of the book. >> 2006: The aftermath of the exile provides the backdrop for episode 2.6 of Life on Mars. >> 2006: The Settlers Cookbook - Memoir of Love, Migration and Food – Yasmin Alibhai-Brown >> 2008: It is also the main focus of the young adult novel Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji, which was a finalist for Canada’s prestigious Governor General’s Award. >> 2012: Forty Years Journey – Samim & Ashak Nathwani

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What if you were to wake up one morning and find out that you had 90 days to leave the country of your birth or the place you had called ‘home’ for most of your life?

Fifty years ago, around fifty thousand people were faced with such a life changing predicament. It happened in Uganda. On 4th August 1972, the notorious Dictator Idi Amin Dada decreed that Asians (primarily those whose origins were from the Indian subcontinent) had to leave Uganda within 90 days or be subjected to unspecified consequences!

This book is a compilation of the tales of trials, tribulations, and triumphs of some of the victims who migrated to Australia under extraordinary circumstances.

Stories and associated images are presented as received from respective families and individuals. They articulate why they chose Australia, under what difficulties they had to leave Uganda, who assisted them during their early settlement period, and the contributions they have made over the fifty years to the country they now call home.

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