Where is Idi Amin when you need him?
DOES MU7 KNOWS HOW RACIST THESE PEOPLE ARE?
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Tears of joy as Ugandan Asians visit their country
Ephraim Kasozi
Kampala
At 80 years, Mr Jethalal Pandya is no longer the sprightly businessman who took
his first steps in business from Masaka District before the 1972 expulsion of
the Asian community from Uganda by then president Idi Amin.
Mr Pandya cannot walk by himself anymore so he is moved from one place to
another in a wheelchair.
But that did not stop the octogenarian from joining another 31 Ugandans of
Asian origin who returned to their country of birth – some for the first time
since they were expelled – for an unforgettable 14-day trip that started on
September 5.
Uganda is our ‘janma bhumi’ (meaning birth place) and it is a great moment to
come again and feel the goodness of our land,” said Mr Pandya.
Like Mr Pandya nearly all the Ugandans who made the trip are now retired,
having worked in exile for 35 years or more, but the prospect of returning to
visit their birth place was too attractive to turn down.
“I am glad to visit the hospital where I was born 69 years ago. I was driven
around and I saw the maternity ward as well as our former home in Namwendwa,
Kamuli where my father had a bicycle shop which we left,” said Mansukh Tanna, a
retired plastics manufacturer.
Mr Tanna, who is based in London, recalled that Namwendwa was a small town with
only 22 shops around the time they were expelled. “But, now, I saw more shops,
hotels and many other developments; more than double that of the former town,”
he said.
Even as he toured his former home, Mr Tanna was quick to smell business
opportunities for his plastics business.
He was however quick to add that he could not take any in the later stages of
his life.
“It is unfortunate that I am retired. I cannot do any more business apart from
visiting the country,” said the businessman, who was accompanied by his son.
In 1972, Uganda’s then president, Idi Amin, ordered the Asian community in
Uganda to leave the country within 90 days.
For some of the victims of this order, like 78-year old Ms Lalitaben Pandya,
whose husband owned Uganda Hindu Lodge in Nakasero, the memories are still
fresh.
“When I arrived in Uganda, I remembered the getting my travel documents within
19 days,” she said.
Ms Pandya, a former employee of Nsambya Hospital in the 1970s, says the visit
has helped her bury the ghosts of the past.
“Life here (Uganda) has totally changed. Coming back here means starting
afresh,” she noted.
For 69 year old Ms Manjula Chotai, who got married in Iganga in 1960s, the
visit is an opportunity to start where she left off – at least as far as her
language skills are concerned.
“I can remember words like; “jambo” (meaning hello), Mama (mummy) and “mogo”
(cassava) and the people understand my words,” Ms Chotai said.
“I really felt back home because although my husband died, I was able to meet
one of our former students in Iganga and took me to our former home,” she added.
The group’s return to their motherland after the 35-year gap was made possible
by the arrangement of a UK-based organisation, Experience-Uganda, which belongs
to another Ugandan of Asian origin, Ms Bhavisha Gheewala.
“I attended the exiled Ugandan Asians celebrations in England where all the
participants were longing to come back to Kampala. I promised them that I would
organise the journey and here they are,” Ms Gheewala said.
“I started mobilising and circulating the information to convince the community
that it was possible for them to revisit Uganda. I came to Uganda and took
pictures and researched and got maps of the different areas.”
BACK TO MY ROOTS: The group of Ugandan born Asians in Kampala after 35 years of
exile. PHOTOS BY EPHRAIM KASOZI
Ms Gheewala said the group is the second after a 24-man team visited various
tourist sites in the country in March.
She said the group toured the whole of eastern region up to Tororo, national
game parks, Bujagali falls, the mountains and other places.
The visit may have only been for a fortnight but members of the group say they
were returning to their homes with life long memories of their homeland.
Mr Mashru Dilip, 65, who says his father owned shops in Jinja and Iganga, where
he was born, said, “I have been longing to come back and visit the place only
to find a bank (Centenary bank –Iganga branch) where we had a shop. But I am
grateful that I could still recognise the area.”
Mr Dilip, who travelled with his wife, says memories of the country he spent 25
years of his life were renewed during the 14-day tour.
“I saw our former house and felt so excited. I am impressed with the state of
the cities in Uganda only that my family is now settled and I have to stay with
them,” said a smiling Mr Dilip.
Although he says cannot settle in Uganda, Mr Dilip hopes that his son will one
day return. He said, “I am going back to London to convince my son to come and
do business in my birthplace and lift the glory of this country.”
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