Idi Amin gave us 90 days to leave. We were ‘expelled’. Told to get out of the country we were born in and lived all our lives in. We could take one suitcase and that was it. I am volunteering to support this exhibition at Charnwood to share my story
Uganda 50
2022 marks 50 years since all the Asian people living in Uganda were forced to leave their homeland.
A commemorative exhibition
Leicester based arts organisation Navrang have been awarded National Lottery Heritage Funding to lead a commemoration project which will explore, share and celebrate the resilience and resourcefulness of this unique community. We will host one exhibition curated by their team at Charnwood Museum from 15th October 2022 – 25th February 2023.
As part of this project we have been working in partnership with Loughborough Library Local Studies, The Record Office for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and Loughborough University ‘Memories of Migration Project’ to search the archives for local news headlines of this time and oral history testimonies about people’s experiences. Together we are exploring the journey local Ugandan Asian people have been on since they received this demand, embarked on their journey to Charnwood and made it their home.
https://www.charnwoodmuseum.co.uk/temporary-exhibitions
Top left image credit: the Leicester Mercury Archive.
Top right image credit: David Reed www.davidreedphoto.com
We highly recommend Jasbinder Bilan’s beautiful children’s novel ‘Xanthe & the Ruby Crown’, which tells of how a mysterious cat helps young Xanthe to uncover rich secrets of her grandmother’s past, including her family’s forced abandonment of their home in Africa.
https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/20971/Xanthe-the-Ruby-Crown-by-Jasbinder-Bilan.html
