Wood Green Asian Centre gets Heritage Lottery Grant for project about expulsion of Asian Ugandans

Picture: Copyright Mazmashru

The Council of Asian People in Haringey has received an £86,000 grant from The Heritage Lottery Fund for an year-long project, EXILES:UGANDAN ASIAN STORY focusing on the 40th anniversary of the expulsion of the Asian community from Ugandan in 1972 and their resettlement in the UK.

The year-long project commemorates repercussions from events in summer 1972 when Idi Amin gave the country’s 55,000 Asian population just 90 days to leave the country. Some 27,000 who held British passports came to the UK, settling in and around both London and Leicester.

The project aims to give younger descendants of the refugees the chance to record interviews with parents and grandparents about their arrival and subsequent lives in London.  

It will preserve the stories of those forced to rebuild their lives and businesses afresh and trace the contribution they have made to UK life in the four decades that have elapsed, looking at literature, commerce and food, among other topics.

The project, with the Asian Centre Wood Green at its centre, will recruit up to 40 volunteers to gather 40 testimonies from those who were exiled; up to 40 community events in the form of workshops, learning days and community suppers and lunches will be held to gather information, and 40 learning packs will be created to help schools, students and academics with future research. 

November 6th will witness the public launch of the project with a commemoration symposium as part of the annual South Asian Literature Festival, to be organised by Amphora Arts, where authors, academics, thinkers and business leaders will discuss the impact and cultural contribution Ugandan Asians have made to Britain.

Next summer, the project will culminate in the launch of the 40 personal stories and a supporting exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society. Following this, the exhibition will tour local schools, colleges and community venues in Haringey and neighbouring boroughs. The material collected during the project will be stored for future reference at the London Metropolitan Archive.