The World Has Changed So Much, Yet So Little, Since the 1972 Ugandan Refugee Crisis
By Dr Nik Kotecha OBE DL, Chair of Trustees for the Randal Charitable Foundation
One hopes that the mistakes of the past are learned from and our history’s darkest moments are never repeated again.
Sadly, the War in Ukraine and recent conflicts in the Middle East and East Africa have once more led to millions of people becoming displaced and refugees, through no fault of their own.
As a child refugee myself during the 1972 Reign of Terror of then Dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin; I can still vividly remember the panic in my parents’ eyes as the country’s Asian minority were given just 90 days to flee, or suffer the most terrible of consequences.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Expulsion of the Ugandan Asians, I can’t help but see parallels with the dreadful scenes of Ukrainian families clutching but a handful of belongings as they escape their homeland, but at a terrible cost.
My family found themselves in a similar situation, having fled Uganda for the United Kingdom; we established a new home in a temporarily refugee camp just outside of London.
We left with just two suitcases, which were all we could carry. Everything else - all of our worldly possessions - including our house, car and sentimental family heirlooms, were left behind to be pawed over as spoils of victory by Amin’s terrible regime.
So I know what it feels like to be homeless and I know what it feels like to go hungry, which is something no child should ever have to experience.
Despite my sadness at the wretched scenes coming out of Ukraine, there still is hope, and it is hope that often guides us through our darkest of times.
Mahatma Gandhi
Mother Teresa
Sir Alexander Flemming
Nelson Mandela
Dalai Lama XIV
Florence Nightingale
Martin Luther King Jnr
Sir Winston Churchill