York woman Shamim Eimaan recalls fleeing Uganda 50 years ago

She remembers almost nothing about the terror that led up to the expulsions - and has always believed she may have 'blacked it out' because it was so traumatic.

She has a vague memory of gunshots, of someone banging on the door, of her mum saying 'Hide the girls! Hide the girls!'

"But I don't even know if they are my memories, or what somebody told me," she said.

Even her brother Ebrahim, who is a year younger than Shamim, remembers more.

He once asked Shamim if she remembered being in a car. "My brother said: 'Soldiers came and pulled Dad out of the car and you were screaming your head off. Do you remember?" But she can't recall it at all.

Shamim Eimaan

Less than 18 months after seizing power in a coup in 1971, Amin expelled more than 60,000 Ugandan Asians from the country.

The families were descended from Indians who had moved to Uganda under British rule to help build the country's infrastructure, including the railroads. Many still held British passports.

Amin gave them 90 days to leave. Eventually, 27,000 came to the UK.

Among them were Shamim and her family. She was the second-youngest of 10 children. Her father Abubaker Mohammed was a successful businessmen, with interests in retail and salt-mining, and several properties, mainly in the country’s rural north.

They left everything behind, and fled to the UK, where they spent several months in two camps in southern England. Shamim remembers little about that, too - except for the odd, sweet taste of baked beans, and a pair of black shoes with a shiny buckle she was given.

Shamim's former home, now derelict

Eventually, they settled in Birmingham. But Shamim's dad had been devastated by what had happened. He would never talk about it, and died a few years later, aged 54.

In 1986, aged 20, Shamim had an arranged marriage and moved to York to be with her new husband - another Ugandan Asian who worked at Rowntrees.

It was a huge culture shock. Birmingham was multicultural. “But when I came to York, it was so white!"

She remembers walking into town in a traditional sun-yellow outfit. "And everybody was staring at me!"

But gradually she came to love her adopted home. She joined the NHS and rose to become a senior manager. She divorced her first husband after having two children, and married again. 

in 2019, prompted by her daughter Saarah and second husband Mick, she even went back to Uganda, and saw the house in Kabatoro that had been the family’s main home, now completely derelict. She brought back some bricks from it.

Now she is pulling together an exhibition which will open at the University of York on October 8, documenting the experiences of Ugandan Asians who fled to the UK - and eventually to York - 50 years ago.

The exhibition will include film footage, photographs, press cuttings - and the real-life stories of some of those who came here.

"It will be amazing!" she said.