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British Ugandan Asians at 50

In August 1972, Ugandan dictator General Idi Amin served 90 days’ notice on around 70,000 Asians to leave Uganda. Each family was permitted to take only £55 and one suitcase per individual. 28,200 of these who held British passports were admitted to the UK. The then government set up the Uganda Resettlement Board to assist the expellees to find permanent homes, jobs and school places. Sixteen temporary resettlement camps around the country were set up and staffed in just six weeks. Charities, faith groups, campaigning organisations and private individuals in their thousands stepped forward to provide much needed support in those critical early months. This extraordinary feat of cooperation has strong contemporary relevance. Fifty years on, British Ugandan Asians have excelled in many fields from business and finance to politics, science, and the arts. British Ugandan Asians at 50 is a programme of the India Overseas Trust. We have received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to record, on film, the oral histories of people who were involved in the camps as residents, volunteers or paid staff.  We have focused on three of the Board’s resettlement camps: Tonfanau in Wales, Stradishall in Suffolk and Heathfield in Devon.

Heart of the Nation: Migration and the Making of the NHS Digital Exhibition

The NHS is close to all of our hearts – now more than ever. From the very beginning, people have come to Britain from all over the world to make this grand vision for a better society a reality. The NHS would not have become the beloved institution it is today without its international workers. But their vital role has largely been ignored.

Heart of the Nation: Migration and the Making of the NHS  is a digital exhibition that puts this vital story at centre stage through oral histories and archival materials, as well as art, animations and data visualisations.