Festival marking 50 years since Ugandan Asian expulsion at Greenham Control Tower
A festival acknowledging the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Ugandan refugees into the UK will officially open this weekend.
The 1972 expulsion was a time of horror and loss for the approximately 80,000 Asians were given just 90 days to leave their home.
Under President Idi Amin’s reign, they were ordered to leave the country with one suitcase and no more than £50.
The Greenham Control Tower will host the exhibition and event of talks, arts and literature all illustrating what life was like at this time. RAF Greenham was once a refugee camp for those displaced.
Headley resident and organiser Pragna Hay said: “It’s devastating to think that one man could tear apart so many lives.
“The current day relevance of this event is brought into sharp focus in the context of more recent displacements around the world, as families singled out because they belong to an ethnicity or creed, lose their homes and lives.”
The former Greenham Parish councillor put the event together under non-for-profit organisation Once Upon a Time Fifty Years Ago.
First-hand accounts will be shared from Ugandan Asians themselves to those involved in the working of the camps from nurses to young people who volunteered to entertain and play with the refugee children.
The Greenham Knitters have produced a mural which is to be displayed in the control tower.
The artwork depicts life in Uganda, the trauma of the expulsion, and the need to adjust to life in a foreign country.
It employs the use of a road leading from a map of Uganda to the UK which is interspersed with key moments from the expulsion as well as depicting life in both Uganda and the UK.
One knitter Brenda Agutter said it was “interesting” for the group of girls involved to take on the project, learn about the expulsion and tell the story in pictorial form.
Financial support was provided by Greenham Trust and Greenham Parish Council.
The official opening, by the mayor of Newbury will be held tomorrow (Saturday) at 11.30am.
More information and tickets can be found at @Uprooted50yearsago on Instagram and Greenhamtower.org.uk
Alternatively email pragna@50yearsago.co.uk
The festival, which comprises a series of events and an exhibition, will run until October 2.
