A Walk Down Memory Lane.
Rupal was happily enjoying a varied and outdoors-oriented childhood in Uganda. She lived in Jinja, in a flat above her family’s business, but went on numerous trips to local attractions and far-away beaches.
To her confusion, at just ten years of age, Rupal was suddenly ‘shipped off’ to the UK with her aunt and cousin, while the rest of her family split apart across the globe. Now living in an unfamiliar house in an unfamiliar place, she did her best to get used to this strange situation. And indeed, as her family regrouped, and as she settled into her new school, she became happier.
Rupal and her family would encounter financial and cultural challenges in the years to come, but recognising their lack of options, they tackled them head on. And over time, things worked out: Rupal graduated from college, worked and married—and today, she feels content.
Below is an extract from Rupal’s charming story.
“We stayed at my cousin’s house until my wider family decided where we should settle for good. It was agreed that we would rent a four-bedroom house in Kenton, Harrow, which was a fair distance from my cousin’s in Mitcham. Since we all had very tight budgets, the families of my aunt and her sister resided with mine under the same roof for a few years, before my immediate family felt financially comfortable enough to buy our first home in Kenton. What’s more, soon after we moved to Kenton, my parents and sister finally came from India to rejoin us in the UK. That couldn’t have made me happier; having been separated from my parents for so long, I had at times started to feel like I’d been abandoned by them.”
We will be releasing contributors’ full stories at a later date, so please stay tuned for them. If you would like to read a full story now, then please see the first five stories posted here on our website.
This is a project by AFFCAD UK to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the exodus of Ugandan Asians, by collating and archiving the stories of those involved. If you would like to contribute a story, do get in touch here.