Uganda 50: educating the next generation about the expulsion of Asians in 1972

It's almost 50 years since Ugandan President Idi Amin ordered 70,000 Asians to leave the country within three months.

President Idi Amin accused them of corruption and not doing enough to integrate - claims strongly denied by those who lived there.

He gave Asians just 90 days to leave the country.

The announcement led to widespread violence and fear, and many families came to Britain.

But they had no idea where they would go and what they would do.

Nearly fifty years on, and schoolchildren in Leicester have been learning all about the latest anniversary of the expulsion of Asians from Uganda.

They've been hearing from those who left the country back in the seventies.

One of those forced to leave was Sophie Kanabar. She was just six years old when her family left Uganda.

Her mother was seven months pregnant when when President Idi Amin told Asians to leave the country.

Sophie has now returned to her former school, Rushey Mead Academy in Leicester, to share her experiences with younger generations.

"We didn't really fit in"

Sophie’s family initially lived in Yorkshire before moving to Leicester. She’s been writing a memoir - a collection of diary entries about her Ugandan journey.

Sophie reads an extract from her memoir, saying:

'We never really fit in, being brown, it was a difficult time. We had a long walk to school. I was embarrassed of my mum wearing a sari'.

Pupils at the Abbey Mead Primary in Belgrave, had a visit from someone our reporter Rajiv knows rather well - his own father Harish. He was a teacher at a primary school in the town of Jinja in Uganda.

Rajiv was just two years old when he came to the UK when with his family.

The students asked Harish Popat about what it was like to be told to leave your home - with just three months notice.

They asked:

"Did you think that Idi Amin would ever tell you to leave?'

Harish says 'It was a shock, people had settled there for hundreds of years, they didn't know what was happening, they were confused'.

Many of the Asians who who fled Uganda faced numerous challenges when they came here – but they went on to succeed in all areas of industry.

Britain has been their new home for 50 years – and they have no plans to leave.