New book by Vali I V Jamal on Ugandan Asians (forthcoming August 2009) April 7, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Africa, Books, Ismaili Muslim Authors, Uganda.
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The full title is
Ugandan Asians: Then and Now, Here and There, We Contributed, We Contribute
Being a collaborative effort to thank President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for welcoming us back to Uganda and for his untiring efforts to grow the economy
To Pierre Elliott Trudeau for giving us shelter
And to Edward Heath for honouring an historic pledge.
We Contributed, We Contribute
In author’s own words:
It’s like the “autobiography” of our expulsion from Uganda, in 1972, of our life until then and our life in the two major diaspora countries. The expulsion was our WWYW (where were you when) moment, our place in history. We do get a mention in most history books but just a paragraph. I think we deserve more – like this 400 pages/200,000 words book.
It uncovers lots of new facts. Around 80 people never left Uganda for even a day, braving daily phone-in threats of rustication to Karamoja (one got to replying “do it mara moja,” Swahili for straightaway). They were witnesses to mass car auctions where the abandoned cars were sold off to the highest bidder and prices never went beyond three-figures US dollars. They watched the chaotic process of distributing the shops (their own even!). Almost with the fall of Amin, people started trickling in to “look up how things were.” On the diaspora side care is taken to acknowledge the early migrants to Canada and the 100 or so people in the UK in 1957 that the Aga Khan spoke about at his Golden Jubilee banquet in London. Some of their stories are there even. The 3Gs write about their ancestors and their own childhood in the 1940s and 1950s, when almost three-quarters of the Asian population lived within a mile-circle of the Museum Hill. The Canadian refugee mission of 1972 is summarised, based on the diary of the chief of the mission, including how the office was furnished in a record five days. Almost a first are also accounts of the British and Israeli role in Amin’s coup and the often-outrageous telegrams he wrote to world leaders. Towards the end is a light-hearted “socio-economic history” of East African Asians on how our cooking and dressing up changed. There’s a movie going on My Big Fat Desi Wedding, so it’s an entertaining book - otherwise why bother? Long, 400 pages, meant to be read slowly. Those 50 and above will shed a few tears at places. The younger generation will learn why their grampa keeps talking about “Wobulenzi” in every sentence. They will learn how in Gujarati almost all the numbers are distinct upto 100. They may even learn not to mispronounce the various Ns that we substitute for four different Gujarati consonants.
It should be out in “six months time” – about September, Inshallah. I should hasten to add that it’s pan-Asian, covering all the Asian communities in Uganda. It even has a background on the paan!
Vali Jamal was the Senior Economist for the UN-International Labour Organization from 1976 to 2001. He is an original Ugandan Asian. He has a BA from Cambridge University and a PhD from Stanford. He contributes often in the Uganda media. He is currently based at Kampala, Uganda, and can be reached at [email protected] for possible inputs into his book.
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2009/0 ... gust-2009/
Ugandan Asians: Then and Now, Here and There, We Contributed
The author has created a blog http://www.vivaeastafrica.blogspot.com/ wherein he highlights various issues pertaining to the asians of East Africa. In one of the posts there is a photograph of Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah at the Evian Conference 1952. Below is the description...
Evian Conference 1952: 'the simple colonial dress'
My uncle Ismail Ebrahim Jamal sent me the list of 35 people in the picture from Mombasa. Mr Ramzan Hirji sent me via Sultan Baloo the below account of the conference (abridged), including a message from the Imam at the conclusion of the conference, which he couldn’t participate due to persistent ill health.
Evian Conference, 1952
Chairman: His Royal Highness the Right Ho’ble Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah Aga Khan
Mowlana Hazar Imam, Mata Salamat, Princes Karim and Amin Mohamed
Vizir Fatehali Dhala, Mombasa
Vizir Sir Eboo Pirbhai, OBE, Nairobi
Itmadi Vizir Abdulla Hassam Gangji, Zanzibar
Count Diwan MN Jindani, Mombasa
Court Kassum Sunderji Samji, Dar es salam
Vizir Kassamali Paroo, Mombasa
Vizir VM Nazerali, OBE, Dar es salaam
Vizir AG Abdulhussein, Dar es salaam
Vizir Allibhai Kassam Lakha, Mombasa
Vizir Merali Ramji, Mombasa
Vizir Bahadurali Remtulla Samji, Majunga
Vizir Abdulraheman Dawood Nathoo, Tananarive
Vizir Fazal Bhanji, Zanzibar
Vizir Abdulla Jivraj Bhojani, Dodoma
Vizir Moolji Nazerali, Moshi
Vizir Hassan Kassim Lakha, Kampala
Vizir Jafferali Ali Megji, Dar es saalam
Vizir Huseinali Nathu, Kampala
Vizir Gulamhussein Moledina, Bombay
Rai Ibrahim Esmail Nathu, Nairobi
Rai Bahadurali KS Verjee, Kampala
Alijah Ibrahim Mitha Shivji, Mbale
Alijah Kassam Amersi, Mwanza
Alijah Mahomed Ismail Sokota, Tananarive
Alijah Jadavaji Haji, Pretoria
Rai Ebrahim Jamal, Kisumu
Huzurmukhi Remtulla K Sheriff, Usumbura
Huzurmukhi Shariff Karsan, Tanga
Huzurmukhi Abdulmahomed Kamadia, Tabora
Mr. GK Ishani, Nairobi
Mr. Abdulrasul Allibhai Kassim Lakha, Nairobi
Mr. Noordin Merali Jiwan, Masaka
Paris Mukhi Rai Piarali Remtulla Samji
Paris Kamdia Alijah Mohamedaly Pirbay
Secretary Abdulsultan D Shariff, Mombasa
Contribution from: [email protected]
Evian Conference
The Evian Conference was held between July 4, 1952 and July 8, 1952 in the French town near Geneva to discuss issues confronting African Ismailis and make amendments in the Constitution of the African councils. It was attended by 40 people. The health of the Imam was impaired, but even then he sat in the conference for a total of 18 hours during its five days. A major decision urged Ismaili women of East Africa to adopt “the simple colonial dress.” At the end of the Conference, the Imam sent the following cable message from nearby Aix-les-Bains:
Very glad to hear various excellent resolutions Evian Conference carried out in spirit and letter. All those who help receive double blessings. Very glad ladies intend when new clothes ordered have western fashion economic material clothes made as Burma for all unity with new western African ideals. For economic reasons old-fashioned clothes should be worn till used up by time and age when new clothes ordered new fashion should become general
Gujarati was gradually replaced by English as the medium of instruction and French was introduced as a second language. Emphasis was placed on the teaching of commercial subjects for boys and domestic science for girls. Changes were made to help Ismailis obtain higher education. Increased educational and career opportunities for women affected many aspects of family life.The Imam said in his Memoirs, "Ismailism has survived because it has always been fluid. Rigidity is contrary to our whole life and outlook." (Memoirs of Aga Khan, p 185).
Evian Conference 1952: 'the simple colonial dress'
My uncle Ismail Ebrahim Jamal sent me the list of 35 people in the picture from Mombasa. Mr Ramzan Hirji sent me via Sultan Baloo the below account of the conference (abridged), including a message from the Imam at the conclusion of the conference, which he couldn’t participate due to persistent ill health.
Evian Conference, 1952
Chairman: His Royal Highness the Right Ho’ble Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah Aga Khan
Mowlana Hazar Imam, Mata Salamat, Princes Karim and Amin Mohamed
Vizir Fatehali Dhala, Mombasa
Vizir Sir Eboo Pirbhai, OBE, Nairobi
Itmadi Vizir Abdulla Hassam Gangji, Zanzibar
Count Diwan MN Jindani, Mombasa
Court Kassum Sunderji Samji, Dar es salam
Vizir Kassamali Paroo, Mombasa
Vizir VM Nazerali, OBE, Dar es salaam
Vizir AG Abdulhussein, Dar es salaam
Vizir Allibhai Kassam Lakha, Mombasa
Vizir Merali Ramji, Mombasa
Vizir Bahadurali Remtulla Samji, Majunga
Vizir Abdulraheman Dawood Nathoo, Tananarive
Vizir Fazal Bhanji, Zanzibar
Vizir Abdulla Jivraj Bhojani, Dodoma
Vizir Moolji Nazerali, Moshi
Vizir Hassan Kassim Lakha, Kampala
Vizir Jafferali Ali Megji, Dar es saalam
Vizir Huseinali Nathu, Kampala
Vizir Gulamhussein Moledina, Bombay
Rai Ibrahim Esmail Nathu, Nairobi
Rai Bahadurali KS Verjee, Kampala
Alijah Ibrahim Mitha Shivji, Mbale
Alijah Kassam Amersi, Mwanza
Alijah Mahomed Ismail Sokota, Tananarive
Alijah Jadavaji Haji, Pretoria
Rai Ebrahim Jamal, Kisumu
Huzurmukhi Remtulla K Sheriff, Usumbura
Huzurmukhi Shariff Karsan, Tanga
Huzurmukhi Abdulmahomed Kamadia, Tabora
Mr. GK Ishani, Nairobi
Mr. Abdulrasul Allibhai Kassim Lakha, Nairobi
Mr. Noordin Merali Jiwan, Masaka
Paris Mukhi Rai Piarali Remtulla Samji
Paris Kamdia Alijah Mohamedaly Pirbay
Secretary Abdulsultan D Shariff, Mombasa
Contribution from: [email protected]
Evian Conference
The Evian Conference was held between July 4, 1952 and July 8, 1952 in the French town near Geneva to discuss issues confronting African Ismailis and make amendments in the Constitution of the African councils. It was attended by 40 people. The health of the Imam was impaired, but even then he sat in the conference for a total of 18 hours during its five days. A major decision urged Ismaili women of East Africa to adopt “the simple colonial dress.” At the end of the Conference, the Imam sent the following cable message from nearby Aix-les-Bains:
Very glad to hear various excellent resolutions Evian Conference carried out in spirit and letter. All those who help receive double blessings. Very glad ladies intend when new clothes ordered have western fashion economic material clothes made as Burma for all unity with new western African ideals. For economic reasons old-fashioned clothes should be worn till used up by time and age when new clothes ordered new fashion should become general
Gujarati was gradually replaced by English as the medium of instruction and French was introduced as a second language. Emphasis was placed on the teaching of commercial subjects for boys and domestic science for girls. Changes were made to help Ismailis obtain higher education. Increased educational and career opportunities for women affected many aspects of family life.The Imam said in his Memoirs, "Ismailism has survived because it has always been fluid. Rigidity is contrary to our whole life and outlook." (Memoirs of Aga Khan, p 185).
FEATURE: Expelled by Amin, a Ugandan Asian now comes face to face with Jaffar, Amin’s son
News
Written by Vali Jamal
Monday, 11 January 2010 05:17
Jaffar Idi Amin (L) with the author(photo)
http://observer.ug/index.php?option=com ... &Itemid=59
I came across accounts of several media events surrounding the ouster of Idi Amin Dada from power 30 years ago. His son Jaffar launched the Al-Amin Foundation, to bring out the history of his father’s regime with a view of correcting perceived distortions.
He met with the son of the antagonist of his father – Madaraka Nyerere. They each told their sides of the story. I am writing a book on Ugandan Asians based on our expulsion by Amin in 1972. Would it not be interesting to meet Jaffar and tell him our story and hear his side?
To us Asians, that was one event that put us in the history books, a most unjust uprooting from our birth country. How did Jaffar look at that? Just as it is his sacred duty to right the wrongs against his father, it is my sacred duty to my ancestors – my own and of all Asians – to ensure that our story is not swept under the carpet as just another footnote.
I wrote to Jaffar on his website. He replied straightaway that indeed he’d be happy to meet me. He’d seen my articles in Sunday Monitor on the subject. In one of them (April 26, 2009: Rethinking Amin: An Asian’s Perspective) I argued that the expulsion was small fry in the world – 50 thousand were involved, while at the same time the Bangladesh transfers were going on affecting millions – except for worries in Britain that absorbing that many non-white people was bound to raise tensions with followers of Enoch Powell and the National Front.
The British never raised an objection that British property was being expropriated. Business-as-usual seemed quite possible, except Amin not only wanted to nationalise the economy but also decolonise it. Receiving an early rebuff for arms from Britain and Israel, he proceeded to deride them and joined forces with the Arab world for the cause of Palestine.
His rhetoric took on an increasingly anti-Semitic stance. He expelled the Israelis and nationalised British property. It was like he was inviting a body blow and he got several in the form of aid shut-downs from not just Britain but also the aid agencies. Jaffar said we’d meet at the mosque on the Makerere Campus on a Friday.
I didn’t ask for identification marks as I had a description of him from published articles – tall and broad-shouldered. I didn’t find it necessary to give him clues to my features as there shouldn’t be many brown faces at Makerere mosque on any given day.
A mistake on one side, as every African was wearing the traditional kanzu for the Friday prayers and many were tall and broad. I began to wonder whether he meant the main mosque and not the Makerere mosque. Just then, a person approached me purposefully in Western clothes.
“Jamal,” he said, “Jaffar” I said. We embraced almost spontaneously and posed for a picture to record that historical moment. He asked how I did recognise him? I said I had descriptions from my “sources.” He laughed. I asked how did he recognise me? He said not many Indians these days sported a Suede jacket. He invited me to lunch in the campus guest house.
Jaffar asks what would I like to have. He says they make a nice traditional dish with matooke, rice and stew. I say I’d love that; matooke was on every home-coming Diasporan Asian’s wish-list for his first day.
“Mind you, we Indianised the dish with curry powder, coconut and meat cooked together. Indian people pick up local ingredients everywhere and leave their mark on local cuisine.
“Like chapatti,” he says, “samosa, pillao?” He says for him traditional is cassava.
I get to the point.
“Jaffar, you know the expulsion not only uprooted my father’s family but cut my own career short right at its start.”
I recount that that year I had come to Uganda to collect data for my dissertation at Stanford, living in the MISER flats with my wife and two children, not far from where we were sitting. Jacob Oloya invited me to teach a course in MSc Agricultural Economics. “And then the expulsion happened. My father and brothers-in-law lost their lifetime’s assets.”
Jaffar is ready for this. He recounts that he was only 12 years old at the time, living part-time in Arua. There were many Asian shop-owners there, including several Baluchis from Pakistan. None of them left. “Do you know, in July 1971 when the Jinja Barracks was attacked by exiles to overthrow my father, it was Colonel Suleiman Bai Baluchi and Hussein Musa of the Bori Kakwa clan of the Police Special Branch who repelled the attack?
Now, this Colonel’s Asian mother and my grandmother alternated in feeding the two toddlers in the absence of the other. Yes, my father and Colonel Suleiman fed from the same breasts! What my father could not tolerate was that for every petty transaction and every repair job, you had to go through Asians. And he knew about the money they were remitting to India to their relatives, but also stashing away in Swiss banks. Several people were apprehended importing bogus machinery just to send out foreign exchange.”
He cites Kenya and Tanzania, and Uganda during Obote’s time, where attempts were made to indigenise the economies.
“We were a decade into independence. Promises had been made by several leaders from 1950 onwards that some redress was coming for the economic imbalance in the country.”
He picks up on another well-known Asian trait that his father disliked – their impenetrable exclusiveness. “There was this one occasion when my father happened to take a drive through Kampala Road on a Sunday in front of the High Court. His car – the small white VW, unmarked – just became part of the Indian ritual of going round and round Kampala Road. He was content to experience the scene that had been described to him by his ministers. He said, ‘Where am I? In Bombay?’
This thing, that he saw integration as inter-marriage, that’s not true, and certainly it’s a fabrication that he ordered the expulsion because he was personally rebuffed in a marriage proposal. If he wanted to marry an Asian woman, he would have asked for one from the family of the Baluchis. Of course his mistake was he saw the Asians as a block – rich, insular, somewhat dishonest in their business practices. He didn’t realise there were diverse Asian communities, with their own rules about social and business behaviour.
Baluchis and Sikhs do not abide by the caste system in India, whereby certain people are untouchable. Most of our Baluchi neighbours and a great proportion of Sikhs never left Uganda. My father even cited them approvingly in a public lecture.”
I tell him how my own perspective on Asians as a block evolved. The very first article I wrote after completing my dissertation was called ‘Inequality and Its Consequence: The Asian Expulsion from Uganda.’
I showed that Asians who were less than 1% of the population, earned over three-quarters of the non-food economy. It was seen by some as slightly inconvenient as it seemed to exonerate the expulsion, but those were the figures. I tell him that I revised my opinion somewhat recently writing this book.
“Of the 50 thousand Asians in Uganda in 1972 – say 10 thousand families – it was just 50 or so families who controlled all of the industries, all of estate agriculture and all of agro-processing. The majority of Asians were traders and fundis.
They at the most owned the house in the village. Unfortunately, it was those people who were the most disliked. People always misunderstand the important role traders play in the economy. Ironically, they were the most missed after the expulsion as they used to give seasonal credit to farmers and pay them on the spot for their produce.
Locally produced industrial goods could have been replaced by imports, but not the role the traders played in distributing the goods and collecting produce from the farmers. Predictably, the economy collapsed and President Amin could not turn to the British to bail him out. He exacted a toll on all Asians and then the British exacted their toll on him. There was a price to pay for nationalism.”
Jaffar gives another perspective to the idea about price to pay.
“There was a learning period. Our people were learning for the first time to mind shops. They had no accumulated capital to keep their shops stocked up, so within a year the shops closed down and trade became concentrated in a few hands around the President.
But the seeds of the trader class were sown during his time. Also of the artisanal class. I am building a house in Arua. I am doing it all with African craftsmen – from the architect to the plumber. The economy is much more indigenised, but also much more inegalitarian.
Asians – the new arrivals – are penetrating into the interior, like the Asian pioneer Alidina Visam, but I don’t think we need those at this point in time!”
I tell him that actually my grandfather was the first Asian trader to go to Arua, in 1904, as an agent of the great Alidina.
“I agree with you, I too don’t think we need to recycle pioneering the interior a hundred years later! Where I now live at the edge of the town I notice several Indian shops have sprung up in petty trading. I hope it’s not sowing the seeds of another expulsion.”
Jaffar reverts to my articles. He says he appreciated the perspective I had given on the oft-quoted statistic that up to half a million people had been liquidated in those years. It was like nearly half of the males in the age group 30-50. He says a Reconciliation Bill is coming to the Parliament in October.
There would then be a multi-year process to collect evidence on abuses of human rights since independence.
“Perhaps we may begin to get a handle on who killed how many during Uganda’s brief history since independence.”
I tell him reconciliation also has to include the Asians to address their remaining grievances and to make them feel welcome back in Uganda. Jaffar agrees straightaway.
“I’d love to be with you if you went to Leicester to speak to Asians there. You know something? I ended up in Leicester in the early 1980s. I used to see these Indians going through the same drive-by ritual on Sundays, except their cars were Jaguars and Rolls-Royces. I used to efface myself in case they wanted to revenge on me for my father.
But I do know they are not like that. Here I speak freely to the returned expellees. All the same, I’d love to go to Leicester with you.” “And Vancouver,” I interject. “Do you know if we brought together 100 from the top of the pile there, we’d have nearly one-half of Uganda’s current GDP under one roof? There are not many left in the relevant age group who may want to come back, but certainly we must try.
The President has often spoken about that.” Jaffar assents. He says with a conspiratorial wink, “My sources tell me your book could be an important contributor in the government’s drive to bring Asians back and attract FDI from all sources? My sources are always right!”
Vali Jamal is an original Ugandan Asian. He has a BA from Cambridge and a PhD from Stanford. He was the Senior Economist at the UN-ILO from 1976 to 2001. His book is called: Ugandan Asians: Then and Now, Here and There, We Contributed, We Contribute. He can be reached at [email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
News
Written by Vali Jamal
Monday, 11 January 2010 05:17
Jaffar Idi Amin (L) with the author(photo)
http://observer.ug/index.php?option=com ... &Itemid=59
I came across accounts of several media events surrounding the ouster of Idi Amin Dada from power 30 years ago. His son Jaffar launched the Al-Amin Foundation, to bring out the history of his father’s regime with a view of correcting perceived distortions.
He met with the son of the antagonist of his father – Madaraka Nyerere. They each told their sides of the story. I am writing a book on Ugandan Asians based on our expulsion by Amin in 1972. Would it not be interesting to meet Jaffar and tell him our story and hear his side?
To us Asians, that was one event that put us in the history books, a most unjust uprooting from our birth country. How did Jaffar look at that? Just as it is his sacred duty to right the wrongs against his father, it is my sacred duty to my ancestors – my own and of all Asians – to ensure that our story is not swept under the carpet as just another footnote.
I wrote to Jaffar on his website. He replied straightaway that indeed he’d be happy to meet me. He’d seen my articles in Sunday Monitor on the subject. In one of them (April 26, 2009: Rethinking Amin: An Asian’s Perspective) I argued that the expulsion was small fry in the world – 50 thousand were involved, while at the same time the Bangladesh transfers were going on affecting millions – except for worries in Britain that absorbing that many non-white people was bound to raise tensions with followers of Enoch Powell and the National Front.
The British never raised an objection that British property was being expropriated. Business-as-usual seemed quite possible, except Amin not only wanted to nationalise the economy but also decolonise it. Receiving an early rebuff for arms from Britain and Israel, he proceeded to deride them and joined forces with the Arab world for the cause of Palestine.
His rhetoric took on an increasingly anti-Semitic stance. He expelled the Israelis and nationalised British property. It was like he was inviting a body blow and he got several in the form of aid shut-downs from not just Britain but also the aid agencies. Jaffar said we’d meet at the mosque on the Makerere Campus on a Friday.
I didn’t ask for identification marks as I had a description of him from published articles – tall and broad-shouldered. I didn’t find it necessary to give him clues to my features as there shouldn’t be many brown faces at Makerere mosque on any given day.
A mistake on one side, as every African was wearing the traditional kanzu for the Friday prayers and many were tall and broad. I began to wonder whether he meant the main mosque and not the Makerere mosque. Just then, a person approached me purposefully in Western clothes.
“Jamal,” he said, “Jaffar” I said. We embraced almost spontaneously and posed for a picture to record that historical moment. He asked how I did recognise him? I said I had descriptions from my “sources.” He laughed. I asked how did he recognise me? He said not many Indians these days sported a Suede jacket. He invited me to lunch in the campus guest house.
Jaffar asks what would I like to have. He says they make a nice traditional dish with matooke, rice and stew. I say I’d love that; matooke was on every home-coming Diasporan Asian’s wish-list for his first day.
“Mind you, we Indianised the dish with curry powder, coconut and meat cooked together. Indian people pick up local ingredients everywhere and leave their mark on local cuisine.
“Like chapatti,” he says, “samosa, pillao?” He says for him traditional is cassava.
I get to the point.
“Jaffar, you know the expulsion not only uprooted my father’s family but cut my own career short right at its start.”
I recount that that year I had come to Uganda to collect data for my dissertation at Stanford, living in the MISER flats with my wife and two children, not far from where we were sitting. Jacob Oloya invited me to teach a course in MSc Agricultural Economics. “And then the expulsion happened. My father and brothers-in-law lost their lifetime’s assets.”
Jaffar is ready for this. He recounts that he was only 12 years old at the time, living part-time in Arua. There were many Asian shop-owners there, including several Baluchis from Pakistan. None of them left. “Do you know, in July 1971 when the Jinja Barracks was attacked by exiles to overthrow my father, it was Colonel Suleiman Bai Baluchi and Hussein Musa of the Bori Kakwa clan of the Police Special Branch who repelled the attack?
Now, this Colonel’s Asian mother and my grandmother alternated in feeding the two toddlers in the absence of the other. Yes, my father and Colonel Suleiman fed from the same breasts! What my father could not tolerate was that for every petty transaction and every repair job, you had to go through Asians. And he knew about the money they were remitting to India to their relatives, but also stashing away in Swiss banks. Several people were apprehended importing bogus machinery just to send out foreign exchange.”
He cites Kenya and Tanzania, and Uganda during Obote’s time, where attempts were made to indigenise the economies.
“We were a decade into independence. Promises had been made by several leaders from 1950 onwards that some redress was coming for the economic imbalance in the country.”
He picks up on another well-known Asian trait that his father disliked – their impenetrable exclusiveness. “There was this one occasion when my father happened to take a drive through Kampala Road on a Sunday in front of the High Court. His car – the small white VW, unmarked – just became part of the Indian ritual of going round and round Kampala Road. He was content to experience the scene that had been described to him by his ministers. He said, ‘Where am I? In Bombay?’
This thing, that he saw integration as inter-marriage, that’s not true, and certainly it’s a fabrication that he ordered the expulsion because he was personally rebuffed in a marriage proposal. If he wanted to marry an Asian woman, he would have asked for one from the family of the Baluchis. Of course his mistake was he saw the Asians as a block – rich, insular, somewhat dishonest in their business practices. He didn’t realise there were diverse Asian communities, with their own rules about social and business behaviour.
Baluchis and Sikhs do not abide by the caste system in India, whereby certain people are untouchable. Most of our Baluchi neighbours and a great proportion of Sikhs never left Uganda. My father even cited them approvingly in a public lecture.”
I tell him how my own perspective on Asians as a block evolved. The very first article I wrote after completing my dissertation was called ‘Inequality and Its Consequence: The Asian Expulsion from Uganda.’
I showed that Asians who were less than 1% of the population, earned over three-quarters of the non-food economy. It was seen by some as slightly inconvenient as it seemed to exonerate the expulsion, but those were the figures. I tell him that I revised my opinion somewhat recently writing this book.
“Of the 50 thousand Asians in Uganda in 1972 – say 10 thousand families – it was just 50 or so families who controlled all of the industries, all of estate agriculture and all of agro-processing. The majority of Asians were traders and fundis.
They at the most owned the house in the village. Unfortunately, it was those people who were the most disliked. People always misunderstand the important role traders play in the economy. Ironically, they were the most missed after the expulsion as they used to give seasonal credit to farmers and pay them on the spot for their produce.
Locally produced industrial goods could have been replaced by imports, but not the role the traders played in distributing the goods and collecting produce from the farmers. Predictably, the economy collapsed and President Amin could not turn to the British to bail him out. He exacted a toll on all Asians and then the British exacted their toll on him. There was a price to pay for nationalism.”
Jaffar gives another perspective to the idea about price to pay.
“There was a learning period. Our people were learning for the first time to mind shops. They had no accumulated capital to keep their shops stocked up, so within a year the shops closed down and trade became concentrated in a few hands around the President.
But the seeds of the trader class were sown during his time. Also of the artisanal class. I am building a house in Arua. I am doing it all with African craftsmen – from the architect to the plumber. The economy is much more indigenised, but also much more inegalitarian.
Asians – the new arrivals – are penetrating into the interior, like the Asian pioneer Alidina Visam, but I don’t think we need those at this point in time!”
I tell him that actually my grandfather was the first Asian trader to go to Arua, in 1904, as an agent of the great Alidina.
“I agree with you, I too don’t think we need to recycle pioneering the interior a hundred years later! Where I now live at the edge of the town I notice several Indian shops have sprung up in petty trading. I hope it’s not sowing the seeds of another expulsion.”
Jaffar reverts to my articles. He says he appreciated the perspective I had given on the oft-quoted statistic that up to half a million people had been liquidated in those years. It was like nearly half of the males in the age group 30-50. He says a Reconciliation Bill is coming to the Parliament in October.
There would then be a multi-year process to collect evidence on abuses of human rights since independence.
“Perhaps we may begin to get a handle on who killed how many during Uganda’s brief history since independence.”
I tell him reconciliation also has to include the Asians to address their remaining grievances and to make them feel welcome back in Uganda. Jaffar agrees straightaway.
“I’d love to be with you if you went to Leicester to speak to Asians there. You know something? I ended up in Leicester in the early 1980s. I used to see these Indians going through the same drive-by ritual on Sundays, except their cars were Jaguars and Rolls-Royces. I used to efface myself in case they wanted to revenge on me for my father.
But I do know they are not like that. Here I speak freely to the returned expellees. All the same, I’d love to go to Leicester with you.” “And Vancouver,” I interject. “Do you know if we brought together 100 from the top of the pile there, we’d have nearly one-half of Uganda’s current GDP under one roof? There are not many left in the relevant age group who may want to come back, but certainly we must try.
The President has often spoken about that.” Jaffar assents. He says with a conspiratorial wink, “My sources tell me your book could be an important contributor in the government’s drive to bring Asians back and attract FDI from all sources? My sources are always right!”
Vali Jamal is an original Ugandan Asian. He has a BA from Cambridge and a PhD from Stanford. He was the Senior Economist at the UN-ILO from 1976 to 2001. His book is called: Ugandan Asians: Then and Now, Here and There, We Contributed, We Contribute. He can be reached at [email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
‘Ugandan Asians: Then and Now’
Vali Jamal
2010-12-02, Issue 508
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/69263
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Vali Jamal writes about his forthcoming book on Ugandan Asians. The book is called ‘Ugandan Asians: Then and Now’ and should be available in July 2011.
The ‘forthcoming’ bit gave me lots of problems as it changed several times. It was going to be a magazine for the Commonwealth Conference in Uganda in November 2007. Prior to that I had done one for the Aga Khan’s Golden Jubilee in August (2007) in ‘three weeks of writing and three days of designing and printing’. So I thought three months should be ample for this effort. Power went off for hours at a time, the designer ran away with the flash one night, the printer took advance money for buying paper and disappeared. I ran around all the print shops on Nkrumah Road. All said sure they could do it, just give us the advance.
The no-show of the magazine spawned a succession of rumours - it was a hoax, I was educationally-challenged, etc. I showed my 66-page manuscript to all and sundry in defence. Then I decided what the heck, I'll do a book and a year should be enough. It was something I had always wanted to do ever since we were expelled in1972. I came back to live in Uganda in 2005 - and that completed the trifecta you have to have to write a book like this: presence in Uganda in1972; return to live there; and…oh, I forgot to say it before, childhood in the 1950s (after that everything changed).
It’s now a 666-page book - and therein lies the story of madness or courage, I think both. The need to be comprehensive of all communities and classes is where the time went. People simply came forth to contribute their stories and I accepted them as that’s what my book was about. It emerged that around a hundred people never left for even a day. All their names are recorded in an honour roll-call and I wrote their stories of hide-and-seek from Amin’s soldiers. I got stories of people who were picked up last-minute by the UNHCR and how their lives were in the refugee camps. Some people trickled in as soon as Amin fell, among them Mehta and Madhvani. From the diaspora countries people sent in accounts of the expulsion. I got accounts of our pioneers from 1860 onwards, how the railway was actually built and how life was in the villages for the dukan-waras - the heroes of the story. There are over a dozen stories of that very special Ugandan childhood and of a dozen or so families that pioneered Canada before 1972. What was the cost of living for one family in Vancouver in 1967 is there.
Is there padding? Well, you’ll judge for yourself! There is archival material on who influenced Amin to drive out the Asians; what did Nixon and Kissinger know about our expulsion; what was said in the British Houses of Parliament; how did the Australians respond (business as usual); how did the Canadians select their intake (done for the first time from the diary of the chief of the Canadian mission). Towards the end is a ‘socio-economic history’ of the Asian saga, including education profiles at different epochs; family size and incomes. There is also information on poverty and income distribution in Uganda at various times. So it’s a researched book.
‘No-one’s gonna read it.’ Well, you just leave it on the coffee table and look at it now and again. It’ll be a lavish production, full colour, with1500 images. If it’s reviewed in scholarly journals and serious newspapers that should be reward enough.
BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
* Vali Jamal, BA Cambridge, PhD Stanford, senior economist, ILO, 1976-2001, www.vivaeastafrica.com, [email protected]
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/69263
Vali Jamal
2010-12-02, Issue 508
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/69263
Bookmark and Share
Printer friendly version
Vali Jamal writes about his forthcoming book on Ugandan Asians. The book is called ‘Ugandan Asians: Then and Now’ and should be available in July 2011.
The ‘forthcoming’ bit gave me lots of problems as it changed several times. It was going to be a magazine for the Commonwealth Conference in Uganda in November 2007. Prior to that I had done one for the Aga Khan’s Golden Jubilee in August (2007) in ‘three weeks of writing and three days of designing and printing’. So I thought three months should be ample for this effort. Power went off for hours at a time, the designer ran away with the flash one night, the printer took advance money for buying paper and disappeared. I ran around all the print shops on Nkrumah Road. All said sure they could do it, just give us the advance.
The no-show of the magazine spawned a succession of rumours - it was a hoax, I was educationally-challenged, etc. I showed my 66-page manuscript to all and sundry in defence. Then I decided what the heck, I'll do a book and a year should be enough. It was something I had always wanted to do ever since we were expelled in1972. I came back to live in Uganda in 2005 - and that completed the trifecta you have to have to write a book like this: presence in Uganda in1972; return to live there; and…oh, I forgot to say it before, childhood in the 1950s (after that everything changed).
It’s now a 666-page book - and therein lies the story of madness or courage, I think both. The need to be comprehensive of all communities and classes is where the time went. People simply came forth to contribute their stories and I accepted them as that’s what my book was about. It emerged that around a hundred people never left for even a day. All their names are recorded in an honour roll-call and I wrote their stories of hide-and-seek from Amin’s soldiers. I got stories of people who were picked up last-minute by the UNHCR and how their lives were in the refugee camps. Some people trickled in as soon as Amin fell, among them Mehta and Madhvani. From the diaspora countries people sent in accounts of the expulsion. I got accounts of our pioneers from 1860 onwards, how the railway was actually built and how life was in the villages for the dukan-waras - the heroes of the story. There are over a dozen stories of that very special Ugandan childhood and of a dozen or so families that pioneered Canada before 1972. What was the cost of living for one family in Vancouver in 1967 is there.
Is there padding? Well, you’ll judge for yourself! There is archival material on who influenced Amin to drive out the Asians; what did Nixon and Kissinger know about our expulsion; what was said in the British Houses of Parliament; how did the Australians respond (business as usual); how did the Canadians select their intake (done for the first time from the diary of the chief of the Canadian mission). Towards the end is a ‘socio-economic history’ of the Asian saga, including education profiles at different epochs; family size and incomes. There is also information on poverty and income distribution in Uganda at various times. So it’s a researched book.
‘No-one’s gonna read it.’ Well, you just leave it on the coffee table and look at it now and again. It’ll be a lavish production, full colour, with1500 images. If it’s reviewed in scholarly journals and serious newspapers that should be reward enough.
BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
* Vali Jamal, BA Cambridge, PhD Stanford, senior economist, ILO, 1976-2001, www.vivaeastafrica.com, [email protected]
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/69263
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/759661
Ugandan Asians: A hundred Asians defied Amin's decree
Thursday, 7th July, 2011
THE story of Idi Amin's expulsion of Ugandan Asians from the country in 1972 has been told and retold several times. A new book by Dr Vali Jamal is another tale of that story, yes, but it proceeds past just telling the story and goes on to investigate and narrate what became of those expelled Asians, Joseph Ssemutooke takes us through the book.
Jamal, who refers to himself as an oligino Uganda Asian, is one of the Ugandan Asians who were expelled by Amin and gives his account in a book. In a preface, Jamal explains his qualifications for writing the book — he was in Uganda in 1972 during the expulsion, that he grew up in Uganda in the late 1940s, and that he came back to live in Uganda. The book's passion derives from that "virtuous triangle."
All through the chaos of the Asians' expulsion, so sure was Dr Jamal that this was history in the making, that he wrote notes and kept copies of the Uganda Argus daily newspaper which he reproduces in the book. He returned in 1982 for the first time, sneaking in from a family wedding in Kisumu, and again he kept notes which he transcribes from.
As Dr Jamal recollects his experiences in Uganda during those times which were awful for Ugandan Asians, we come across the now-legendary Mukwano unrolling to the author the blueprint pages of his proposed industrial complex under the Kibuli Mosque. In the book, Paley Singh, supervising the construction of the Bank of Uganda and Manzoor Alam, Dr Ahmad and Karim Dembe feature at Kololo parties.
In fact Jamal's experiences comprise so little of the book, as it turns out that he has written down stories gathered from very many different sources — newspapers, other people's confessions, name it. From hundreds of stories we see the hard life of the pioneers — the Mehtas, Madhvanis, Vaderas, Mainis, Lakhas, Verjees, Radias, Jamal Ramjis, Sidpras, et al. "Mada" Keshwani starts a bus company with just one vehicle. Haider Somani's father profits hugely from bravely selling sugar in the turbulent times. Dr Mukhtar Ahmad tells of "discovering" oil bubbling out of the ground in western Uganda.
Past fighters for Uganda's independence — Dr MM Patel, Gurdial Singh and Shafique Arain — are represented, as also the current leaders in Canada and UK – Baroness Vadera, Lord Dollar Popat, Senator Mobina Jaffer, Ambassador Nimisha Madhvani and Mumtaz Kassam, two billionaire figure. In addition, Dr Jamal acknowledges the growing role of Africans. He evokes the names of Prince Mwanda, Sam Walusimbi and John Nagenda. The last is a senior media adviser to the President and helped Jamal at his home on Tank Hill to shoot more cricket stories for this book.
New facts emerge. One hundred Asians never left the country following Amin's vicious decree. Dr Jamal records all their names from a list lovingly compiled by Pradip Karia. It is an honour roll-call among Asians, with names of Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Manzoor Alam, Nandlal Karia, Hussein Lira, Karim Dembe, Amir Mukwano, Mohamed Raza Manji and Zul and Mahmood Thobhani at the top of it. Three stories are included of people's experiences in UNHCR camps and eight pages of internal HCR memos.
Stories of over 100 current leaders of the Asian community are here, including a section on the 4G tigers. These are household names for us now – Sudhir, Dembe, Sikander Roofings, Alykhan Mukwano, Manubhai (now late) and Mayur Madhvani and nephews Nitin and Roni, Mahendra Mehta, Shiraz Jamal, Abid and Zahid Alam, Rajni Tailor and son Rishi, Hussein Lira, Kishore Jobanputra and son Mitul, Nandlal Karia and sons Pradip and Minax, Sadru Virani, Taj Kassam, Sadru Jamal, Sheralli Bandalli Jaffer and son Anis, Amir Nathoo, Haider Somani and son Mahmood, Atul Radia and ancestors, Ketan Morjaria, Bharat Gheewala, Jagdish Thakar and son Ashish, Vipul Popat (Tilda). Most of these, in another roll of drums, are recorded as having returned to Uganda soon after the fall of Amin.
The section on Diaspora is like a Who's Who of Asians in the world, headed by two billionaires, the ambassadors. Dr Jamal gives an estimate that the wealth of just the top 75 Uganda Asians in Vancouver would equal the total GDP of Uganda - $15b. He notes with great satisfaction that Uganda's economy now is much more racially diversified. In a major section he tells the stories of African PoIs – People of Influence — Wavamuno, Mulwana, Maggie Kigozi, Henry Kyemba, Christopher Columbus Sembuye, Moses Kigongo, and Habib Kagimu.
The Aga Khan and his uncle UNHCR chief Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan are heroes for resettling Uganda Asians in Canada and 22 other countries. Dr Jamal pays a glowing tribute to Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada at the time. He even records how a hockey game between Canada and USSR may have played a role in Canada's decision to admit such a large number of non-white refugees for the first time. President Museveni is thanked for welcoming back Uganda Asians from the late 1980s.
In the end it is almost a love story – love of one person for his people and their life that was extinguished over a dream. It is a personal book, as Dr Jamal knows each of the 100s of people in it —"after all, we lived within a mile-circle of the Museum Hill until the mid-1950s," Dr Jamal writes.
And it is all well-written in plain and colourful language, sometimes even featuring innovatory of new words. It is also beautifully laid out by Chris Ssegawa a Ugandan designer.
The book itself took 12 years and seven months to come up with. It will be self-published around January next year, in time for the 40th anniversary of the expulsion. But it will cost sh200,000 ($79.99). "It is my four years work, for heaven's sake." Who will buy the book? Dr Jamal projects the demand at just 4,000 copies from a potential world-wide Uganda Asians. Jamal expects the Government to use the book to promote the new image of Uganda. Canadians might be interested to learn how their country became multi-cultural from taking in the Uganda Asians, ditto UK.
As a scholar — and this is scholarly work, make no mistake about it – Dr Jamal hopes his book meets with critical acclaim at least to justify his long absence from his unable daughter.
Ugandan Asians: A hundred Asians defied Amin's decree
Thursday, 7th July, 2011
THE story of Idi Amin's expulsion of Ugandan Asians from the country in 1972 has been told and retold several times. A new book by Dr Vali Jamal is another tale of that story, yes, but it proceeds past just telling the story and goes on to investigate and narrate what became of those expelled Asians, Joseph Ssemutooke takes us through the book.
Jamal, who refers to himself as an oligino Uganda Asian, is one of the Ugandan Asians who were expelled by Amin and gives his account in a book. In a preface, Jamal explains his qualifications for writing the book — he was in Uganda in 1972 during the expulsion, that he grew up in Uganda in the late 1940s, and that he came back to live in Uganda. The book's passion derives from that "virtuous triangle."
All through the chaos of the Asians' expulsion, so sure was Dr Jamal that this was history in the making, that he wrote notes and kept copies of the Uganda Argus daily newspaper which he reproduces in the book. He returned in 1982 for the first time, sneaking in from a family wedding in Kisumu, and again he kept notes which he transcribes from.
As Dr Jamal recollects his experiences in Uganda during those times which were awful for Ugandan Asians, we come across the now-legendary Mukwano unrolling to the author the blueprint pages of his proposed industrial complex under the Kibuli Mosque. In the book, Paley Singh, supervising the construction of the Bank of Uganda and Manzoor Alam, Dr Ahmad and Karim Dembe feature at Kololo parties.
In fact Jamal's experiences comprise so little of the book, as it turns out that he has written down stories gathered from very many different sources — newspapers, other people's confessions, name it. From hundreds of stories we see the hard life of the pioneers — the Mehtas, Madhvanis, Vaderas, Mainis, Lakhas, Verjees, Radias, Jamal Ramjis, Sidpras, et al. "Mada" Keshwani starts a bus company with just one vehicle. Haider Somani's father profits hugely from bravely selling sugar in the turbulent times. Dr Mukhtar Ahmad tells of "discovering" oil bubbling out of the ground in western Uganda.
Past fighters for Uganda's independence — Dr MM Patel, Gurdial Singh and Shafique Arain — are represented, as also the current leaders in Canada and UK – Baroness Vadera, Lord Dollar Popat, Senator Mobina Jaffer, Ambassador Nimisha Madhvani and Mumtaz Kassam, two billionaire figure. In addition, Dr Jamal acknowledges the growing role of Africans. He evokes the names of Prince Mwanda, Sam Walusimbi and John Nagenda. The last is a senior media adviser to the President and helped Jamal at his home on Tank Hill to shoot more cricket stories for this book.
New facts emerge. One hundred Asians never left the country following Amin's vicious decree. Dr Jamal records all their names from a list lovingly compiled by Pradip Karia. It is an honour roll-call among Asians, with names of Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Manzoor Alam, Nandlal Karia, Hussein Lira, Karim Dembe, Amir Mukwano, Mohamed Raza Manji and Zul and Mahmood Thobhani at the top of it. Three stories are included of people's experiences in UNHCR camps and eight pages of internal HCR memos.
Stories of over 100 current leaders of the Asian community are here, including a section on the 4G tigers. These are household names for us now – Sudhir, Dembe, Sikander Roofings, Alykhan Mukwano, Manubhai (now late) and Mayur Madhvani and nephews Nitin and Roni, Mahendra Mehta, Shiraz Jamal, Abid and Zahid Alam, Rajni Tailor and son Rishi, Hussein Lira, Kishore Jobanputra and son Mitul, Nandlal Karia and sons Pradip and Minax, Sadru Virani, Taj Kassam, Sadru Jamal, Sheralli Bandalli Jaffer and son Anis, Amir Nathoo, Haider Somani and son Mahmood, Atul Radia and ancestors, Ketan Morjaria, Bharat Gheewala, Jagdish Thakar and son Ashish, Vipul Popat (Tilda). Most of these, in another roll of drums, are recorded as having returned to Uganda soon after the fall of Amin.
The section on Diaspora is like a Who's Who of Asians in the world, headed by two billionaires, the ambassadors. Dr Jamal gives an estimate that the wealth of just the top 75 Uganda Asians in Vancouver would equal the total GDP of Uganda - $15b. He notes with great satisfaction that Uganda's economy now is much more racially diversified. In a major section he tells the stories of African PoIs – People of Influence — Wavamuno, Mulwana, Maggie Kigozi, Henry Kyemba, Christopher Columbus Sembuye, Moses Kigongo, and Habib Kagimu.
The Aga Khan and his uncle UNHCR chief Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan are heroes for resettling Uganda Asians in Canada and 22 other countries. Dr Jamal pays a glowing tribute to Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada at the time. He even records how a hockey game between Canada and USSR may have played a role in Canada's decision to admit such a large number of non-white refugees for the first time. President Museveni is thanked for welcoming back Uganda Asians from the late 1980s.
In the end it is almost a love story – love of one person for his people and their life that was extinguished over a dream. It is a personal book, as Dr Jamal knows each of the 100s of people in it —"after all, we lived within a mile-circle of the Museum Hill until the mid-1950s," Dr Jamal writes.
And it is all well-written in plain and colourful language, sometimes even featuring innovatory of new words. It is also beautifully laid out by Chris Ssegawa a Ugandan designer.
The book itself took 12 years and seven months to come up with. It will be self-published around January next year, in time for the 40th anniversary of the expulsion. But it will cost sh200,000 ($79.99). "It is my four years work, for heaven's sake." Who will buy the book? Dr Jamal projects the demand at just 4,000 copies from a potential world-wide Uganda Asians. Jamal expects the Government to use the book to promote the new image of Uganda. Canadians might be interested to learn how their country became multi-cultural from taking in the Uganda Asians, ditto UK.
As a scholar — and this is scholarly work, make no mistake about it – Dr Jamal hopes his book meets with critical acclaim at least to justify his long absence from his unable daughter.
05 September 2011
Vali Jamal, Uganda Asian book @ September 5, 2011
http://vivaeastafrica.blogspot.com/2011 ... ember.html
Just sometimes I ask myself: Did I do all this? Is that how your 3.10 years went?
Yes, I did it, and all alone. Of the 3.10 years you have to subtract 25% for power down, 10% for slow internet speeds, and 5% for illnesses affecting designer person. At the same time I wrote many articles for the papers, I wrote 3 screenplays of Hollywood quality and I prepared the basis of a 90-min videomenatary about the expulsion. Of my 13/7 day 2 hours went in answering emails, 2 hours on 4 different Facebook forums, and 1.20 hours on this blog - all to keep the book in public view. Sometimes I get into commenting on public sites when I have something useful to say.
So that's where my time went, my dear family.
I am "six stories short of finishing the writing." Has it been like that all along? Yes, but now it's to ensure I don't miss people here in Uganda and keep the communal balances justified.
Writing wasn't "90% of the work"; publishing was. There are public-spirited people out there who'll get us over that hurdle. If not there's always e-publish. God willing, we shall have something in hand to show at the 40th Anniversary Reunion at the 5-star Speke Resort, Munyonyo, by the Lake Victoria in August 2012.
Everything happens with God's blessings, family's love and people's goodwill.
Vali Jamal, Uganda Asian book @ September 5, 2011
http://vivaeastafrica.blogspot.com/2011 ... ember.html
Just sometimes I ask myself: Did I do all this? Is that how your 3.10 years went?
Yes, I did it, and all alone. Of the 3.10 years you have to subtract 25% for power down, 10% for slow internet speeds, and 5% for illnesses affecting designer person. At the same time I wrote many articles for the papers, I wrote 3 screenplays of Hollywood quality and I prepared the basis of a 90-min videomenatary about the expulsion. Of my 13/7 day 2 hours went in answering emails, 2 hours on 4 different Facebook forums, and 1.20 hours on this blog - all to keep the book in public view. Sometimes I get into commenting on public sites when I have something useful to say.
So that's where my time went, my dear family.
I am "six stories short of finishing the writing." Has it been like that all along? Yes, but now it's to ensure I don't miss people here in Uganda and keep the communal balances justified.
Writing wasn't "90% of the work"; publishing was. There are public-spirited people out there who'll get us over that hurdle. If not there's always e-publish. God willing, we shall have something in hand to show at the 40th Anniversary Reunion at the 5-star Speke Resort, Munyonyo, by the Lake Victoria in August 2012.
Everything happens with God's blessings, family's love and people's goodwill.
AS received
Vali Jamal, Kenya citizen,Uganda resident 1946 to date; BA Cambridge 1964, Assistant Secretary, Uganda Ministry of Commerce and Industry 1964-67; PhD Stanford 1976 (data collected at Makerere 1972); Senior Economist, UN-ILO 1976-2001. Author: UGANDA ASIANS: Then and Now, Here and There, We Contributed, We Contribute. 2440 pages,10,000 images, "2m words-equivalent". A4 size, landscapeformat, total weight 11.9kg, 75 books = 1 cubic m = 1 ton.
COMPLETION DATE Oct 15, 2018 =11.6yrs in writing May 2007-Oct 2018. Publication Uganda Mar 2019, followed by UK and Canada, in a limited, numbered and autographed edition, $145 in Uganda; $175 delivered rest of the world.
Cost: US$220,000 - book only; equipment (2005 desktop, no printer, no generator); 25 digital prints periodically;1 designer ($15 per day), 2 workers. No rent as done from home.
Finances: DONATIONS (US$70k so far from 33 people), PREORDERS (75 books from 30 people), own SAVINGS and ASSISTS from FAMILY.
DONATIONS AND PREORDERS WILL BE PRIORITIZED.
Highlights: >400stories of expulsion + pioneers. >50 stories of Ugandan Africans in exile. >Economy - aggregate and inequality. >Socio-economic trends. >Archival research from Ugandan,UK, Canada and UNHCR documents and people’s books.
Endorsements (out of >22): "A national asset in Uganda's commercial diplomacy."- HE President Museveni. || “Encyclopedic, unequalled, an intellectual asset.” – Professor Mondo Kagonyera,Chancellor of Makerere University, now of Kabale University. || "A contribution to Uganda's Intellectual GDP." - Governor of Bank of Uganda Professor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile.|| "One man's labour of love for his community." - Professor Dharam Ghai.
Myself: >>Took long, to be comprehensive of all Uganda Asian communities and economic classes.<< >>Could not have been done in any shorter time and can never be repeated.<<
Vali Jamal, Kenya citizen,Uganda resident 1946 to date; BA Cambridge 1964, Assistant Secretary, Uganda Ministry of Commerce and Industry 1964-67; PhD Stanford 1976 (data collected at Makerere 1972); Senior Economist, UN-ILO 1976-2001. Author: UGANDA ASIANS: Then and Now, Here and There, We Contributed, We Contribute. 2440 pages,10,000 images, "2m words-equivalent". A4 size, landscapeformat, total weight 11.9kg, 75 books = 1 cubic m = 1 ton.
COMPLETION DATE Oct 15, 2018 =11.6yrs in writing May 2007-Oct 2018. Publication Uganda Mar 2019, followed by UK and Canada, in a limited, numbered and autographed edition, $145 in Uganda; $175 delivered rest of the world.
Cost: US$220,000 - book only; equipment (2005 desktop, no printer, no generator); 25 digital prints periodically;1 designer ($15 per day), 2 workers. No rent as done from home.
Finances: DONATIONS (US$70k so far from 33 people), PREORDERS (75 books from 30 people), own SAVINGS and ASSISTS from FAMILY.
DONATIONS AND PREORDERS WILL BE PRIORITIZED.
Highlights: >400stories of expulsion + pioneers. >50 stories of Ugandan Africans in exile. >Economy - aggregate and inequality. >Socio-economic trends. >Archival research from Ugandan,UK, Canada and UNHCR documents and people’s books.
Endorsements (out of >22): "A national asset in Uganda's commercial diplomacy."- HE President Museveni. || “Encyclopedic, unequalled, an intellectual asset.” – Professor Mondo Kagonyera,Chancellor of Makerere University, now of Kabale University. || "A contribution to Uganda's Intellectual GDP." - Governor of Bank of Uganda Professor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile.|| "One man's labour of love for his community." - Professor Dharam Ghai.
Myself: >>Took long, to be comprehensive of all Uganda Asian communities and economic classes.<< >>Could not have been done in any shorter time and can never be repeated.<<