When I was a child in Uganda my father owned a bike business and the family lived a comfortable life. Until Idi Amin came to power. All Ugandan Asians were given three months to leave the country. We left on the last plane to Pakistan and became stateless as we did not have passports. A year later my grandmother, who lived in the UK, became ill and my father tried to bring us to the UK. We travelled through Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and finally Austria, where we were accepted as refugees. We lived in a refugee camp for two years. My father applied to live in England but was rejected; Sweden agreed to take us.

As the first migrants to the small town of Trollhättan virtually everything we did made the local newspaper! I started formal education aged 11, progressing to university. Every summer we came to England to visit family and I eventually settled here.

My experiences led me into working to help others. I started as an advice and advocacy worker for the Asian Welfare Association and for the last twenty years I have worked for St. Mary’s Church and Community Centre. I can’t leave Sheffield, it’s always been good to me.

St. Mary’s Church and Community Centre