A Fresh Start

On former military bases now converted into refugee centers across Britain, thousands of Asians from Uganda last week wound up their ten-day celebration of Navratri, a Hindu festival of songs, prayer chants and dances in honor of an ancient war victory by the god Rama over the demons of the underworld. The incense and joss sticks were often lit at makeshift shrines on card tables, and the traditional ornate, hand-painted dancing sticks were replaced by plain wood dowels. Displaced and dispossessed, the refugees nonetheless found abundant reason to celebrate. Said one technical engineer, who arrived in London with his wife and seven children: "We are here. We are safe. We are very happy."

So far, 18,000 Asians of British citizenship have landed in England from Uganda as a result of General Idi Amin Dada's expulsion order. Several thousand more are resettling in Canada, India and some 27 other countries. The assets they have left behind, with little hope of full compensation, are estimated to be worth more than a billion dollars. Despite rumors of wealth secreted in Britain and Switzerland, many of the refugees have arrived, as one British social worker observed, "with only what they can stand up in."

As they left the Ugandan airport of Entebbe, the refugees said, they could see rows of their cargo crates still stacked beside the runway. Some of the crates had already been opened, exposed to the weather and carefully plucked over like boxes of fruit. Because they feared searches at roadblocks and airport customs, the refugees carried with them only the barest of personal belongings, often chosen in haste: a tennis racket, tape recorder, kitchen clock or guitar. Sakaria Rajendra, a student, wore 20 elephant-hair bracelets to give to people in England. One family, luckier than most, smuggled out a diamond valued at $10,000.

In Uganda, nearly all of the Asians had been prosperous (they are estimated to have controlled 80% of Uganda's economy). But still they complain remarkably little about their drastically diminished status. "Actually," says an engineer, "I was going to come earlier. The only difference is that I would have had some money and now I am penniless." Smiles an ex-merchant from Kampala: "The only thing I miss is my Citroen."

Family reunions are curiously without tears. A university student in a pinstriped suit awaits his father, a well-to-do Ugandan architect who will probably not qualify to practice in England. What are his emotions about this turn in the family's fortunes? "It's a bloody inconvenience," he replies. Adds a restaurant owner from Kampala: "There is no big problem. You only have to begin from scratch, work and earn, and slowly, slowly everything will be all right."

Though some of the refugees say that difficulties and harassment in Uganda have subsided, there are still occasional reports of random terror. One father arrived in London only to receive a call telling him that his son, after driving him to the Ugandan airport, had been stopped by soldiers and slowly cut to death with machete-like panga knives. A businessman said that he left hurriedly after both his partners in a gas-station chain were stopped while carrying the week's receipts into Kampala, put into the trunk of a car and driven to a village where they were hanged.

Britons Approve. Such excesses have helped make Amin Public Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of most Britons --and created some sympathy for the arriving Asians. Last week Amin called British High Commissioner Richard Slater into his office before live TV cameras and accused him of plotting against the Ugandan government; London angrily recalled its representative. Most Britons, according to a recent Harris poll, approve of Prime Minister Edward Heath's firm commitment to absorb the refugees.

Still, the Asians must find jobs in one of the worst and most prolonged periods of unemployment in Britain's postwar history. Before the influx, there were already 600,000 Asians in the country. Their coexistence with vocal pockets of racism was at best an uneasy one, and there were fears that the situation might be exacerbated by the new immigrants. Some quarters of the Asian community have rallied round, however. A group of prominent East African Asians already established in Britain have quietly assembled investment capital to assist the refugees in rebuilding their fortunes. They are urging them to avoid areas where there are already large Asian communities. Says Praful Patel, a business consultant who serves on the government-appointed Resettlement Board: "If they want to make a success of themselves in Britain, they have got to try to integrate as quickly as possible and avoid making little ghettos."

The path to integration has been somewhat eased--and their welcome made a little warmer--by new estimates that only some 26,000 Asians, instead of the 30,000 to 50,000 refugees originally expected, will immigrate to Britain. Even so, there will probably be another 5,000 Asians left behind, and they are the unluckiest of all. They earlier rejected British passports in favor of Ugandan citizenship, which has been arbitrarily revoked by Amin. They are now stateless. Britain has declined to consider restoring them to citizenship, and has referred their case to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. But there is growing concern whether any international body can act swiftly enough to save them from being further victimized.

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