Kalwant Ajimal was born and bred in Kampala, Uganda and went to school at Kampala’s prestigious Kololo Secondary School. He then went on to complete his first degree at Makerere University, also based in Kampala.
The former British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar attracted substantial Asian ( now often termed as South Asians) migration. When the British left, new policies relating employment and trade were introduced. They were designed to offer business opportunities and regular access to employment to the indigenous Africans. The Wahindi felt threatened.
The Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is said to have expelled 90,000 Asians in 1972. The wahindi in Kenya also considered themselves to be under threat although a substantial number had left the country in 1968 when new work permit systems were introduced. The squeeze on employment permits for Asians in Kenya was matched by immigration quotas by Britain, fearing a massive Asian influx into the UK.
This blog on the new Wahindi covers the lives, thoughts and experinces of Asians from all parts of Africa but those from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will tend to dominate the agenda, wherever they may be living now.
