![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/ugandan-asian-refugees-on-life-at-stradishall-refugee-camp/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/127486174_gettyimages-1410848871.jpg&description=Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Between September 1972 and March 1973, more than 27,000 refugees arrived in the UKFifty years ago President Idi Amin gave Ugandan Asians just 90 days to flee the country.Between September 1972 and March 1973, more than 27,000 refugees arrived in the UK, with the first 2,000 being housed initially at a camp at RAF Stradishall between Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds, before moving to settle in other parts of the UK.To mark the anniversary, an oral history project entitled British Ugandan Asians at 50 has gathered the stories of some of those who arrived at the camp as well as the volunteers who worked there. The BBC has used some of these resources to tell their experiences of life at the Suffolk resettlement centre. Image caption, Prof Akbar Vohra says small acts of kindness can make a differenceProf Akbar Vohra was a young boy when he arrived at Stradishall on 27 September 1972 along with his parents, brother and two sisters.The Ugandan Asian refugees were forced by the Amin government to leave all their valuables and money in Uganda, taking just one suitcase per person and £55. "My mother was told to leave the doors open so people could go in and take what they wanted," he said."Obviously I got strip-searched when we were at the airport. Obviously they were looking for valuables. "Personally I just had a little blue marble and a magnet which I still have somewhere, it was my prize possession.""Two or three things I can remember - getting off the plane, still in shorts, my knees were knocking as I got off the plane thinking wow this is cold," he said.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Refugees were transported by coach from Stansted Airport to the resettlement campHe remembers being "really pleased" to be given given a coat from the "piles and piles of clothes" in the administrative building at Stradishall. "I loved the boiled eggs that they were doing, and eggs in general. I can't remember the other food really. It doesn){kind=link}
Fifty years ago President Idi Amin gave Ugandan Asians just 90 days to flee the country.
Between September 1972 and March 1973, more than 27,000 refugees arrived in the UK, with the first 2,000 being housed initially at a camp at RAF Stradishall between Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds, before moving to settle in other parts of the UK.
To mark the anniversary, an oral history project entitled British Ugandan Asians at 50 has gathered the stories of some of those who arrived at the camp as well as the volunteers who worked there.
The BBC has used some of these resources to tell their experiences of life at the Suffolk resettlement centre.
Prof Akbar Vohra was a young boy when he arrived at Stradishall on 27 September 1972 along with his parents, brother and two sisters.