On Saturday 29 October 2022, The Beehive hosted a celebration and camp reunion for the 50th Anniversary of British Ugandan Asians’ arrival at Heathfield Resettlement Camp in Honiton.
In August 1972, Uganda’s president Idi Amin ordered all Asians living in the country to leave within 90 days. About 27,000 fled to the UK and were placed in temporary military camps across the country.
1,800 people were housed at Honiton’s Heathfield camp and many people from the local area volunteered there.
Watch Ugandan Asians at Heathfield Camp online – BFI Player
Celebration and camp reunion at The Beehive
The exhibition at The Beehive opened at 10am with the formal welcome in the auditorium at 11am. It was a wonderful celebration. Along with an exhibition in the gallery at The Beehive, there was dancing, African drumming, singing and food.
It was lovely to see and meet so many lovely people and hear their extraordinary stories.
Thank you to everyone involved who made it a successful day. It was an honour to be part of it.
Ugandan Journeys is a three-series set of video programmes documenting the stories of British volunteers who aided the Asian migrants forced to leave Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972/3. The programmes further include testimonies from residents and people who worked in the camps. You can hear their stories on youtube here.