Project contributors share the story of forced migration of Asian people and celebrate their resilience in Wales.
Welsh-Asian people celebrated their heritage at the launch of the ‘Migration to Resilience’ exhibition.
Project staff and contributors share the story of forced migration of Asian people from Uganda which is on display at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay.
Baharti Dhir, a contributor said, “This exhibition is really to explain to people how easy it is for one person to have so much power over so many families. Nobody leaves their country with free will. Our life was in Uganda, we never dreamed leaving. People need to understand that history keeps repeating itself.”
The Welsh Asian Heritage project organised the exhibition to highlight how Asian people built new communities and regained stability in Wales.
Madhu Jethwa said, “It’s really important; my husband is from Uganda, and it’s brought back a lot of memories. It’s important to teach our children what we went through and how we came and how we settled. It was very hard.”
Baharti Dhir said, “We had 90 days to leave the country, we weren’t allowed to take any money with us and only one or two suitcases. Everyone had their car taken except one taxi driver who helped us leave the country.”
Vimla Patel said, “It was a big struggle. I was expecting a baby at the time. We had no money and no food.”
The exhibition is made up of a collection of photos which displays notable moments, a screen which plays videos of personal stories and a stand of possessions that people kept close to them while migrating to Wales.
The project team created a book which discusses the Uganda Asian story and explores case studies and stories from contributors.
Baharti Dhir said, “This is educational and informational, and I want it to bring home to people that something like this could happened to anyone at any time because it could.”
The exhibition is on display until the 19th December at the Senedd Oriel.