A WW2 Army base in Wales became a safe haven for refugees fleeing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 1970s and they were shown such kindness by Welsh people, one displaced grandmother wanted to adopt one local.
The detritus of the camp still remians in Tonfanau, Gwynedd, and the story features in the ITV documentary, Vanished Wales. Back in October 1972, more than 1,300 men, women and children arrived at the Welsh camp after Amin threatened the Asian population in Uganda that if they didn't leave there'd be consequences.
Chandrika Joshi was one of those people and was aged 14 at the time. She appears on the show to talk about her experiences, both fleeing Uganda and coming to Wales.
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"We started hearing of people being beaten up, people being killed, Army checkpoints everywhere including where we lived. That time was quite traumatic," she said. On arriving in the UK she recalled: “I could see the relief on my father’s and mother’s faces - ‘Wow, we made it’ he said." Chandrika settled in Wales while many others were offered homes around the UK.
The local community wasn't backwards in coming forwards with helping out the Ugandan families who were braving their first Welsh winter after leaving Uganda. Margretta Young-Jones was one of the hundreds of volunteers, who remembers the time well and offered to lend a hand. "I went up every night to see them. One of the Ugandan ladies spoke a little bit of English.
"She was a grandmother and wanted to make me her daughter because there was nothing they could give us for being so kind towards them," remembered Margretta. "And that was the greatest honour she could do was adopt me as her daughter. They were such lovely people."
Vanished Wales airs at 7pm on Fridays on ITV Wales. You can also catch up with the series here: www.itv.com/walesprogrammes.
