Ugandan refugee family arrives

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33068, 8 November 1972, Page 18

Ugandan refugee family arrives

GVew Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 7. Eight suitcases, two hold-alls, a pushchair, and just over $lOO in cash—these were the total possessions of the first Ugandan Asian family to arrive in Auckland today under the Government’s immigration quota.

It is not much with which to start a new life in a new country — but Mr Avinash Ganesh Debhakta. aged 36. was counting his blessings. "We have been extremely fortunate,” he said, after arriving with his wife and two children, Vinay, aged four, and Kavita, aged one, at Auckland Airport “I have a job, the firm has arranged accommodation, and we already have relatives in New Zealand.”

Mr Deobhakta. a barrister, has been privately sponsored by the Auckland legal firm of .Hesketh and Richmond, who will employ him as a legal i executive. A chance meeting in Uganda with one of the firm’s partners, Mr C. R. Pidgeon, led to the offer of employment. Last December Mr Pidgeon attended a meeting of the Commonwealth Legal Bureau in Uganda on behalf of the New Zealand Law Society. He met the Deobhaktas when he was invited to their

home for a meal, and was able to assist when Mr Deobhakta came to New Zealand last August to arrange employment and accommodation for his family. “I saw the writing on the wall when a census of Asians was held in November last year,” said Mr Deobhakta today. A partner in a legal firm in Uganda, he was formerly principal State attorney and chief magistrate in Soroti. The family left Uganda on October 9, and spent two weeks in Britain before going to India for 10 days. They flew to New Zealand from Bombay. Mr Deobhakta said he had handed over his house to friends, who would sell it, but he did not know what would happen to the proceeds. Many of the family’s personal belongings had been left behind in Uganda, although he had some finance in a British bank. Mr Deobhakta’s brother is a gynaecologist at the Hawera General Hospital.

Asked what he thought of the New Zealand Government’s decision to restrict entry of Ugandan Asians to 200 highly qualified immigrants, Mr Deobhakta said: “Perhaps the New Zealand Government should have extended its generosity to the 12,000 people who were stateless, and had no place to go to. “Most of them have now been accepted by other countries — Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria — but many of these people would have been a tremendous asset to New Zealand.”

Asked why Ugandan refugees appeared to show little interest in coming to New Zealand, Mr Deobhakta said: "The reason is simple. The New Zealand Government decided that every person who wanted to come here had to go to Britain, and apply from there. It was such an illusory promise. Most of them took their chances and went to Australia or Canada. These countries carried out medicals and applications in Uganda. “There might have been a greater response to New Zealand’s invitation if New Zealand had had officials in Uganda to do the processing — or if it had asked other countries to do it for them.”