World Refugee Day: ‘I am proud to be the son of a refugee’

Cllr Raj Khiroya, a former Chair of Three Rivers District Council and current councillor for the Chorleywood South and Maple Cross ward, was studying in London when he found out his father and his brother were captured for ransom by the Ugandan military. His family had to drop everything and work multiple jobs to ensure his father and brother were freed and sought safe passage to Britain.

For World Refugee Day (Friday 20 June) – a day that celebrates and honours people who had to leave their home countries to escape conflict or persecution - Cllr Khiroya spoke to the council’s Senior News and Communications Officer, James Bagley, about life in Uganda before Idi Amin’s infamous order, his family’s ordeal and what World Refugee Day means to him.

Cllr Khiroya said: “Unfortunately, due to the political situation in Uganda in 1972, I could not return back. Uganda was, once upon a time, my home and England was where I came to study. Suddenly, England became my home, and Uganda was where my family were stuck.

“World Refugee Day is something that we must recognise and understand why these people were uprooted in the first place. We must understand that everyone has a story and has their own way of expressing themselves. I am proud to say that I am the son of a refugee.”