Neema Shah’s narrative suggests that these “us and them” attitudes were also evident within Uganda. Asha and Vijay are offered jobs far below their skill level but even then face accusations they are taking work away from established residents. Ordinary families open up their homes to the refugees but the jobs market is not so accommodating. When the family does eventually reach Britain, they encounter a perplexing mix of prejudice and hospitality. “We helped them build this country up, made Britain wealthy too, but they’ve forgotten all that commonwealth business now.,” says Pran. First by Uganda, the country they considered to be home, and then Britain, the country who had once needed them to create the Empire’s railways. The families forced to flee Uganda feel doubly rejected. Kololo Hill is a novel about displacement and betrayal. Perhaps it was her destiny never to live one life through to the end, to keep beginning new ones, never belonging anywhere.

How could she start all over again? Her life was like the lines on her hand: new paths, some that faded to nothing, others that were forged hard into her palm. The challenges of learning a new language, strange new customs, the damp, mouldy accommodation and the cold that penetrates their thin clothing. The second part of the novel then relates their experiences as refugees in Britain.

But they are left with no option other than flight when soldiers begin looting homes and businesses. As the deadline gets closer, the tensions within the family escalate with differing and strongly held views about how what action to take. It will be impossible for them to settle somewhere else as a family because they have different passports and rights of access to different countries. They also fear they will lose each other. Yet if they leave they will lose the family business - a source not just of income but of pride. Uganda is their home but if they stay they will be rounded up and killed. To Stay Is To Dieīut Amin’s decree puts them in an impossible position. They live on Kololo Hill, the city’s most desirable suburb, and enjoy the friendship of many other successful Asian business people. Their dukan (a general store) is doing well. Newly weds Pran and Asha Pran’s mother Jaya and younger brother Vijay have until now enjoyed a comfortable life in Kampala. They can take little with them - all their property and their money will henceforth belong to the government. A night time curfew is in force and soldiers patrol the streets of the Ugandan capital, Kampala.įear turns to panic when Amin issues a decree expelling all Ugandan Asians within ninety days. Rumours abound of bodies dumped in rivers. The book begins in 1972 when Idi Amin is tightening his grip on power, eliminating anyone who dares to criticise his regime. One of the most notorious events in recent African history is given a human face in Neema Shah’s debut novel Kololo Hill.

Kololo hill by neema shah