Businessman Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia has reflected on his family’s deep-rooted history in Uganda, recalling his childhood in Kasese, where he grew up surrounded by wildlife, and the circumstances that forced his family to leave the country during the 1972 expulsion of Asians.
Speaking during a conversation with Pan African Pyramid’s Andrew Irumba Katusabe at Crane Chambers, Ruparelia shared memories of his family’s more than 100-year connection to East Africa, describing himself as a fourth-generation Ugandan.
He explained that his great-grandfather first arrived in Mombasa in 1897 before the family eventually settled in Uganda. His father was born in Kampala in 1932, while Ruparelia himself was born at Nakasero Hospital in 1956. He noted that his own children were also born in Uganda, emphasizing the family’s longstanding generational ties to the country.
Looking back on his early years, Ruparelia said he grew up in Katwe-Kabatoro in Kasese District, close to Queen Elizabeth National Park, where encounters with wild animals were a normal part of everyday life. He recalled regularly seeing elephants, lions, buffaloes, hippos, and antelopes roaming near residential areas.
According to Ruparelia, elephants would occasionally wander into the family’s compound at night in search of food scraps. He remembered one incident when his mother was away and no meal had been prepared. Finding no food in the rubbish, the elephants reportedly became restless and damaged part of the family’s home.
He also narrated a memorable experience while travelling through the national park in his father’s Volkswagen. During the journey, the vehicle unexpectedly stalled in front of a pride of nearly twenty lions. The family remained stranded for a tense moment before the engine restarted, allowing them to drive away safely.
Despite living so close to wildlife, Ruparelia described his upbringing as comfortable and firmly middle-class. His family owned a retail shop and petrol station in Kabatoro and placed great importance on education. He began boarding school in Kampala at the age of five, later studied in Jinja between 1966 and 1970, before returning to Kampala to continue his secondary education.
His education, however, was abruptly interrupted in 1972 when then-President Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of Asians from Uganda, giving them just 90 days to leave the country. Ruparelia said he remained in Uganda almost until the deadline expired, even as many other families departed much earlier.
He admitted that leaving was an extremely difficult decision because Uganda was the only country he had ever known, and he held a Ugandan passport. The thought of starting life elsewhere was emotionally overwhelming.
On November 5, 1972, at the age of 16, Ruparelia finally left Uganda. He said he used part of the approximately Shs300,000 his parents had left behind to purchase his own ticket. He also used some of the money to help other families who could not afford to leave, including assisting one family of five with their travel expenses.
That departure marked the beginning of his years in exile. After rebuilding his life in the United Kingdom, Ruparelia eventually returned to Uganda, where he went on to establish one of East Africa’s largest and most diversified business empires.