For what it’s worth: Howard Grace meets Bharti Dhir

8 Jun 2023 | by Howard Grace

‘A remarkable testimony to the resilience of the human spirit.’

Mum’s refusal to leave me behind made me feel so precious. I was overwhelmed at the feeling of being truly valued, truly loved, and that I was worth dying for. | Photo: courtesy of Bharti Dhir

When she was twelve years old, Bharti Dhir was expelled from Uganda, along with many other Asians, by Idi Amin. She faced many other challenges in her childhood, any of which could have broken her. As a baby, she was abandoned at a roadside in the Ugandan heat, and was miraculously found by a passer-by. Of Punjabi-Sikh heritage, she experienced sexism and racism, and developed an incurable skin condition. In 1972, when her adoptive family were forced to flee to the UK, they were moved to a camp at Greenham Common with 1,600 others. More challenges and discrimination followed. In March, Bharti visited us at Newbury Meeting. Forty people, with a wide diversity of worldviews, came to our small Meeting house for the occasion.

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