Two weeks after my letter to Smith, I received a copy of a letter he sent to the then commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. I did not want to take the easy way out, marrying her to gain American citizenship I was in love with an Iowan (we have now been happily married for 47 years). I wanted to become a CPA (there was a shortage of CPAs in this country).I had completed college in eight quarters, graduating top of my class.I was over 21 and could not join my family as a dependent in the U.K.
I reached out to Congressman Neal Smith, explaining my dilemma: Unfortunately, my request for political asylum was denied as I was “already in this country.” I found out that the United States was going to take in a small number of Indian refugees from Uganda. In the meantime, I knew my Uganda passport was going to expire and I needed to seek political asylum in the United States. I rushed through college, working my way to fund my education. I was born in the capital city of Kampala, as was my father and his father. Uganda had been part of the British Empire until its independence in 1962. The British had originally brought the Indians to build a railroad in East Africa. because that country was the first to offer the Indians asylum. I was now accepting the reality of being a man without a country and not having a nickel to my name. I was already in this country attending Iowa State University expecting to return home and become involved in the family businesses.Īll of a sudden, I was no longer receiving the generous monthly allowance from my father. President Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of Indians from their homeland of Uganda even though many of them, like my family, had been there for three or four generations. – Chris Conetzkey, publisher of the Business Record
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