Shantilal Chunilal Baxi

By Mayur Baxi

My father Shantilal Chunilal Baxi was born in Jamnagar, Gujarat in India on 22 February 1909. After getting this BA, LLB degree, he moved to Jinja in Uganda in 1934 to join his father.

During World War Two, all the Indians in the region were made to enrol with the reserve army. During this time locals were not allowed to come out during the night curfew.

My father was also part of the reserve army. Alongside many other Indians, he had to help with the maintenance of soldiers’ living quarters. This included jobs like collecting human waste, which was deposited in buckets at night and dumped into trucks. This is why they would often wear masks, as pictured. Indians were made to do the ‘dirty', low skilled jobs.

After Ugandan independence my father was awarded a simple medal by the British government for his services to the community and Britain.

Such stories are often untold or overlooked but little recognition and appreciation is given to men like my father, without whom the world wars would’ve been an even bigger struggle for service personnel.