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Like Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, this little girl and her family fled Uganda following Idi Amin's rise to power .
UNHCR/ W. Van de Linde/ 1972

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Profession:Journalist, Broadcaster
Country of Origin:Uganda
Country of Asylum:United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Date of birth:10 December 1949

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown left Uganda for the United Kingdom in 1972 following Idi Amin's rise to power and the subsequent expulsion of all Ugandan Asians from the country. In her adopted country she has become a leading writer and commentator on race relations.

Alibhai-Brown did a masters degree in literature at Oxford University and went on to teach adults, particularly immigrants and refugees. She has worked as a journalist for The Guardian, New Statesman and other newspapers. She is now a regular columnist for The Independent, and has also made her mark as a radio and television broadcaster.

Since 1996, she has been a Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research. In June 1999, she became a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre. In the same year, she received an honorary degree from the Open University for contributions to social justice and won the BBC TV Asia award for her writing.

Alibhai-Brown is a member of the British government's Home Office Race Forum, and advises various key institutions on race matters. Her articles on forced marriages and the maltreatment of Asian girls in Britain by their families made the government take up the issue. Since then, she has been working with ministers on numerous matters affecting the Asian community.

She has written several books, including "No Place Like Home", an autobiographical account of an immigrant's experience, and "True Colours", which investigates the role of the government on racial attitudes. Her latest works, "Who Do We Think We Are?" and "After Multiculturalism", both critical analyses of British society, race and ethnicity, were published in 2000.

Alibhai-Brown is Vice-President of the United Nations Association, and a special ambassador for the Samaritans counselling organisation.

Her dedication to immigration issues was once again demonstrated on July 12, 2000, when she led a moving memorial service for the 58 Chinese immigrants found dead in the back of a lorry in the channel port of Dover.

Alibhai-Brown lives in London and is married with two children.

1. I have a Bachelor's degree in English from UA Huntsville and a Master's degree in Advertising & Public Relations from the University of Alabama.
2. I love to travel, read and run. I used to run just for exercise but I recently completed my third half-marathon and finished with a personal record. I felt exhilarated afterward, so I think running is finally in my blood.
3. My family moved here when I was three years old, so I call Huntsville home.
4. I work in the Public & Congressional Affairs office.
5. The SWAP program offered me a great way to get into a developmental position with the government.
6. I didn't know much about Foreign Military Sales before I started at USASAC, so it has been very interesting to learn about the critical role the Army plays in the security of many nations.