Dayalji struck gold with brilliant plan to outwit evil Amin
Among Idi Amin's orders to the Asians he was expelling from the country was that they could only take one piece of jewellery each.
Dayalji Mavji, now 69, had spent years helping to build up the family jewellery business in Kampala, the country's capital, starting at the age of 10 and missing out on his education.
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But he was still able to outsmart the evil dictator.
Son Rajesh, 43, explained: "What Amin's orders didn't make clear was the size or weight of the piece of jewellery, so my dad melted lots of gold down to make larger pieces which we were able to take out. The soldiers couldn't do anything about it.
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"The gold we were able to get out that way helped dad towards setting up a new jewellery business when we arrived in Leicester."
It was a small victory for the family, who otherwise lost everything when they were forced to flee the country in 1972.
Rajesh said: "My dad went into the business at a young age because my grandfather, who had lost the use of one of his arms, needed help.
"Dad helped set up the shop and did work for other jewellers as well. Dad's a craftsman, he could make things and people came to him.
"He used to supply a lot of shops with gold watch belts, many of which, I understand are still in use today A lot of his customers were African soldiers. They were looting businesses and it was a scary time. We were told Asians leaving the city wouldn't be harassed, but we couldn't take any of our stuff.
"When it eventually came that everyone had to leave, dad was very upset to have to leave Kampala – he'd been taken there as a kid by my grandad.
"My dad was eventually looking after the whole family, including seven siblings and three sons of his own. He was panicking because he wondered what would happen to us."
"I was three when we left and there were 14 of us when we came to Leicester. My dad was worried about how he would have enough money to keep us.
"When we first arrived in the city he got an engineering job working nights. In the daytime, he made gold jewellery which he would then supply to shops.
"He got very little sleep, but he had seven siblings and three little boys to look after and he was the only person earning any money."
Within five years he had enough money to open his shop in Melton Road.
Rajesh said: "It first opened as Soni Jewellers in 1977, but in 1996 dad changed its name to Kampala Jewellers.
"It was the third jewellery shop to open in what is now known as the Golden Mile. There are 22 jewellers along the road today.
"My dad has worked hard from the age of 10.
"Everything we have is through him and I've inherited his work ethic."
Rajesh, who now runs the business, said: "My dad was very upset when Amin forced us to leave, but the life we've got here now is probably better than the future we would have had there."
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