Guelph entrepreneur Yasmin Alidina cherishes her Canadian citizenship because in November of 1972 she and her family were given a choice between leaving Uganda, her country of birth, or being killed.
“In order to leave the country you had to become stateless,” said Alidina. “You had to give up your citizenship. That is the only way you could leave.”
A year earlier military dictator, Idi Amin Dada had seized power in Uganda and began a campaign of ethnic cleansing. The campaign targeted approximately 80,000 Asians, mostly of Indian origin as well as Europeans, especially those of British decent.
“We fled Uganda on Nov. 9, 1972,” Alidina said. “That was the last day when all the Asians had to leave.”
Alidina, her mother, four brothers and three sisters were among the more than 6,000 Ugandan refugees that settled in Canada. After 44 years, memories of the experience still make her emotional.
“It was really tragic,” she said. “That part is still difficult.”
Alidina is a hearing instrument specialist and the owner of the newly opened Raindrop Hearing clinic in Stone Road Mall.
“I have been doing this for 15 years,” she said. “For five years, I worked for different companies and it has been 10 years with my own business.”
She has clinics in Toronto, Erin and Paris.
Until recently she operated a clinic in Stone Road Mall under the name Yasmin Alidina Hearing Clinic.
On Oct. 1 she moved to a new location in the mall and is in the process of incorporating all of her clinics under the Raindrop Hearing name.
“Every step is a learning process,” she said. “I am always up for challenges.”
She was 15 years old when she came to Canada and, already, no stranger to challenge and tragedy.
Her father died in a car accident in 1957 leaving her mother alone to care for eight children. They faced assaults and threats to their lives before fleeing to Italy where they languished in a refugee camp for six months.
They were desperate to reconnect with her 18-year-old sister who fled to Canada two days before the rest of the family was forced out of Uganda. A man in the camp who came from their hometown of Nebusanke had good news.
“He said, your sister is looking for you guys and she is in Guelph,” Alidina said. “Now, we had to go and find out where that was.”
They arrived in Guelph in May 1973.
“The community was amazing,” she said. “They made us feel really welcome. There were some church groups that brought in clothing for us as well as winter stuff.”
She graduated high school at John F. Ross and studied languages at the University of Guelph. She speaks fluent English, Spanish, Italian, Gujarati and Kutchi.
“I love connecting with people and learning about different cultures,” she said. “Languages are something that bridges the gap and it makes the connection really pleasant and empathetic.”
She attributes much of her success to support from her family, especially her two sons Fayyaz and Abid Virani.
“It hasn’t been an easy ride and I’ve had many struggles but I believe in living a life of purpose,” she said. “My next challenge is in the works and the universe is working on it.”
Raindrop Hearing
Established: 2006 – incorporated under new name Oct. 1, 2016
Owner: Yasmin Alidina
435 Stone Road
Guelph, Ontario
519 515-0072
