From Uganda to Elmont

Sheila Dharsi was only 5 years old when she left Uganda with her sister, Fahmida, and mother, Kulsum. Dharsi’s father, Murtaza Jaffer, urged his family out of the country because he felt that it was no longer safe. It was 1973, and Uganda was under the brutal regime of dictator Idi Amin, who killed hundreds of thousands of Ugandans during his eight-year reign of terror from 1971 to 1979.

“We were thrown out of the country,” said Dharsi, a Merokean. “We were told, ‘If you stay in town, you will get shot.’” Although Dharsi and her Fahmida were native Ugandans, they were discriminated against because their ancestry had roots in India.

Today, Dharsi, 42, of Elmont, helps run a successful business in Merrick — Serengeti Design Studios — with Fahmida, 39, of Merrick. Fahmida, a freelance photographer, was eager to start a new business in 2006, Dharsi remembered. Dharsi has lived on A Street in Elmont with her family for the past 20 years, and in 2006, was working part-time as a printer in Elmont, and raising her three children —Sarah, who is now 20, Shane, 15, and Sahil, 8. Not the risk-taker, like Fahmida, it was a big leap of faith for Dharsi to take a chance with her sister. Clearly, that decision is paying dividends.

The Merrick Chamber of Commerce recently honored Serengeti Design Studios, naming Fahmida Aziz its 2011 Merchant of the Year. At the studio, Fahmida produces videos, photos, portraits and brochures, and Sheila serves as a printer, and handles media-related work. “I do the web-side of things,” said Dharsi, who has a degree in computer science. “I have had experience, so it wasn’t rocket science for me.”

For the Fahmida and Sheila, opening a successful business represents the last step in a long journey that has included displacement, exile and prejudice.