PANJIM: Goans migrated to Africa for decades, but it is only in recent times that their role there is sought to be more closely understood via the world of books.
That this reality was complex, and not unproblematic, became clear at the recent launch of Luis de Assis Correia's memoirs 'Winds of Change Across Africa 1958-1969', published by Broadway Publishing House. Octogenarian Correia, who lives both in Benaulim (Goa) and the UK, narrates his experiences in an Africa, then just in the process of getting Independence, and his encounters with a number of persons who went on to become prominent national leaders in countries like Kenya, Uganda, and even the father of the future President of the United States, Barrack Obama. "I've only narrated my history," said Correia. Correia started off life in the world of the travel agency. He narrated his early encounters with Tom Mboya, the East African Airways charter taking African students to the United States, and his experiences in Kenya, Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Writer Vivek Menezes appreciated the fact that much more writing is coming out of Goa, which tells many different untold stories. Speakers highlighted the role of Goans in the diaspora -- in Karachi, Ceylon, Republican Portugal, modern Kenya, and more. Book reviewer Augusto Pinto called it a "very interesting work", while historian Dr Celsa Pinto called it "really a fascinating story". "You've really added a lot to what many Goans would (have otherwise) not known," said Pinto, a former Director of Education in Goa. Born in Africa himself, he noted those were "tense" times for Goans. "In some ways (in East Africa or Pakistan), the Goan story has not ended that well," said Menezes. Winds of... is itself dedicated to Tom Mboya and Pio Gama Pinto, the mostly forgotten rare Goan who took the side of the Black nationalist cause, and post-Independence, and paid with his life for his pro-people, radical politics. In his pages, we also encounter the part-Goan Guirim-linked Joseph Zuzarte Murumbi (1911-1990), Kenya's second Vice President for a brief year-and-half in the mid 1960s. Speakers felt the story of Goans in Zanzibar was perhaps yet to emerge. Some questions were asked about whether Goans were clannish, or intermediaries between the White masters and the Black Africans. The Goan encounter with the British via migration, as compared to the Portuguese, was also discussed. So was the contribution of the returning Goan diaspora in Africa also debated, and the impact of migration on out-migrants themselves. Writer Damodar Mauzo felt the perspectives of the humbler Goan migrant had not been adequately studied. 'Winds of Change Across Africa 1958-1969' is by Luis de Assis Correia, and published by Broadway Publishing House, priced at Rs 450. ISBN 9789384298012 ### Other LAC links online: WindsOfChangeAcrossAfrica https://archive.org/details/luis-assis-book-release Online file photo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dr._Francisco_Luis_Gomes_District_Library,_Margao,_Goa,_India_04.JPG Old Goa photos: African students en route to the US (courtesy Luis Assis Correia) http://goanet-news.goanet.narkive.com/TpRarM0h/old-goa-photos-african-students-en-route-to-the-us-courtesy-luis-assis-correia Rita Faria in Africa http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/5485972991/sizes/l/ https://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com/page/7/?archives-list&archives-type=tags African students en route to the US, probably includes Obama (Sr) http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/5485975755/sizes/l/ Both above from the archives of Luis Assis Correia (Benaulim/UK). In the Navhind Times, a review http://www.navhindtimes.in/tall-tales-bwana-louie/ Headline: Who the bleep cares about Luis de Assis Correia? By: Selma Carvalho https://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg69169.html On the Memorias d'Africa e d'Oriente http://memoria-africa.ua.pt/Catalog.aspx?q=AU%20correia,%20luis%20de%20assis
