UK Goans taking the Bread out of Breadline Britain under cover of Covid 19 The press cutting service on Goan Voice UK dated 4 May 2020 featured an article by two community workers based in London, Mr Jose Mendes and Ms Bella Fernandes who talk about **** .. The newspaper cutting has not gone down well with our community and viral on social media
The thirst for news in Goa about UK Goans has also been captured by the Goan Daily Newspaper in Goa which has become victim to fake news especially about cash being handed to our people during the Covid 19 hardship facing them. There is also a communication on goauk.com with contact numbers, to date I have not heard of anyone receiving any assistance even the unaccountable fund raising appeals for one bed coffins to Goa to facilitate deceased Portuguese passport holders with no money has gone quiet. I hope that the bereaved are no longer troubled with sobbing letters and crocodile tears for money. The basic staple food of our people is a bowl of Goa rice, topped with coconut curry made using small fish with one bigger piece of fried fish on the side. It is not really rice and lentils but this is a time when beggars cannot be choosers. So for those of you who have received a share of red lentils, rice and chana dal from Goauk.com Jevon Randh has provided a step by step recipe in Konkani on how to cook delicious Goan Masoor Dal, click on the link below and turn up the volume: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqSRJtO14QU At home, we have not been so fortunate and I have had my wrist slapped by Rose. She said that if I had a “honey” tongue with Goauk.com, maybe we too would have been gifted a big bag of rice! A big saving on our food bill, the cost of rice is equivalent to the cost of meat now. She reminded me that “Honey” tongues not only attract rice, lentils and chana dal, they might have also been a HoneyBe Brandy bottle in the offering. Still, we can’t all be winners in the game, although some have the luck to win hands down all the time. With Goa Day being cancelled this year, rice normally being sold at the festival can be used for this purpose as food in the UK, once purchased, cannot be returned to the shop. The GO.A. UK Ltd will have contacted our community through the Goan Chaplaincy , Village and other Goan Organisations by now. If you have had no communication contacts the Post Holders: Ravi Vaz 07909 927539 Juliette DeMenezes-Costa 07958 537314 Richard Fernandes 07711 401157 Tino Goes 07821 900490 Bella Fernandes 07949 233307 Savio De souza 07918 693920 Email goanassociatio...@gmail.com The United Kingdom Government has put in place considerable measures to help those who are in the unfortunate position of being out of work, not just the furlough scheme where employees are being retained by their employer on 80 per cent of their wages, assistance is also being offered in other ways. Those struggling are being offered a mortgage holiday for three months and a credit card payment holiday for three months. Assistance is also being given for those children who would have received free school meals, their parents are now being given an amount per day per child to cover their lunch in vouchers to redeem at a supermarket of their choice. Further to that we also have the food banks like the Trussell Trust which hand out food parcels to those needy on production of a letter from their GP, Social Worker or such like. In Swindon, the Goan Association formed there has set up a facility for voluntarily collecting donations of spare tinned long lasting & dry food which is then distributed to those in need. If you need or would like to donate food please contact. Town Centre Nelson:07922 211439 Imtiyaz:07894542786 Veena 07514 819999 Robert: 07448251648 Corsehill Vaddo Richard:07725 837128 John 07404 781663 Rodbourne Vaddo Val:07404 490437 Walcot Vaddo Sheila: 07720 978510 Newton:07827 885628 >From Southampton listen in to Live Broadcasts brought to you by Presenters >Roque and Bihula Vaz Fridays 18:00 to 20:00 Europe’s Only Weekly FM LIVE >Radio Broadcast ‘Konkani Uloi London Fuloi’ @ Awaaz Community Radio 99.8 FM >South also on your Mobile Cell Phone, Laptop computer and other digital >devices. In Birmingham DAB Radio channel 9A. In Leeds West Yorkshire Darren de Souza and his colleagues have organised food drops supporting people from all parts of Leeds, but particularly in some of the most deprived communities in England. They get their food donated from supermarkets like Tesco, Morrisons, Cook Leeds and St Georges Crypt . The service currently has 300 drops a week and is growing resulting in the need to buy more food, especially fresh fruit and vegetables. Touchstone have opened a donation page so that more food can be bought. The service is run with the help of staff and volunteers as well as support from Leeds City Council. Part of the day job is to support people struggling with mental health difficulties and as a direct result of Covid 19 the teams are facing increased demands on their time so they are looking at ways they can secure funding to recruit additional staff. Touchstone have opened a donation page so that if you want and can help please follow the link Click below https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-portal/fundraiserPage?pageId=1169266 Time is precious it’s how it’s used that matters I know we all have better things to do if only you can stop and do things better what a wonderful world we could be. The contents of this post is Personal and should not be taken as any authority. For Information I am copying in The Goan and media to avoid any misinformation in future. Melvyn Fernandes Thornton Heath Surrey 9 May 2020
