Dear Mervyn
Thank you for sharing your experiences of your time in Kenya with us through a
link on goanet.
It has been some time since the phrase "hell on earth" has been heard by me. As
only one-tenth of Kenya is fertile, it
was indeed unfortunate that your work station happened to be in the part that
was desert and that you had to endure
the heat of the sun while working for the British Colonial Administration.
Your interview has brought home to me how fortunate I was to have lived in
Mombasa on the coast of Kenya. My happy
and positive experiences are largely due to my parents who lived their life
very much interacting in the social environment
prevailing at that time amongst our community. There can be no doubt they faced
challenges and a hard working life but,
on analysis, these were no more or less challenging than those being faced
today where jobs are scarce, competition
fierce and working hours, especially for our young people, getting longer and
longer. Those joining the workforce are also
faced with final salary pensions being closed down leaving them with little
hope of a well funded retirement combined with
the state pension retirement age in the UK increasing day by day. Contrast this
with what my father (and many of his
generation) whose working life was 8am to12 o'clock, two hours for lunch and
siesta, returning to work from 2pm to 4pm.
After tea and cake, he headed for the waterhole of the Mombasa Institute to
socialise with his friends there and catch-up
on the day's gossip while keeping an eye on our community children playing in
the grounds and on badminton courts. All
expenses paid holidays were three weeks every year, with three months every
fourth year (to go to Goa). On retirement,
my father received a decent pension he enjoyed for years and which my mother
still enjoys to this day.
In agreement with Roland Francis, it would have been good to have seen the
entire recording of your interview. Also
interesting to know whether you felt subjected to any discrimination during
this period of time and, if so, were able to do
anything about it?
The reason for my question is, as a community, we are nomadic. Our forefathers
had skills and the courage to leave their
sheltered life in Goa to earn their livelihood in East Africa while supporting
family in Goa at the same time. These skills will
have been passed down to us and if we were unhappy during our time in East
Africa, (remembering most of us lived there
for 20 years plus) I feel sure we would not have suffered in silence and would
have moved on earlier to another country.
Therefore, for the record, it will be good to see more of our people
interviewed recount their positive experiences here.
Today, it is no longer extraordinary to hear of a person from our community,
for example, spending his childhood in Goa,
his twenties in the Middle East, his thirties in the United Kingdom, his
forties in Canada and his retirement in Australia.
Setting up home in each and every one of these countries! Not to mention
floating Goans (also known as Goanese) on
ships around the world, contributing to the world economy.
Rose Fernandes
Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom
25 March 2012
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