[Goanet] Emma Gama Pinto
Emma Gama Pinto (Excerpts from the book) Pio’s detention on Manda Island: Pio told later that he built a small shelter against scorching sun and a simple bed. The land was destitute of vegetation and there were no facilities when he got there. A daily ration of food was barely enough to suffice for one meal. He went on a hunger strike, but after nine days realised that it would hurt prisoners nothing more. They would die like dogs for the all the authorities cared. The prisoners were sullen and dejected. Pio met some of his old friends there … Achieng Oneko and others and they set about improving the morale of the 9000 men on the island prison. They organised games and tried to catch fish, turtles and the like to supplement their impoverished diet. After pleading with the authorities, I was allowed to write to my husband once a month but the letter would be censored. His reply would be censored. I received permission to send Pio literature. He asked for the works of Shakespeare and (George Bernard) Shaw. Later Pio said the books kept him from committing suicide. Everything he had, he shared with his friends, even my letters. Our home: We had little finances. Pio sadly confessed that the money given by my father had been used as part-payment for a printing press which he wanted to operate as the voice of the people. The press was lost as soon as Pio was arrested. On his release from restriction in 1960, Pio asked Oginga Odinga (head of the Kenya People’s Union and arch opponent of Jomo Kenyatta) to help him buy a house. It was more like a hotel –we had people coming and going and dropping in for a meal at all hours. Pio would have political refugees from Angola and South Africa spend a night or two and listen to their accounts of their situation. No African who came to the house was turned away –if they needed school fees for their children, advice or just a letter written to a relative or government official, Pio lent a hand. They were his brothers, and I mean brothers. He knew the weaknesses of some of them but felt they would see reason enough if temporarily they did not put their country first. From the start of his interest in Kenya politics, Pio understood clearly that the African cause must be carried by Africans. He identified with the Africans completely and secretly suffered anguish that he was no born and African. He preferred to work behind the scenes, but he did not work in isolation. He consulted with lawyers, economists and politicians before planning his work. He chose his non-African friends carefully for what they could contribute to the cause. Despite the fact that Pio vehemently worked against those opposed to the African freedom movement, he did not harbour rancour against any individual. I never once heard him raise his voice in anger or swear at anyone, he called them blind or stupid in their policies. He was once given a pistol for protection … he promptly buried it in the garden. Later when he heard that one of his friends was in danger, he dug the weapon up and gave it to his friend for protection. On the Goans in Kenya: Pio and I had attended a few social functions after his release from detention and even though several men forward to hear about his “detention” there was little evidence of their sympathy for the detainees. When the Portuguese anthem was played at the end of an occasion, Pio could guess where their allegiance lay. He had painted a sketch of Kenya’s road in the struggle for freedom and left it to them to pursue a course. Mr J. M Nazareth Q.C. and a few others were already on the road. Later we did not attend Goan functions, so I was not aware of the view they had of Pio. Even after Pio’s assassination I did not feel that I belonged to the Goan community. I do not fault the community –it is just that we had other interests and concerns. I was happy with an Asian who understood and helped Pio’s work. Goa: Pio and a small group of Kenya politicians including Tom Mboya and Joe Murumbi flew to India around 1961 and met with Pandit Nehru. The agenda included the liberation of Goa as well as funds for a printing press in Kenya (to provide the African political viewpoint). Funds were granted, and Pio went on to set up the Pan African Press. Subsequently, Pio and Fitz De Souza attended Goa’s liberation celebrations. There are some Goans who applaud Pio’s small contribution for Goa.
[Goanet] Emma Gama Pinto
Goans are distinctively renowned for their individual propensity as they are for their cohesive deficiency or failing. At age 17, Pio embarked on his crusade to dislodge the Portuguese from their colonial occupation of Goa. It backfired, causing him to catapult back to his birthplace (Kenya) to avoid the assassin’s bullet only to be on the receiving end of it two decades later. The latter came misfired following his successful participation in overthrowing British colonial rule in Kenya. In 2008, Kenya immortalized him in a postal commemorative, “Heroes of Kenya”. The three others included in that commemorative stamp were Oginga Odinga, Tom Mboya and Ronald Ngala. Pio, undoubtedly, is stamped with the distinction of campaigning against colonial rule in Goa from Bombay (which was under British rule) and then crusading against British colonial rule in Kenya. Given the extraordinary status of his activism, has Goa or India acknowledged his solitary footprints in the freedom fighters track field? Dom Martin [Goanet] Emma Gama Pinto <https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=goanet@lists.goanet.org&q=subject:%22Re%5C%3A+%5C%5BGoanet%5C%5D+Emma+Gama+Pinto%22&o=newest> Eugene Correia <https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=goanet@lists.goanet.org&q=from:%22Eugene+Correia%22> Wed, 17 Oct 2018 15:01:49 -0700 <https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=goanet@lists.goanet.org&q=date:20181017> Hi, You read Selma's posts on FB attacking me as one of the pack of hounds, the hounds meaning some EA Goans who wanted her to remove Ben's article. I have blocked her and wrote and one person intervened to call off this war of words, as he thinks it benefits no one. If you have Emma's telephone number, please forward to me. I may go to Ottawa and take the opportunity to meet her. Decades ago and author/poet had asked me if I interested in meeting her, as he was her neighbour. I thought she may not answer some pointed questions on Pio. I declined. When she Sevigne came here in 1988, I asked her if she meet Emma. But I got no answer.. Regards, Eugene On Wed, Oct 17, 2018 at 4:33 AM Cyprian Fernandes wrote: > Emma Gama Pinto > (Excerpts from the book) > Pio’s detention on Manda Island: Pio told later that he built a small > shelter against scorching sun and a simple bed. The land was destitute of > vegetation and there were no facilities when he got there. A daily ration > of food was barely enough to suffice for one meal. He went on a hunger > strike, but after nine days realised that it would hurt prisoners nothing > more. They would die like dogs for the all the authorities cared. The > prisoners were sullen and dejected. Pio met some of his old friends there … > Achieng Oneko and others and they set about improving the morale of the > 9000 men on the island prison. They organised games and tried to catch > fish, turtles and the like to supplement their impoverished diet. After > pleading with the authorities, I was allowed to write to my husband once a > month but the letter would be censored. His reply would be censored. I > received permission to send Pio literature. He asked for the works of > Shakespeare and (George Bernard) Shaw. Later Pio said the books kept him > from committing suicide. Everything he had, he shared with his friends, > even my letters. > Our home: We had little finances. Pio sadly confessed that the money given > by my father had been used as part-payment for a printing press which he > wanted to operate as the voice of the people. The press was lost as soon as > Pio was arrested. On his release from restriction in 1960, Pio asked Oginga > Odinga (head of the Kenya People’s Union and arch opponent of Jomo > Kenyatta) to help him buy a house. It was more like a hotel –we had people > coming and going and dropping in for a meal at all hours. Pio would have > political refugees from Angola and South Africa spend a night or two and > listen to their accounts of their situation. > No African who came to the house was turned away –if they needed school > fees for their children, advice or just a letter written to a relative or > government official, Pio lent a hand. They were his brothers, and I mean > brothers. He knew the weaknesses of some of them but felt they would see > reason enough if temporarily they did not put their country first. From the > start of his interest in Kenya politics, Pio understood clearly that the > African cause must be carried by Africans. He identified with the Africans > completely and secretly suffered anguish that he was no born and African. > He preferred to work behind the scenes, but he did not work in isolation. > He consulted with lawyers, economists and politicians before planning his > work. He chose his non-African friends carefully for what they could > contribute to the cause. > Despite the f
[Goanet] Emma Gama-Pinto RIP
Emma Gama-Pinto (née Dias) died peacefully on October 28, 2020 at age 92 in Ottawa with family at her bedside. Emma was born in Jamshedpur, India, on July 24, 1928 and educated at a convent boarding school near Darjeeling. Emma was married to Pio Gama-Pinto, a member of the Kenyan Parliament who was assassinated on February 25, 1965. In 1967, Emma immigrated to Canada with her three children: Linda, Malusha Marie, and Tereshka. She worked in secretarial positions in several organizations in Toronto, before retiring from the Scarborough Board of Education in 1983. Emma was fearless in her approach to life. Courage, integrity, determination, curiosity, and compassion for others were the touchstones of her life. Once her children were grown, she travelled the world on a shoestring budget with her beloved twin sister Joyce. In 1997, on an impulse she moved to Ottawa and lived on the same street as her daughter, Linda. She quickly became involved in the neighbourhood community association and was honoured with an award for community activism in 2002. Emma was predeceased by her beloved husband Pio, sister, Joyce de Mendonca, and brother, Douglas Dias. Emma is survived by her three daughters: Linda Gama-Pinto (Léo), Malusha Marie Charles (Andrew) and Tereshka Gama-Pinto (Jocelyne); and her five grandchildren: Brenna Charles (Andrew), Midori Emma Dérome-Pinto (Adam), Victoria Charles, André Dérome-Pinto, and Mitchell Charles. She will be deeply missed by her many friends and relatives in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton and across the world. A memorial will be held at a later date. ( a socilist, Pio had opposed Kenyatta joining hands with British business interests. The KANU leadership was also behind the murder of Mboya ) __._,_.__ • . __,_._,___
Re: [Goanet] Emma Gama Pinto
Hi, You read Selma's posts on FB attacking me as one of the pack of hounds, the hounds meaning some EA Goans who wanted her to remove Ben's article. I have blocked her and wrote and one person intervened to call off this war of words, as he thinks it benefits no one. If you have Emma's telephone number, please forward to me. I may go to Ottawa and take the opportunity to meet her. Decades ago and author/poet had asked me if I interested in meeting her, as he was her neighbour. I thought she may not answer some pointed questions on Pio. I declined. When she Sevigne came here in 1988, I asked her if she meet Emma. But I got no answer.. Regards, Eugene On Wed, Oct 17, 2018 at 4:33 AM Cyprian Fernandes wrote: > Emma Gama Pinto > (Excerpts from the book) > Pio’s detention on Manda Island: Pio told later that he built a small > shelter against scorching sun and a simple bed. The land was destitute of > vegetation and there were no facilities when he got there. A daily ration > of food was barely enough to suffice for one meal. He went on a hunger > strike, but after nine days realised that it would hurt prisoners nothing > more. They would die like dogs for the all the authorities cared. The > prisoners were sullen and dejected. Pio met some of his old friends there … > Achieng Oneko and others and they set about improving the morale of the > 9000 men on the island prison. They organised games and tried to catch > fish, turtles and the like to supplement their impoverished diet. After > pleading with the authorities, I was allowed to write to my husband once a > month but the letter would be censored. His reply would be censored. I > received permission to send Pio literature. He asked for the works of > Shakespeare and (George Bernard) Shaw. Later Pio said the books kept him > from committing suicide. Everything he had, he shared with his friends, > even my letters. > Our home: We had little finances. Pio sadly confessed that the money given > by my father had been used as part-payment for a printing press which he > wanted to operate as the voice of the people. The press was lost as soon as > Pio was arrested. On his release from restriction in 1960, Pio asked Oginga > Odinga (head of the Kenya People’s Union and arch opponent of Jomo > Kenyatta) to help him buy a house. It was more like a hotel –we had people > coming and going and dropping in for a meal at all hours. Pio would have > political refugees from Angola and South Africa spend a night or two and > listen to their accounts of their situation. > No African who came to the house was turned away –if they needed school > fees for their children, advice or just a letter written to a relative or > government official, Pio lent a hand. They were his brothers, and I mean > brothers. He knew the weaknesses of some of them but felt they would see > reason enough if temporarily they did not put their country first. From the > start of his interest in Kenya politics, Pio understood clearly that the > African cause must be carried by Africans. He identified with the Africans > completely and secretly suffered anguish that he was no born and African. > He preferred to work behind the scenes, but he did not work in isolation. > He consulted with lawyers, economists and politicians before planning his > work. He chose his non-African friends carefully for what they could > contribute to the cause. > Despite the fact that Pio vehemently worked against those opposed to the > African freedom movement, he did not harbour rancour against any > individual. I never once heard him raise his voice in anger or swear at > anyone, he called them blind or stupid in their policies. He was once given > a pistol for protection … he promptly buried it in the garden. Later when > he heard that one of his friends was in danger, he dug the weapon up and > gave it to his friend for protection. > On the Goans in Kenya: > Pio and I had attended a few social functions after his release from > detention and even though several men forward to hear about his “detention” > there was little evidence of their sympathy for the detainees. > When the Portuguese anthem was played at the end of an occasion, Pio could > guess where their allegiance lay. He had painted a sketch of Kenya’s road > in the struggle for freedom and left it to them to pursue a course. Mr J. M > Nazareth Q.C. and a few others were already on the road. > Later we did not attend Goan functions, so I was not aware of the view > they had of Pio. Even after Pio’s assassination I did not feel that I > belonged to the Goan community. I do not fault the community –it is just > that we had other interests and concerns. I was happy with an Asian who > understood and helped Pio’s work. > Goa: Pio and a small group of Kenya politicians including Tom Mboya and > Joe Murumbi flew to India around 1961 and met with Pandit Nehru. The agenda > included the liberation of Goa as well as funds for a printing press in > Kenya (to provide the
