Utter radicals: Kenya's Goan Connection

Goans dminated in the colonial administration of British ruled Kenya, Uganda and German ruled Tanganyika. The story of Goan migrants to East Africa is among the most astounding episodes in Indian diaspora history. A tiny percentage of of migrants from the subcontinent (themselves never more than five percent of migrants from the sub-continent of the overall population), path breakers from the Konkan, played an oversized role in colonial expansion, and later the anti-colonial push for independence. Aquino De Braganza was a crucia idelogue and negotiater for Mozambique's freedom fighters. A G Gomes invented the "gomesi", now the national dress of Uganda. But most incredible is the record and legacy of Goans in Kenya. Yesterday in Paradise by Cyprian Fernandes is an elegiac but no-holds-barred chronicle of when "Goans dominated in the Colonial administration of British-ruled Kenya, Uganda and German Tanganyika ... the colonial administration would have collapsed but for the skill and management of the Goan clerks and accountants. Later doctors, chefs, musicians, dentists, motor mechanics, coolies, carpenters, tailors and workers with other skills joined. It wasn't long before Goan women cut their cloth in East Africa in various skill-sets needed by a hungry population. The women especially when they were closer to birth. Women dominated in small steps in many parts of the workforce providing they won the battle with reluctant husbands. In semi-tropical Kenya, Uganda and Taganyika they found an even larger paradise than they could have ever imagined. Until 1963, they enjoyed life with a gusto that could only have been found in their Portuguese ruled Goa. Fernandes deserves congratulations and lasting gratitude for Yesterday in Paradise. It is a book only he could have written, including anecdotes and perspective, which remained unwritten for decades after being bullied out of Kenya. His wife was warned "dear lady , get him out of this country today. They are going to kill him. They have a bullet with his name on it. . Happily those anxious moments led to a happy ending. Now the veteran journalist is peacefully settled, counting his blessings. "I have woken up each morning and my prayer has bee "thank you Goa, It is great to be alive in Australia, thank you. It is little known and even less even less understood -- how important the Goan migration was in making of modern native consciousness across British and Portuguese maritime empires. Fernandes correctly atributes the pioneering spirit to "eighteenth century pombaline reforms and the sense of equality by which Goans Goans regarded Europeans in the nineteenth century. Burton stated that it is "No wonder that the black Indo-Portuguese is an utter radical, he has gained much by the Constitution. The Goan attributes of public philanthropy and community service grew out of the Pre-Portuguese concepts of communidade (comunity) and were revisited by European enlightenment. This concept was very importantto the community of Bombay and was carried to the segregated highlands of Kenya by such people as Dr Rosendo Ribeiro and Dr A C L de Sousa. In the time that I have left on this I will dedicated to prayer for all here and gone who cared for me and my folks one way or another. Always.