Folks,
GoaNet's old timers will recall Dr Joel Almeida's active participation in this forum in about 2001. He is in the news - see below. A photograph of him is at the http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/ site.
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Headline: Doctor to help stricken communities
Source: 31 Dec: Wiltshire Times (UK) at http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/trowbridge/news/TROW_NEWS_LOCAL5.html
Excerpts:
A Trowbridge doctor will spend the coming months helping with relief work for communities hit by the tsunami. Dr Joel Almeida, who lives in Wingfield Road with his British wife and three children, flew to India today...
Dr Almeida, who left India in the 90s to work for the World Health Organisation before settling in the UK to focus on music and song writing, said: "I want to do what I can to help and also to get an idea of what it's like for the people there. I want to put all my energy into raising funds for them." ...
He believes the best way to raise money will be through music. He is part of a group called Dr JSM with three Indian musicians, which has just released an album Turn On The Dreams. He also plans to release a single in March, after appealing to pop stars such as Jamie Cullum and Katie Meluah to join together with Dr JSM.
Full text at: http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/trowbridge/news/TROW_NEWS_LOCAL5.html
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Headline: Doctor Plans Next Band Aid In Wake Of Disaster
Source: 1 Jan: Bath Chronicle at http://www.thisisbath.com/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=163301&command=displayContent&sourceNode=163031&contentPK=11580654
Excerpts:
Joel Almeida, of Trowbridge is planning a Live Aid-style fund-raising drive ... He has been asked to work in Nagapattinam, where nearly 7,000 people have been killed - almost half the total Indian casualties..."The team from the college is helping with health services in the area, with volunteers monitoring water quality, providing immunisations and working to prevent the outbreak of disease," he said.
Mr Almeida's two-part goal is to use the Turn Of The Dream record as a way of raising money for the disaster appeal, and to also record a charity single directly for the appeal. He said: "The album should be out by the end of January and in the shops from March. "I would urge people to buy it and save lives.
"Secondly, I am already contacting British stars to join the musicians from this area to help me do something constructive. I've contacted Bob Geldof, as he has experience of this kind of thing."
Full text, 534 words at http://www.thisisbath.com/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=163301&command=displayContent&sourceNode=163031&contentPK=11580654
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Joel Almeida sent me the lyrics of a song he wrote a few years ago. It is made all the more poignant by the recent events.
The song below is for the dead and bereaved in the recent tragedy. It might be of interest to fellow Goans.
HAVE YOU SEEN MY DAUGHTER
Have you seen my daughter? Have you seen my son? Have you seen my mommy? My daddy, anyone? My brother and my sister? I hope that they can see How very much I love them .... How bitterly I weep.
Just the other day We were walking in the park: Singing in the sunshine, Carefree as a lark. The future stretched before us, Full of love and friends. Who could have imagined Such a bitter end?
Have you seen my.... How bitterly I weep
The clothes she left behind ... Still hanging on the rack. The mug he loved to drink from ... Still haven't put it back. The odds were stacked against us. We hoped through all our pain That still, somehow, somewhere, Someday we'd hug again.
Have you seen my.... How bitterly I weep.
(copyright Sept.2001, Joel Almeida)
I remember my own past bereavements, and hope this song will help people mourn. Please feel free to copy and share the lyrics with anyone. I also plan to mail the recording to some radio stations in the US (and any such places suggested).
May the souls of the departed rest in peace, and may the bereaved find consolation, eventually.
Joel Almeida ---------------------------------------------------------------
More about Joel Almeida at:
11 July 2003: Musical bonanza in aid of charity. http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/archive/2003/07/11/trow_news_local33ZM.html
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Cheers,
Eddie Fernandes
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