On 13/07/05, cornel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Mario, > > I have not followed the 'economic migrant' debate closely for lack of time. > However, I think that Gabe has a point that, following the political change > in East Africa when Independence became a reality in the early 1960s, most > Goans from there moved out. Some were forced out abruptly, as in Uganda and > the former Nyasaland and even Zanzibar because of political turmoil. Such > people, suddenly found themselves with limited choice and many were > accepted, particularly in the UK, Canada and elsewhere as refugees.
Comment: We have no records in my family, except that I know my father was born in Bombay and had travelled to Kenya as an economic Migrant. His own parents or grand parents must have travelled from Goa to Bombay also as economic migrants. My Father was always reminiscing his Bombay days, so he was nicknamed 'Bomboikar'. Many people knew my father by his nickname in Nairobi. There are many interesting tales in Goans in Kenya by Dr Teresa Albuquerque. I know for a fact that the Tailor Alleuia Fernandes had traveled to Nairobi sometime around 1895 as a young lad. He was an apprentice Tailor and rose to a high station among Tailors. He was the first President of the Goan Tailors' Society in Nairobi. There was a Nazareth who had hailed from Moira; he travelled all the way from Mombasa around 1895, on foot! Those days with all the Marauding Lions around it was no mean feat. He opened up his own business catering to the British Army and became wealthy. He later had to declare bankruptcy as he had given credit to a lot of the Army people who just didn't pay up. He had owned a Hotel or two as well as a large Grocery store. One of his sons became a Barrister and was well known in Nairobi having been awarded the title of Queens Consul. There are many more tales in that book, worth a read. So I would tend to think that there were a great many Goans especially in the early days or Kenya who arrived with a sense of adventure. Many could hardly be called economic migrants as there were no jobs, no family no one to take care of them! Cheers, Gabe Menezes. London, England
