Wilson, you have forgotten(?) the crucial role played by Air India Goan MD, Michael Mascarenhas in organizing & executing the airlift of 110 000 Indians from the region during the K. war. The biggest such airlift ever.
Alfred de Tavares > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected]; [email protected] > Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 11:59:18 -0400 > Subject: [Goanet] The Merger of Two Goan Associatons in Toronto G.O.A > Can-Orient > > To: Goanet – Part II – Merger of two > associations GOA/Can-Orient in Toronto > > > > Thereafter came the invasion of Kuwait > by Iraq. This was indeed, an unique > lesson for Goans in Kuwait to learn for their better future. It was sad to see > the plight of some of our brothers who had just arrived on the previous day of > the invasion and caught in turmoil. They > had come for greener pastures after borrowing hefty sums to pay for their > Visas > and tickets. I need not explain in > detail the life in the middle east and compare it to the West/US/Canada/East > etc. The freedom that people enjoy in > this part of the world and the facilities provided will never ever be > available > in the Middle East but for tax fee income. > > > > With the liberation of Kuwait, many > of our fellow Goans could come back besides new generation of Goans to seek > greener pastures. At this point in time > that we have realized that only through unity we could gain the strength. > The journey was not easy. Worthwhile to mention that all the leaders > ran away at this point in time for their own safety first, least concerned > about their followers. > > > > Just six months before the Invasion > of Kuwait, the Kuwait Goans formed one Association of all Goans and named it > Goan Welfare Society – Kuwait. At this > juncture one must not forget the good services rendered by our Goan stalwarts > like Mr. Joe Cota, Mr Alu Carvalho, Mr. Rudolf Fernandes, Mr. Wilson > Rodrigues, > late Mr. Vency De Mello, Mr. Joe F X De Souza, Mr. Joe Correia, and many > others > in framing the Constitution and ensuring the representation to each and every > corner of Goa (Village wise.). > > > > Back to Kuwait after liberation, the > need was felt to revive Goan Welfare Society – Kuwait (GWS-Kuwait) and the > Leadership was superimposed on the > writer to head the same with due regard and recognition of services rendered > to > the Goan Community in the evacuation process, having left Kuwait after the > last > Goan wanting to leave for Goa and left Kuwait for Goa by the last Voyage of > Akbar Ship from Basrah (Iraq) to Bombay. > > > > Goans in Kuwait and the Indian > Community at large cannot forget the service of Shri Eduardo Faleiro who was > an > instrument to mobilize the evacuation of Indians after having witnessed for > himself along with an MP from Kerala the facts and ground reality. He came > with a different directive from > Centre urging Indians to go back to work under the Iraqi regime. He was > shown the status of the Community > under the invasion. One need not > elaborate. Shri Faleiro with the > guidance and ground reality was instrumental to convince the Indian Government > under PM Chandrashekar to start the evacuation process and write off the Bond > signed with the Government of Indian by Kuwait Indians towards the > repatriation > fees. The writer was one of the members of the Goan delegation that went to > Delhi to impress upon the Government with the help of Shri Faleiro Ex-External > Affairs Minster who occupied a commanding position with due honour and respect > as a Goan statesman in Delhi and same was witnessed by the delegation. Goans > at > large do command respect in Kuwait for their honesty and integrity no matter > what trade or field they operate. It will be note worthy to mention that the > delegation paid their own cost to travel and live in Delhi during the visit. > Shri Eduardo Faleiro provided full support and cooperation including providing > one Officer to help and guide us during the stay. > > > > GWS – Kuwait moved forward with the > help and guidance of Goan stalwarts like Joe F X D’Souza, Rabindra Pimenta, > Cajetan Pereira, Julio > Cardozo, Orlando De Melo, Gladys Monteiro, late Caetano Rebello and his wife > Philo Rebello, Sharon D’Souza, Dr. Sandra Fernandes, Rudolf Fernandes, Dr > Jerry > Rodrigues, Dr. Milania Jacob, Muriel Aphonso, Tony Cordeiro, Shri Tony > Figueiredo our Benefector and ardent supporter, Shri Sam Alphonso our generous > Patron Member and many others who contributed immensely for its success whose > name one cannot recall at this very moment. > > > > GWS had plans to venture into an NRI > City in Goa for like minded Goans to come together and settle down in one > place > with complete infrastructure, School, Health Centre, Supermarket, Sports > facility, Employment facility to the returnees to settle down way back > home. Spade work was also done to establish a Hospital in Goa with the help > of Goan Doctors who volunteered to provide their services and know how to > establish, namely, Dr. Oliver Quadros, Dr. Tony Dias, Dr. Winston Saldanha and > others whose name unable to recall at the moment well placed in Kuwait. Call > was made on the NRI Cell in Goa but > unfortunately our NRI Cell could not digest our vision even when we had shown > the proven record of success of Gulf Goans Hotels Co., Ltd. > > > > Goa Day was one of the idea > originated with GWS to bring all the Goan Association running and operating > Football Clubs under one roof. It earned > a name and fame worldwide. One cannot > forget easily the dedicated work of Joe F X De Souza, Rabindra Pimenta and > many > others who burnt mid night oil along with the writer for the success of all > events conducted by GWS with high risk due to the law of the land not > officially permitting such functions. > > > > GWS has provide yeoman service to the > destitute maids living and working in Kuwait. > The rights of accident victims and due compensation was provided with > the help of Indian Mission in Kuwait. > Destitute maids wanting funds to repatriate back home were provided air > tickets to go back to their families, alternate employment was worked out to > some of them when they lost their jobs. Scholarships to top rankers and > deserving students in Kuwait and in Goa were provided with the help of our > Patron Member, Shri Sam Alphonso. GWS > left no stone unturned to reach to the orphanages and charity homes in Goa to > provide assistance every year during the Christmas time. GWS built up a > Corpus Fund which exists safe > and sound in the hands of Trustworthy Goans. GWS did not lag behind to > support, > the destitute labor force in Kuwait, other Indian Associations along with the > Indian Mission in Kuwait by providing food and financial assistance towards > repatriation. > > > > There was a hue and cry created by > handful of serpents who have not been a part of the GWS with regards to the > Funds > but this did not deter the members to work to the right direction and > vision. There were some adversaries who > only new to criticise. They were given > open challenge to come forward and lead to do better job if they could but > failed to show up for they new their weakness. GWS was duly registered under > Cooperative Societies Act to fulfil the mission of NRI City and the Hospital > project. One of the Ex-Executive Members took GWS to Court in Goa. The > progress was hampered because of the > legal battle which was a glorious victory to GWS. One of the Members who > served GWS as a General Secretary also > played a dirty serpent role in connivance with a Partner in Crime, little > realizing that the same gun that they pointed at others to settle their > personal scores using the GWS platform will some day will turn against > them. One need not elaborate as on this > very forum one of them had to submit his unconditional apology besides paying > heavy price for his own deeds and actions by way of personal defamation. They > had master minded a plot at one of the AGM against the writer to take complete > control of GWS and the funds generated. Both failed miserably as the GWS > members were prudent and stood firm for the noble cause. He also played > with GWS records for a long > time. Thanks to the efforts and > sacrifices of one of the Ex- Committee Member, Mr. Tony D’Costa from Saligao, > before he retired, who used all his might to persuade him to take the > possession of the records on behalf of GWS which he did succeed partly. It > was too late. The progress was hampered due to such dirty > issues of the serpents who will not progress and allow others to prosper. > > > > The writer new at some point of time > he would retire and as such stepped down as unchallenged President to make way > for the new generation of Goans and backed up the new Presidents. When GWS > was in gallows of death, he had to > step in to protect GWS and interest of its members and handover the reigns to > the present President Sydney Furtado while continuing as Vice President. > > > > GWS had an unique Insurance coverage > to its members who had paid a permanent one time Membership fee of KD10.000 > (equivalent of KD1.000 in C$3.30 approximately) to KD50.000. In case of a > KD10.000 member dies the benefit of next of keen is Rs.10,000.00 and so on. > We could not pay the compensation to a few > and comply with certain conditions as GWS records were hijacked. We had to > take drastic steps to expel handful > of serpents for better future of GWS with unanimous decision at AGM providing > facts and figures. Truth and Honesty > always prevails. It was hard for GWS to take them to task legally because of > the law of the land and these handful > characters were flirting with the system/rule of law. > > > > In conclusion, the point that the > writer would like to make is simple. > Together we can make it happen and work wonders. The merger of two strong > and good > associations is a must and need full support of the Community at large leaving > aside the differences, egos, jealousy etc. Canada/US and the West has lots to > offer and have enough facilities to practice the Culture, Religion, etc > besides > providing tax benefits for noble causes which is not easily available in the > Middle East. People this part of the > world do not leave with the fear of deportation. We need strong and > benevolent leaders with > clean image on the forefront. Thank God > we do have among us various professionals and others practicing diversified > trades and business acumen. We need to > call upon these Goans to come and support the larger organization. Let the > Village organization thrive to help > and support the culture of own village. > The main Association of Goans need to have all such Village leaders to > build a Goan empire. Let us not be > critics of G.O.A or Can-Orient. Let the > new constitution be framed by strong, sincere, honest Goan stalwarts > incorporating fees, incentives, benefits, insurance coverage, assistance to > the > needy in Canada and way back home. We > have Realtors, Investment Experts, Technical brains among us in Toronto which > talents need to be channelized for the cause of Goa and Goans. WE can work > for our own place and build an > empire for Goans in Toronto with lots of facilities and help to the needy > Goans > migrating to this land besides socializing and preservagtion of our rich > cultural heritage. What is important is that our new generation of Goans must > know our rich heritage and culture. It > could also generate employment and boost up the business for our fellow > Goans. Serpents will be there and are there as in the case with all the > communities of the > world, having worked with 120 nationalities, but need to be tackled with tack > and talent. The purpose of sharing the > information is purely to create an awareness and insight to the Leaders in > G.O.A and Can-orient so that they can have their own vision exploring the > facilities and using all the Goan talents preserving our rich Goan Cultural > Heritage. It’s only a wake up call and > the writer ready to volunteer services for such noble causes of Goa and Goans > – > Viva Goa – Viva Goans worldwide. > > > > Wilson Coelho > > Deep rooted Goan. > > > > Message: 6 > > Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 11:14:41 -0500 > > From: "roland.francis" <[email protected]> > > To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" > > <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: [Goanet] Merger of two Goan Associations > > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > > > Dear Wilson,? > > Good to see a post from you after ages. > > > > There is reason and then there is reality. You have stated the reason. Why > should Goans in the Diaspora not be united in order to become to become more > effective on behalf of the community? > > > > Now the reality. The demon that plagues Goans has always been Ego. Self before > others. Not to say this is overwhelming or overshadowing since silver linings > appear to run in the Goan playbook, created by the selfless ones in the > community. But these are exceptions to the ugly rule. The unification of Goans > in Kuwait if indeed it has occured, must be one such exception. > > > > Toronto sadly has been the rule. There have often been unification rumors of > CanOrient and G.O.A.but nought has come of them. One of the reasons has been > that in Toronto, CanO has been low profile but has gone on to establish a > clubhouse where members socialize. GOA has nothing. But to be fair to the > latter they were once known (not any more) for events that were broadly > patronized by the community. CanO never had this. > > > > If both these organizations ponder about what they have in common rather than > what keeps them apart, unity is feasible. But that big ugly specter of Ego > must > be put down first.? > > > > I don't see that happening but I, like others, will celebrate if it does. > > > > Roland.
