Eddie Fernandes of Kenya and London founded the Goan Voice UK decades ago and it grew to be a point of daily reference in the early years to its core readership, the East African Goan Diaspora of significant numbers in Europe, UK, Canada and Australia. In later years the readership expanded to not only Goan readers in India but also to Goans elsewhere (like me) not connected to East Africa with the core readership always remaining loyal
Eddie was not only competent, he was diligent, traits common with East African Goans in general. His occupation as Librarian helped though I am convinced that even if he were not, he would still have done a great job with it. He had two trumps up his sleeve. He had software that would pick up the key words Goa and Goan from cyberspace and publish articles he would select from the voluminous outcome of that search. He kept it simple. No opinions, no unpublished matter. Even in later years after retirement and on the various cruises he loved to take, Eddie would find a way to beat his own daily deadline even with maritime communications being super expensive. He never missed a day. The death notices and obituaries on his rag were a global mark for Goans everywhere. In the absence of a truly global Goan obituary centre, the Goan Voice UK filled that gap. There are few Goans who don’t have a relative floating somewhere on the planet and GVUK took you to their final milestone. Therefore it is a little saddening that after Eddie finally handed over the reins to temporarily arrangements, there have been gaps in the appearance of these daily issues. I am not complaining. I have derived enormous information and pleasure from reading the contents for decades. I am merely rueing the current irregularity with a sincere wish that it achieves continuity again. Roland, Toronto.
