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2008 International Goan Convention
Toronto, Canada
Early Bird Discount Registration closes March 31, 2008
http://www.2008goanconvention.com/regform_print.html
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March 20th, 2008
Scarlett Keeling
It is the Thursday before Easter, and the University where I work is closed for
Spring break
It is a time to reflect on transcendence and transformation. I try to catch up
on many things including news of Goa, and read about Scarlett Keeling and her
mother Fiona Mackeown.
I am a mother who like Fiona, also lost a child though not by murder, but by an
accident. I also happen to be a physician, and a Goan by birth, brought up in
traditional Goan homes in Sirlim and Margao.
I read the gory descriptions of Scarlett's dead body and the subtle
implication that Fiona was a loose woman because of a tatoo and nine children
through five men. My first thought was about Fiona's other children. Did any
of the reporters consider the harm they might be perpetrating on the rest of
the family? I remembered my own anger seeing headlines about my dead child, and
how I canceled my subscription to every newspaper that carried the news; I knew
of course that the only reason for the headlines about my child was that a
tragedy sells newspapers.
Have those who blame Fiona lost a child of their own? I am a physician trained
in Preventive medicine, and could not foresee the tragedy that was to happen.
What makes anyone believe that Fiona could have prevented her child's death? It
is never one factor that leads to an untimely death, but many incidents and
circumstances, the proverbial 'ducks in a row'.
Fiona is absolutely right. Scarletts death might have been prevented if the
previous murders had been investigated and led to a crackdown of the drug ring.
I admire Fiona for her courage. How many of us would have had the guts to
challenge the system in a foreign country? As for statements that Fiona did not
seem touched by Scarletts' death, but stood there angry rather than grieving,
how little the writer knows about what goes on in a mother's psyche after the
death of her child. I clearly remember that I went around with a smile
thanking all those who attended the funeral, determined that no one would know
that I too had died. I am glad that Fiona has her other children to live for.
Seems to me that Fiona is working out her grief and walking the path of
atonement and redemption.
So Fiona has nine children through five men. Did you notice how she raised
everyone of them, and not one of them (in a photograph on the web), look
angry, bitter or malnourished?. How many Goan men, especially those who are
rich and in power, father children out of wedlock that they never bother to
acknowledge or support ? The number might surprise you.
It took a beautiful British teenager's brutal murder and her courageous mother
to wake up Goa to the drug problem. I have always been proud of my roots, and
watched with amazement how, under the leadership of Oscar Rebello and Aires
Rodrigues, Goans did not allow their land to be raped and desecrated. Our
children are now being raped, and their souls destroyed . We should all support
Fiona, and join a public outcry to stop and punish those responsible for the
drug trade.
Scarlett Keeling and Fiona Mackeown were more than casual tourists to Goa. They
loved Goa and one gave up her life and the other enormous amount of energy to
change Goa for the better. Do not let Scarlett's death be in vain.
Celina Pereira, USA
