(If anyone has old photographs of Goans in Dubai, Africa, UK or US, please do contact me)
My grand-father set sail for Africa, sometime in the 1920s. He worked for the National Bank of Nairobi for many years and returned in 1933, at the age of 38, to find himself a wife. As was typical of that era, he married a young girl of seventeen and became the doting father of three children. Cocooned by the comforts of family life, he never went back and took up a job in Pune instead. As a family we don’t know much about his time in Africa and so as an adult I set about trying to find out what sort of life he might have led. To the Imperial Brtish that ruled East Africa, Goans were never Indians. They were just Goans or more commonly, Goanese. P. Rogers of the Colonial office in an memo (1950) describes them as “by race and sentiment a distinct group.” The British were meticulous record-keepers and there is a trace of Goan history that runs through early part of the 20th century and disappears after the 1960s. In 1907 there were just 295 Goans in Nairobi and by 1921, the Census records put the number of Goans in Kenya to be 2,000. There was almost an exponential rate of migration. Another indicator of Goan prominence is Kenya, is given by their contribution to the Tax and Revenue department. In 1931, they contributed 7% of the Non-native Poll tax. Interestingly, in the same year they contributed 18.4% to consumption of Wines and Spirits. They had an enormous fondness for brandy and their consumption of this fiery liquid outstripped both the Europeans and Indian. Europeans spent most of their money on whiskey. They also seemed to like their biscuits, jams, butter and tinned meats and true to their Goan roots they consumed large amounts of rice. But ultimately what sets Goans apart, is the respect and love they earned as a community, especially amongst the British. They were valued Civil Servants, and the Civil Services of the British Empire, were manned almost “down to a man” by Goans. They were prized for their honesty, trustworthiness and religious fervour. E. L Scott, the then Chief Secretary to the Government of Uganda (1932), came to be of the opinion that “the Goans in Uganda, in my days, were certainly a most industrious and well conducted community, devout Roman Catholics and as loyal to the British Empire as any British subjects.” And the Earl of Lytton, stood up in the House of Lords, (1963) to declare, “There is a saying in Nairobi, ‘The keys of all the white men's safes are in the pockets of the Goans’. They are a trustworthy community.” Their relationship with Africans was more ambivalent. Doubtless, language barriers and the racial prejudice predominant at the time did little to ease relations. Nevertheless, a dedicated group of Goans fought valiantly for African rights. J M Nazareth, Fitz de Sousa who was part of Jomo Kenyatta’s defence team when accused of Mau Mau activities and, ofcourse, Pio Gama-Pinto, who spent eight years incarcerated because of his support for African nationalist activities and ultimately gave his life to Kenya. Speaking to his widow, Emma Gama-Pinto, I can’t help but admire the strength and courage of both Pio and Emma. J M Nazareth died somewhat broken by what came to known as the Asian Exodus from Africa. In his memoirs tittled, Brown Man, Black Country, he writes, “To the Indians of Kenya, owed so much, repaid so ill.” The stories of Goans in East Africa, will never fade or lose their lustre. They are to be told over and over again, so that history never forgets; once in Africa, lived a race called Goans. Best, Selma
