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Goanetter Francis Rodrigues (Vasco/Toronto) unveils his book,
The Greatest Konkani Song Hits. Launch dates: Goa (Kala
Academy) on 9 Aug. 4 pm. U.K. (Staines) on 15 Aug. Canada on
20 Aug and US on 30 Aug. Details http://www.konkanisongbook.com/
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I have come to understand that certain "foreign education" agents are promising
Goan and Indian students accomodation in Australia when they pay for their
"foreign eductaion" courses be it in Australian universities or elsewhere. When
these students come to Australia, the "accomodation" is suddenly not there, and
the students are left in the lurch.
Case 1: In Feb 2008, a girl from Madras registered herself at LaTrobe
University, Melbourne, for a course in Microbiology, and was told she had all
accomodation arranged. On the eve of her flight to Melbourne, she was told that
the person who was to accomodate her no longer had the place available (in fact
the person did not exist). So she called up her aunt, a nun in Paris, who in
turn called up a doctor in Gippsland (about 4 hrs drive from Melbourne), who
arrranged to have her over; in desperation, as she was due to commence
her classes the next Monday, her aunt called around, and through various
friends of friends we were contacted and we provided her with temporary
accomodation until she found her feet.
Case 2: A boy from Margao was given similar assurance last Feb. He was coming
to Melbourne to do an MBA. came to Melbourne, no accomodation. Through various
people this young man at last found accomodation with some friends of ours.
Case 3: A boy and girl came to Melbourne early last July, again to pursue MBAs.
Again, another Goan doctor had to accomodate them temporarily until more
permanent accomodation was found for them, as the so-called accomodation that
was "arranged" for them was non-existent.
Advice for those who are contemplating coming to Melbourne (or any other place
outside India):
- ensure you corrrespond with the person who is supposed to accomodate you;
obtain their email address, phone number and the address;
- check that the address is correct by checking on maps.google.com - nowadays
you can even check what the street looks like, through maps.google.com - and
ensure it is within walking distance to nearest transport (rail, tram - buses
here are rather uncommon) by googling "Transport Melbourne" or whichever city
you're going to stay in;
- contact the accomodation (email/phone), find out what the rental is so that
there are no surprises, and ensure they know you are coming, and who you are
expected to share the accomodation with. Never trust the agent. There have
been cases of as many as twenty students sharing a house which has just 5 rooms
(in this case it was a Chinese landlord who was taken to task for this inhuman
treatment of Chinese students). Health and Safety regulations exist here which
limit the number of people that can stay at any one time in a house.
Gabriel.
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