Title: "Who the Bleep cares about my last column?" By: Selma Carvalho Source: Goan Voice UK Daily Newsletter 5 June 2011 at www.goanvoice.org.uk
Full text: It's been two and half years since Eddie Fernandes gave me the opportunity to write a Sunday column on GoanVoice and it's been a joyous ride since then; getting up on my soapbox and lamenting about anything and everything from women's obsessions with their babies feeding and burping habits to the state of affairs. Not only was Eddie a joy to work with - in the two and half years, he never refused to run a single column, not even when people called him complaining about my jibes - but there are so many other wonderful people I met through my column. People who wrote in and encouraged me to keep writing - sometimes they laughed, sometimes they critiqued and a few became regular reviewers, whose opinions I came to value. So many other things happened as well. Frederick Noronha of the publishing company Goa, 1556 asked me to write a book and I actually did. It was released exactly a year ago. When it was released in London, all my regular readers were right there, waiting to buy a copy. They called up their relatives and friends in Goa and asked them to buy copies. I was overwhelmed by how supportive and loving our community was - in a strange way, it felt like being part of one large family. The Goan Association (UK) has been awarded an important grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund, to study and record the lives of East African Goans living in the UK. It is an honour for the Goan community to be selected by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The bidding process is incredibly competitive and at any given time, 15 other bids will be vying for the money. We may never know why we were chosen but it does speak to the fact that our stories are an important and integral part of the British national heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund thought they were well worth preserving. This project was spear-headed by Cliff Pereira, Eddie Fernandes and myself under the aegis of the Goan Association (UK) headed by Flavio Gracias as President and a team of board members. All of us feel strongly about preserving our oral stories for future generations of Goans. Cliff is a Historical-Geographer and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He has done incredible research into world-wide Goan communities, works closely with learning institutions in the UK, organizing exhibitions, lectures, workshops and has had several papers published. Eddie Fernandes needs no introduction. He has kept the Goan community connected for the past ten years through the GoanVoice UK newsletter. He works tirelessly to keep a diasporic community, such as ourselves, informed of events emanating from Goa and happening across the diaspora. Work on the proposal to submit to the Heritage Lottery Fund began almost six months ago. Mervyn Maciel got us the support of former District Commissioners of Kenya, who vouched for the need for such a project before the stories die with us. The devilishly handsome Tony Luis, as President of Croydon Seniors, Father Francis of the Goan Chaplaincy and the Young London Goan Society all lent their support for the proposal. As usual, the community rallied round. We are indeed strong when we want to be. So I ride into my hazy horizon to take up new responsibilities as a core-member of the 'Histories of British Goans' project. The project work will be spread over a course of two years. Primarily it will involve interviewing Goans and some non-Goans from colonial East Africa. These stories will be archived in leading British institutions who will partner with us. Already we have partnerships with the Royal Geographical Society and Bexley Archives to conduct workshops. We hope to build a website to disseminate recorded interviews across the Goan diaspora. Our objectives also include recording your stories in a book and a photo-exhibition. Ambitious plans, I know. But it is not the team that will be responsible for making it a success. As usual, it will be your support that will make it a success. So write to us to volunteer, or if you wish to be interviewed. Get your children involved. They will learn much about their own past and about their family histories. Free training will be made available for those who volunteer and their work will be viewed across the world. More details will be forthcoming about the project as they unfold. Register your interest by sending an email to [email protected] So what can I say now, besides thank you. Do leave your feedback at [email protected]
