Dear fellow goanet readers Just when a friendship was blossoming and stones being thrown off the road for two friends to walk side by side, my best friend has sprung a summer surprise, decided to say goodbye to goanet and move on..... hope she has not gone dotty on this latest craze for life on Mars and waved her "hoot" fairy wand for a space on Curiousity?
For the moment, let us take a deep breath, pause and reflect on the Oral Histories of British Goans from East Africa project currently taking place. On paper, it is commendable that the administrator thought about the project, took the time and trouble to apply for and secure a small grant from the National Lottery to fund it. Many of us from East Africa arrived in the UK around the 1970s and to-date it has never occurred to any of us to become memory keepers to this extent. When this project started, I was looking forward to seeing video recordings showing a snapshot of what life was like for a majority of us in East Africa, a trip down memory lane (a professional example of East African memories being preserved by the Sikh community is shown on their website http://sikhheritage.co.uk/frame.htm (click on the Heritage button and follow the link)). It was very unfortunate for me to see that many of those interviewed for this project did not leave the viewer with the impression that there were many positive, vibrant aspects of life within our once thriving, heartbeat community in East Africa. Their stories, however true, contrasted with many of us who still look on these days as the best in their lives and are proud to be East African Goans. Understandably, this has led to friction, with many feeling betrayed and harbouring hidden feelings of resentment. None of this may have happened if more of us had shown interest and been enthusiastic about the project. Perhaps we would have had the project been under an "independent" banner and not under the GOA UK, an organisation that many of us feel no longer represents us and we therefore choose not to be associated with it for our own personal reasons. A glance at the membership register will confirm this. Given the above explanations, I feel the need to come out in defense of the project administrator as all along she has been in a tricky position, trying to put together a project in the midst of a Goan Olympics ping pong ego match. It is not appropriate now for us to lay betrayal totally at her feet. Admittedly the words she used describing East African Goans attending the UK Goan Festival 2012 as "ageing, doddery limps from tent to tent" were unnecessarily too descriptive when "elderly" would have sufficed but that is her colourful and direct style of writing which can be taken in the wrong way (even at times by myself) and be open to criticism. I do not feel on this particular instance though there was any thought or intent by her to harm anyone. It was indeed mainly the elderly East African Goans that attended the UK Goan Fesival 2012 at Cranford, the attendance by the younger East African Goans including next generation is dwindling as the UK Goan Festival appears not to meet their leisure or community interests. The Oral Histories of British Goans from East Africa project is funded as a "community" one, we all need to take collective responsibility for what will ultimately be the final filed copy. At the same time, the administrator needs to maintain her professionalism by rising above the community's petty politics which will always be there (not duck out of goanet), take on board constructive criticism given and make the necessary amendments before final approved submission to the British Library. There is no time now to write Enid Blyton stories or even read them! This is our project and we need to assist, if requested, in turning it into a milestone one, the success of which does not rest with one person alone, the project administrator, but with all of us who once made East Africa our home. Others who have left goanet have returned, I hope in due course, after my best friend has enjoyed her vacation, she will return to goanet with a bang. Rose Fernandes Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom 25 August 2012
