Dear Vivian, To this date I have not understood clearly what were the real factors that made living in Africa a sweet dream for Goans to the extent that they fondly yearn for it 40 years later. OK not all East Africans, but many who write on Goanet in the vein like you did. Mind you I am not asking this question with any ulterior motive. Plain analytic curiosity. You could avoid an answer by thinking "for those who get it no explanation is required and for those who don't, none is necessary." Count me as one who doesn't get it but wants to. What I get is:
The country was beautiful The Goans were good to live with (mostly). You had reasonable, safe undemanding (for the most part) jobs that allowed you to live happily locally. It left you time for song, dance and sport. Of course you didn't get to see the world. You had to take whatever was dished out job-wise. You missed home at least initially. Having to be with other Goans you had no privacy. Your quitting there was not always in the best circumstances. I have read Mervyn Maciel, Braz Menezes and other non-Goan authors and I get a good picture that supplemented person to person descriptions from friends and relatives of life there. But I don't get what made it really unusual from any other experience that other Goans living elsewhere had. Goans in small towns in India living in palatial quarters and working in the Railways or the Armed Forces had great lives and so did many Goans in middle east countries where money made all else possible. What I do see is that in Africa Brit and African employers had to be mollified and one's personalities suppressed, I do see some nastiness of the caste system that had to be ignored and I do see the resentment of Africans who in the final analysis saw Indians as neither Portuguese, British or Indians and thus easy pickings. You have a much better life now, with money in Goa or with or without too much of it in the western world. Sure you have other factors in play that makes the sum total of all your experiences a trade-off. You have things now you didn't have then and vice versa. So if you are remembering your time in Africa as one phase of your life, I unhesitatingly grant that to you. But if you tell me that was the best experience you could have ever, I have many reservations. Again, if it is your personal experience with Africans you are talking about, I grant that to you. Not everybody had that. Perhaps Goans were to blame as much as they. For when they could have treated the African well and kindly, they didn't. So please tell me what I am not seeing. Roland. Toronto. PS When I say "you" it is generic. Vivian Socorrocar wrote: Regarding those of us who lived in East Africa.......my wife and I have nothing but the fondest memories of our lives in Tanzania, the land of our birth, where we were educated, got married and had two of our children. We did not have much money, and we lived in relatively cramped quarters, but those were the best days of our lives, bar none. We have lived in other countries since leaving Tanzania, earned much more money, lived in much bigger homes in relative luxury. Yet nothing can compare with the life we had in Tanzania. Every single ex-Tanzanian I have talked to, has expressed the same sentiments. The Goan Tanzanian spirit is celebrated in style in Toronto which hosts the annual Tanzanite picnic and the Grand Tanzanite Ball. While I speak about Tanzania, I am sure the same holds true for Goans who lived in Kenya and Uganda In fact Goanetters Merwyn Maciel and Braz Menezes have penned books that reflects their love for the people and the lives that they lived in Kenya. While there still are quite a few Goans mostly in Kenya and Tanzania, those of us who left those countries, had no alternative, because of the Africanization of the positions we held mostly in Government service. We were not bitter, because in my opinion, it was only just that the indigenious people of those countries were given the opportunity to govern themselves. It was time for us to move on and seek greener pastures. I continue to have the greatest respect for the Africans. Having visited Tanzania twice since migrating out of there,, on my return I was welcomed warmly, and was even told on two separate instances, that I was a "brother" and I should come back home. Of course conversing in fluent Kiswahili was very helpful. The Tanzanian African considers hinself second to none. I found the younger generation, who have no memory of the colonial era to be self confident, well educated, very efficient in what they do and very friendly.
