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Victoria Fernandes Paul, standing next to coach Mahan Singh, the East African team with the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi |
Life
within itself
By Mitelia (Fernandes) Paul
Sport in
the world has taken on its own entity, especially within the last two decades.
Integration with technology has given a huge impetus to the quality of sports.
However, in retrospect, when our Goan sports community in far-away lands thinks
about our experiences in sports in Africa, we realise that sports was an entity
all to itself, with the highest level of performance, akin to the level of
sports that we experience presently.
As we
reunite in various lands, we always revert to our wonderful days participating
in various sports in Africa. When I immigrated to Canada in 1968, I used my
performance level in field hockey, badminton and track and field, to propel me
to representative sports in my adopted country, Canada. I was on the Ontario
Provincial Field Hockey team and on the Canadian Women’s Masters Field Hockey
team. I also reached the Ontario Provincial level in the “Women’s Doubles” in
Badminton.
I was
twice awarded the “Premier of Ontario Award for Contribution in Sports to
Canada” - highest award from the Ontario Government. In 1969, in the early days of the founding of
“The Goan Overseas Association” (GOA) in Toronto my sisters Astrid Fernandes,
Yasmin Fernandes and Joan Lobo and I enlisted many of our Goan sports figures
to form a field hockey team. As leaders of the team, we also co-ordinated the
transportation and administration duties for the team, like umpiring, for many
years, to achieve our goal of forming both men and women formidable Goan field
hockey teams.
On both
the Women’s and Men’s teams, we eventually had a winning combination of players
from the Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. In 1974, the GOA Women’s team consisted of
players from the Kenyan and Ugandan Women’s international players. This team
consisted of players like Ugandan stalwarts Nancy Agard, Zulema De Souza, Ella
Gomes, Delphine Francis, and Kenyan players like Astrid Fernandes, Gloria
Fernandes, Melba Almeida and Mitelia Fernandes.
With this
solid base, many other Goan field hockey players from Africa and India joined
the team. This champion team went on to win many provincial and state
tournaments in both
Canada and
USA. We were not only the flagship of the Toronto Goan Overseas Association,
but we
were also ambassadors for the Goan community in North America. I have many splendid
memories of my sporting career in Kenya, Africa, in badminton, track and field
and hockey.
Both my
sister and I dominated track and field at Dr. Ribeiro Goan School, Nairobi. We
achieved the “Track and Field Champion of the Year” consecutively over an eight
year span, amidst participation in other sports. My sister Yasmin Fernandes was
also a member of the school’s 1st XI field hockey team. We all credit our
coaches at the school, such as the famed Goan field hockey coach Mr. Anthony
D’Souza, our teachers and our parents for guiding and supporting us through
these formative sporting years of our lives. Many of us, now living and
communicating around the world, appreciate the benefits of our sports heritage.
My most
poignant sporting memories are my participation in Field Hockey. I represented
the Kenya Women’s Field Hockey Team for many years as a left wing and left
inner. I first represented the Kenya Women’s Field Hockey second X1 team at the
age of fourteen, eventually graduating to the First X1. Inclusion in the Kenya
Women’s Field Hockey team was a most difficult feat for non-British
nationalities. However, with continued dedication, family support and
exceedingly hard work in an extra-curricular sports’ field, while in high school,
many of us succeeded in achieving national status. At this time in the sixties,
four Goan girls were included on the Kenya team, Teresa Mendonca, Bertha
Fernandes, Melba Almeida and Mitelia Fernandes, amongst 10 British women and
three African women. The four Goan players provided the core strength for our
international team, as both offence and defence players, playing against teams
such as England, International Wanderers, USA, Japan, India, Ceylon (Sri
Lanka), Holland, Uganda and other national teams (see photograph).
Our
Ugandan Goan counterparts were in the forefront too. We often had many tense
games against each other in Uganda and Kenya. Ugandan players included Nancy
Agard, Zulema De Souza, Ella Gomes, Delphine Francis and others. Many of us now
live in Canada, and continued playing representative hockey. We were also
recruited for the Canadian National
Team,
however, we were unable to travel across the country for the Canadian trials
and training due to our recent settlement in Canada. Invitation to the Canadian
trials highlighted the superior level of sports in Africa.
The
highlight for the Kenyan and Ugandan Women’s Hockey Team was an overseas trip
to
India,
where we played in the “All India World Field Hockey Championships” in New
Delhi, Bombay and in the Punjab areas. We played against teams from Asia and
Africa to capacity crowds at every game. We were treated as royalties, with an
all-expense paid trip, photograph opportunities, autographs and travel across
the sub-continent from the Himalayan foothills to the dynamic city of Bombay.
It was at this time that both the Ugandan and Kenyan players forged solid
relationships, which would serve us well in our adopted country of Canada.
However,
the highlight of this trip was the Kenya team’s visit to “Government House” in
New Delhi, where we had afternoon tea with the Prime Minister of India, Mrs.
Indira Gandhi (see photograph). We were able to communicate with her informally
and in-depth, as is unlikely today. She was especially delighted to meet with
the Indian Goan members of the Kenya Team. We all left with life-changing
experiences, after noting her most pragmatic yet charismatic personality.
When I
returned to Kenya from India in 1967, I had two wonderful opportunities
awaiting me in Nairobi. One was that I was given the most coveted “Independent
Immigration Visa” to Canada, which could not be renewed or postponed. The other
surprise was that I was to be included in the Kenya Women’s Field Hockey Team
to the “World Cup Championships” in Germany, which also included international
games around Europe. The dates coincided, and I had to make the most difficult
decision of my life, either to immigrate to Canada, or to play in “The World
Cup Championship” in Europe. My dream was to play on the world stage for Kenya,
and yet I knew that we had to depart our beloved Kenya to make a new life. I
chose to immigrate to Canada, knowing the long-term benefits for my family, my
career and my life, especially given the unpredictable situation in Africa in the
sixties.
This
decision, in retrospect, was the most difficult, yet correct decision. My son
graduated from Brown and Stanford Universities and is now a Californian
physician. He is also an academic physician for Dartmouth and Stanford Medical
schools. He is in addition, a physician for the USA Oakland “A” football team.
My daughter graduated from Harvard Medical School, and is an academic physician
at Harvard and North-western Medical Schools. Both are sports’ enthusiasts,
having achieved the Canadian Swimming National Level status. They both did
humanitarian work in Kenya and India, and they both have an intrinsic
understanding about our cherished lives in Africa.
As we, the
African sports’ enthusiasts reunite around the world, we are in unison about our
sporting heritage, which gave us the solid foundation in all realms for our
successes in life.
Many of us
are professionals and business owners. I owe my success as an educational consultant
and achievement of my doctoral degree to my formidable grounding in sports in
Africa. I
have also coached many high school and university teams in field hockey in the
United States and Canada, transferring my love for sports and Africa to the
youth of today.
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