Insider’s view of Kenya Goans before and after Uhuru
Recently, there has been a spurt in publishing
books on Goans in Africa.
Available from Balboa Publishing
Balboa
Press UK and AU
UK: 0800 0148647
AU: 1 800 844 925
I am not
very sure if there’s a renewed interest in the Goans who inhabited those parts
of Africa where they constituted a vibrant and astute group among the other
communities. It’s but natural that their stories need to be told and these
African Goans be understood in the context of their lives lived in foreign
nations for economic reasons and for the betterment of their own livelihood,
far from their homeland, Goa, and also other places in India where the Goans
lived to eke out a living.
The Goan
community in Kenya provides a symbolic lifestyle enjoyed by the Goan
communities in other nations, such as Uganda, Zanzibar, etc. The former Goan
diplomat and twice Indian high commissioner to Kenya, Placido P. D’Souza, wrote
in his forward to the book, Goans in Kenya, by Dr Tereza Albuquerque, “As
elsewhere, Goans had made their way to Kenya in quest of material improvement -
total lagoon - as employment and educational opportunities in Goa under
Portuguese colonial rule dwindled progressively.”
In the
book, while exploring the Goan presence in Kenya, she also gave glimpses of
Goan communities in other East African nations. Her all-round view of how Goans
experienced life and how they contributed to the growth of the community and
shared experiences with both the larger Indian diaspora and the locals gives
gave me a fairly good understanding of the progress made by Goans and how they
sustained Goan identity and culture in these places.
In sharp
contrast to Tereza’s historical perspective, comes an eye-witness account, plus
a sort of memoirs and love-affair account of the place of his birth, growing-up
and professional career as a newspaperman, from Cyprian Fernandes. From the
title of his book, Yesterday in Paradise, one gets a sense of his deep feelings
and love for the country and his sad and life-saving journey to England to
avoid the possibility of being killed in post-independent Kenya. As a
journalist, he was looked upon as a “man who knew too much.”
By all
accounts, the book, though it covers from 1950 to 1974, is a straightforward
account of how the author fared in Kenya before and after its independence from
the British. He is candid about admitting that he lived “by my wits and by the
seat of his pants.” He took the risks that come with being an investigative
reporter and, as Kenya woke up to its Uhuru in 1963, Cyprian faced the dilemma
of either staying on in Kenya or listening to his crying wife to save himself
and his family by running away to safer lands. His wife was worried and
traumatized when informed that her husband had a “bullet with his name on
it.”
I think
he did the right thing by fleeing to England and perhaps saving himself the
fate that befell Pio Gama Pinto and the agony that would accompany the family
if a bullet had taken away Cyprian’s life. He’s now happy to be “bathing his
mind” in sunny Sydney (Australia) and rightly dedicates the book to his wife,
Rufina.
Cyprian’s
telling of his story, born of a tailor and having lived his young life in the
shadow of poverty in the downtrodden areas of Eastleigh and dropping out of school-age
13, is heart-rending and, at the same time, awesome. He captures Kenya’s
natural landscape, its magnificent sights of mountains and gaming fields of
wild animals, with great munificence, and its political landscape, especially
the guerrilla movement, Mau Mau, with a critical and analytical perspective. He
doesn’t spare the African leaders who assumed power after the British left of
engaging in nefarious land-grabbing activities and engaging themselves in power
struggles with incessant internecine tribal wars.
In the
African context, Goans also behaved like a tribe, and Cyprian has invariably
touched upon the Goan class and caste-wars that resulted in the formation of
many Goan social clubs, and the St Francis Xavier Goan Tailors’ Society in
Nairobi. Goans considered themselves as second after the British in the social
hierarchy of African society and were proud to be called “black Portuguese” in
the early days of the migration. The author also pinpoints why the Goans didn’t
want to associate themselves with the Africans in their freedom struggle, as
that would mean going against the British and fearing deportation. They
faithfully served their masters, as Goans were looked favourably by the
British. With most working as Bwana Karani (Mr Clerk), Goans were the backbone
of the administration.
Commenting
on the politics of the day and some of the key Goans who played important
roles, he mentions the circumstances and occasions which he couldn’t do so when
he was with The Nation newspaper. His later posts as a parliamentary reporter
and his numerous trips with the Kenyan delegation to various political summits
and conferences gave him a ringside view of events as they unfolded in the new
Kenya. He also comments on events in Uganda, and the rise of Idi Amin who sent
Asians out of the country without batting an eyelid. Many Goans thank that such
an event took place, as it gave them and their children refuge in Canada and
UK.
Devoting
some chapters to sports and sportsmen, he recalls Goan contribution to the
sporting tradition of Kenya. Alongside the long-distance Kenyan runner,
Kipchoge Keino, Goan sprinter Seraphino Antao and his exploits are duly noted.
So is Kenya’s famed hockey team which had many Goans with excellent skills.
But more
than that Cyprian has given a fair account of the life and times of one of the
greatest of Goans in East Africa, Pio Gama Pinto. Spurned by many Goans as a
trouble-maker and also labelled a communist, Pio was a nationalist to the core.
Pio’s socialism was anathema to pro-Portuguese Goans. Pio and Fritz Eval
D’Souza, who is still living, wore nationalism on their sleeves. Pio was the
ideologue of Mau Mau, and was seen as the rival to Jomo Kenyatta, who led the
rebellion. The author quotes Fritz, the deputy speaker of parliament, saying
that the “powers-that-be” assassinated Pio, an MP, as Fritz recalled seeing
both Pio and Kenyatta arguing in the corridor of the parliament.
There was
a conspiracy of silence among the African leaders, including the half-caste
Goan, Joseph Murumbi Zuzarte, born of a Goan father and a Masaai mother, but
took on his mother’s identity. The hand of Kenyatta is suspected in the death
of some top African leaders, including Tom Mboya, who Kenyatta saw as a rival
to his political authority. Kenyatta was all-powerful as the president of the
newly born nation.
Despite
the book having a couple of extraneous essays, its relevance to understanding
the Goan sojourn in East Africa is indisputable.
(Eugene
Correia is a senior journalist)
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