GOA MAROONS BID FAREWELL TO RAYMOND DSA
Goan Overseas Association – Kuwait (Goa Maroons) recently
organized a farewell for our long serving president Raymond D’Sa at the Royal
Terrasse Restaurant in Salmiya to felicitate and bid goodbye to an icon of the
club as well as an important member of the Goan Community in Kuwait.
The well attended get-together with club members and their
families, patrons, well-wishers of the club, and affiliates of Kuwait Indian Football
Federation (KIFF) featured farewell speeches by Ex KIFF presidents Fidelis
Fernandes, and V. K Vohra. Tony Alphonso the president of United Goans
Center spoke about Raymond’s contribution to soccer and ended with a beautiful
rendition of ‘May the good Lord bless and keep you’.
Others who spoke and paid glowing tributes to Raymond were his
daughter Ivy Correa who traveled all the way from the US along with her
daughter Megan, Charles D’Sa a local business man and patron of the club and
Steven Correia the captain of Goa Maroons.
While receiving a memento from the Club, an emotional Raymond thanked
the club and all his well-wishers for the support he received over the years. In his
farewell speech he remembered the good old days when he first came to Kuwait
many many years ago…. 58 years to be precise.
He recalled the good times and the bad times and hoped that the
Association would continue to be in the forefront of sports and social
activities.
They say parting is such sweet sorrow and although we will
surely cross paths in Goa, where he plans to settle down with occasional trips
to the United States to visit his children, I feel it is important to chronicle
the timeline of this simple yet very influential and important man who contributed
to the well-being of his family as well as others in Kuwait.
Kuwait 1958 - 2017
Those days, after the discovery of oil, Kuwait was just
opening up and many Goans had already moved here. Working in the Middle East was considered an
achievement during that time and Raymond remembers distantly the well dressed,
perfume smelling, foreign cigarette smoking neighbors and friends who came back
on holidays and the decision to work in Kuwait was made quite easily. Assumption used his influence with the Company
he was working in, to get his visa and it arrived soon after by mail. The journey to Kuwait took almost a month
with Raymond first having to travel to Daman, Diu and then to Karachi by
steamer to get an endorsement (term used those days), on the passport by a Political
Agent as was required then. The initial journey
took seven days and he spent a further seven days in Karachi to get his visa
formalities for Kuwait done. The sea
route to Kuwait lasted 14 days with ports of call in Muscat and Bahrain, and finally
on the 7th of October 1958 he arrived in Kuwait.
Staying with his brother Assumption, Raymond immediately got
a job with Albert Abela Supermarket as an accountant thanks to a fellow Goan,
Raymond D’Souza from Tivim. He met
D’Souza while playing soccer close to where they were staying near the Kharafi
compound in Kuwait city. Reminiscing those good old days, he informed me that
his starting salary was Rs.550/-(the currency in Kuwait those days was Rupees) and
considered pretty good during that time.
Sports being one of his passions, having won quite a few accolades in
school in athletics and soccer, Raymond remember the little mud ground they
played on. Incidentally, I too after my
arrival to Kuwait in 1977 started playing football in Kuwait on the Kharafi
grounds.
With not much else happening in Kuwait those days and having
spare time in the evenings, Raymond who always wanted to do better, a trait he
carries until today, started sending out
applications to different companies and Banks hoping to improve on his job
position. Working in a bank was always
his dream even as a little child, and he remembers how he used to go with his
mother to the Banco Nacional (Portuguese Bank) and look
in awe at the employees working in the bank cashing out bundles of notes to people. His persistence to better his life instead of
being stuck in one job, got him his big break and he was called for an
interview at the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK). Those days, there were only two reputed
banks in Kuwait, NBK and The British Bank of ME. Under a mostly British management, Raymond
was able to answer the interview and written test successfully and was called
to work from the next day itself.
Starting salary was Rs.500/- plus 30% bonus paid every three
months. When I asked what did with his
first salary? “Sent it to my mother of
course” was his immediate response.
Mary D’Sa and children
The greatest tragedy in Raymond’s life was the death of his
wife Mary who passed away in 2012. A very
elegant and friendly person, Mary took ill all of a sudden in 2001 and although
she did recover temporarily, she finally succumbed to cancer. It was during these difficult times that the
character of Raymond really came to the fore.
From countless trips to the hospital to follow up on her treatment to taking
care of her when she was completely bedridden for over a year in his house. This would have been a test for anyone, but
Raymond handled it with great dignity and patience. The love he shared with his wife and his
family really shone during those testing times.
Where did you first meet Mary I inquired? ‘Ours was a childhood friendship’ he informed
me sheepishly. Fair, observant and good
looking, he went on to tell me how beautiful Mary was. They grew up in the same
village, went to the same school as children, and their friendship grew and continued
over the years. They were married in
1964 and she joined him in Kuwait within a few months.
Their first child, Ivy was born in 1966 and after completing
her schooling in Kuwait, she continued further studies in USA. She is now happily married to Vincent Correia
and they are blessed with three children and living in Portland. Reynold was born in 1969 and he too pursued
his studies in the US and today is doing well for himself and living close to
Ivy. Married to an American, they have
one child. Melanie the youngest and
Raymond says with a twinkle in his eye, the naughty one who bears a striking
resemblance to her mother, is also in Austin Texas and is married with two
children.
Invasion of Kuwait and thereafter
When Kuwait was invaded on 2nd August 1990, Ivy
and her husband Vincent were in the US on their honeymoon and Reynold was
studying in New York. Melanie remained
with them in Kuwait and the three of them took the long hazardous journey to India
via Baghdad, no man’s land and Amman like most other Indians in Kuwait that
time. Recalling one of his most
frightful incidents while in Kuwait during the invasion, Raymond informed me
that he and Mary had been to a friend’s house in Jabriya, when some men surrounded
them and one of them put a gun to his chest and told him to leave his car and
go. Without arguing, he left the car in
their possession and hastily left the place with Mary. I was startled when he informed me that he
continued to work in the Bank during the invasion until the day they quietly
left without informing along with the rest of their close family members.
In November 1990, after spending a couple of months in Goa
where Melanie went to St. Mary’s Convent in Mapusa, Raymond got a call from the
bank to travel to New York to work in the NBK branch there. Already having a US visa as his children
studied there, he departed immediately
and worked for six months in New York and a month in London, until his return to Kuwait in June 1991 after
liberation. One of the reasons, NBK
valued his service was the fact that he had a very strong memory and was aware
of many functions of his department which was an asset to the management. Since then, he continued working in the bank
until the day he retired, 30th March 2017, holding the position of Asst.
General Manager in the department he worked.
Goan Overseas Association / Goa Maroons and the community
Goan Overseas Association was founded in 1979 when the first
United Goans Tournament was organized. A
few like-minded Goans from Bardez (mostly ex-students from St. Joseph’s
Arpora) including Dominic Correia,
Assumption D’Sa, Peter D’Souza, Pascoal Soares, John Felix, Gabrial Soares and Veronica Fernandes who was part of the
Salmiya Youth team decided to form their
own soccer team and Raymond remembers
that it was Veronica who proposed the name of G.O.A (Goan Overseas Association)
for the team. Raymond was elected
President and the team was made up of mostly players from the Salmiya Youth
team and others. G.O.A had so many
players, that the club fielded three teams, Goa Maroons, Goa White and Goa
Green, with Goa Maroons having the most senior and valuable players. The first major trophy won by G.O.A was the
famous ‘Forest of Dean’ trophy organized by Hubara Club and featuring teams
from different nationalities and played in Ahmadi.
G.O.A played United Goans Centre in the finals of this
prestigious tournament after beating Jabriya Aces (mostly Britishers), while
United Goans Centre also beat the powerful Hubara Club (Britishers &
Kuwaitis) in the semifinals.
Incidentally, I played in this tournament for United Goans Centre and so
distinctly remember that it was easily the best attended final by two Indian
teams in Kuwait. G.O.A went on to lift
the Forest of Dean trophy winning the final in the tie breaker.
In 1983 Kuwait Indian Football Federation (KIFF) was formed, and G.O.A’s senior team
‘Goa Maroons’ went on to win numerous tournaments under his president-ship of
Raymond and today is considered one of the best Indian soccer teams in
Kuwait.
Over the years he has been a great champion of Indian Soccer in
Kuwait and in his usual demeanor he has financially helped other clubs, people
in distress and the community whenever the need arose.
Moving on
77 now, and in sound health, Raymond is a health freak. Regularly visiting the doctor and following
up on his diet and exercise, he has maintained good health and fitness. When I inquired what will be his future
plans, he replied ‘No plans as such’ but certainly will not venture into any
business. He plans to spend this time
shuttling to the States to visit his children and doing community service in
his village in Nagoa where he hopes to support youngsters and promote soccer.
After living 58 fruitful years in Kuwait and having done his
bit to the community, the next part of his journey I am sure will be as
fulfilling, Here’s wishing him all the
very best in life.
Julio
Cardoso
Kuwait
12/6/2017
