One Goan’s journey from childhood to realm of elders

At the heart of American writer Lois Lowry’s futuristic children’s novel The Giver are two central characters: the Receiver and the Giver. They have lived in a community where there is no war, suffering, colour, sex, music or love.

There is no greed or any of the seven deadly sins. This is the ultimate sanitised society.

One boy is nominated every few generations or so to receive the community’s collective memory from the ageing Giver who knows just about everything there is to know about all the wars, genocide, crimes — everything that is wrong and everything that is right. The Giver is the sole archive, the memory bank, and has instant recall.

My friend Tony Reg D’Souza, a former teacher among other things, is somewhat of a “giver”, in the sense that his memory of Goan history in East Africa, especially Kenya is admirable. Given his years, his instant recall is the stuff of wonderment.

In the absence of any formally written history, individual memory, books by people like Peter Nazareth (In Brown Mantle, for example) and Braz Menezes (Matata triology), JM Nazareth’s own biographical work – Brown Man Black Country – the contributions and historical records of Mervyn Maciel on Kenya serve as important documents that capture the story of the Goan community in East Africa.

Mervyn, once a civil servant in colonial Kenya, is the author of two books. Bwana Karani (1985) is about his experiences as a civil servant while From Mtoto to Mzee (2014) is his more recent contribution on one Goan’s journey from childhood to the realm of elders.

Bwana Karani quite rightly won accolades in a niche market: the Goan community, former Kenyan civil servants and the curious few who were enchanted by the Swahili title of the book.

COMMENDABLE EFFORT

From Mtoto to Mzee, however, may lack the wider readership his entrée attracted, mainly because it is a personal anthology, akin to the words that often paint on the canvas of family trees. Nonetheless, it is a commendable effort from someone who is like a “Giver” in the colonial and Kenyan context.

It is always very rewarding to hear Mervyn talk about his experiences as clerk in what was then known as the Northern Frontier District (now northern Kenya) at a time when whites and Goans were rare in the area. The Frontier was inhabited by Somalis, Boran, Rendile, Gabra and a few other ethnic groups.

However, the neighbouring Somalia, to this day, maintains that north-eastern Kenya was “stolen” from its territory by the British colonialists, and a constant state of unrest continues to ravage the region.  Northern Kenya is semi-desert — hot and sometimes drier than the Sahara — but it is rich in local folklore, music, anthropological history, the rugged beauty of earth and people that are as fierce as they are gentle, tormented and sometimes at peace with themselves amid the unrest.

I met Mervyn for lunch in London in July this year for the first time and, at the age of 85 years, his mind and memory are sharper than the point of a needle.

I knew his late brother Wilfred in Kenya (we supped many a Tusker lager). He was quite a brilliant advertising man and his CV would include meetings with some of the most important politicians of the day, including first President Jomo Kenyatta.

From Mtoto to Mzee is Mervyn’s safari as he takes you through the many roads that made up his life: from early childhood, schooling  and life in India and Goa to beginning a new life in Kenya.

He will take you sightseeing in some of the most splendid towns in northern Kenya. He will let you peep into his bachelor days, falling in love and marriage, the tragedy of losing a child (and, much later, his brother Wilfred), life in the White Highlands (reserved for white farmers) of Kenya, a rude awakening in Zanzibar, farewelling Kenya with tears and living in a manyatta in Sutton, UK.

The refreshing thing is that he writes like he talks and he calls it as he sees it — but sticks like superglue to the stuff he knows without veering off. I am sure, also, the Colonial Service Code of Ethics has ensured that he practises the utmost discretion because he does not divulge any juicy indiscretions, gossip or secrets he must have come face-to-face with in his long career.

You will not get an expose on this safari. What you do get is an honest story — with limits. I make this point because his story is devoid of politics, rebellion or crime. Mervyn is indeed a talented man and a raconteur who tells a good story every time he writes or speaks. Enjoy the safari.

The writer is a former Nation journalist (1960-1974), who now lives in Sydney, Australia