Dolcy D’Cruz
‘Voicing the Unspeakable’, Auda Viegas’s new book reflects on her lifelong commitment to the welfare of women and children. The book is a continuation of her mission for equality, justice, human rights, and women’s empowerment, highlighting the courage of women and children who overcame silence, violence, and traditional societal conditioning to rebuild their lives. ‘Voicing the Unspeakable’, will be released at the Homegrown & Homemade Market, at Laban de Souza’s Farm, Nuvem, on Saturday, May 9, at 5 pm. Through the 45 chapters of the book, Auda Viegas, founder-president of the Bailancho Ekvott, presents the real-life stories of victims, examining what went wrong in their lives and how precautionary steps might have saved them from their tragic fate.
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Although she spent three years putting these stark realities into writing, the narratives are drawn from more than three decades of her work with people in distress, irrespective of the day or time. ‘Voicing the Unspeakable – Stories From Behind Closed Doors’ is a thought-provoking work that sheds light on the harsh realities and presents poignant stories of abuse, betrayal, exploitation, emotional trauma and the growing challenges posed by online deception and virtual abuse. Auda combines her experience as an educator and activist to advocate for justice, dignity, and empowerment, giving voice to the voiceless and encouraging society to confront uncomfortable truths that are too often left unspoken. Auda has 23 and a half years of experience in the field of education. She was a teacher by profession and served as the Principal of a Higher Secondary School in Velguem for 13 and a half years. She was also the Chief Paper Setter for English at the Goa SSC Board. Later, she took up a teaching position at a high school in Raia, where she worked for nine years. “The first seeds of my work started when I was teaching in Velguem as most of my students came from marginalised families and mining-worker communities,” says Auda. “In my house, we have daily hearings. People come to us regularly, and we listen to them, ask them what they would like to do, and support them in the decisions they make. We assist them in their quest for justice by helping them file complaints, guiding them through the trial, pre trial, and post-trial processes, and helping them seek compensation.
We also help find shelter for them, especially during difficult times,” she says. She adds, “I have done a lot of work as far as women affected by violence are concerned. I have three stories which are not just gender exclusive but they also have stories about men. This for me is a different because I’ve gone into what happens to men when it’s a long-distance marriage and how domestic violence cases are filed against them when they return to Goa only because they don’t want him in their life anymore. As a social activist and as a person committed to humanity more than more than just gender and children and environment, I should throw light on this.” One disturbing trend that stood out for Auda was teen pregnancies and teen runaway. “It’s a problem because teens don’t want to stay at home. They want to run away from home and they think of settling knowing fully well that there’s a law that protects them, both the Goa Children’s Act as well as the POSCO Act, they don’t understand the whole psychology. I’ve focused on that also because I feel parenting fails somewhere. Parents don’t give enough time at home to understand and relate with children. Parents are not even aware where the child is, with whom and where the child is going. In the old days, there used to be elders in the village, who would report if they saw something unusual in the behaviour of the children or if the child were somewhere doing something which they’re not supposed to do. Parents would take it happily, they tried to change their children. Today with nuclear families staying in cities, children are being exposed to cross culture. Today, attitudes of children also have changed. It is not only migrant children but even Goan families. Even trafficking is happening among Goan girls but it is swept under the carpet,” she informs. Auda had been part of the Samata Andolan during the demolition of the Babri Masjid and had been arrested ten times during Meta Strips protest as she was serving as a woman leader at the time.
However, one of her proudest achievements was working for the welfare of widows whose husbands had served on merchant ships during the World War II. She explains, “Many of the ships had been taken over by the navy during the war and were later torpedoed, resulting in the deaths of the men on board. Their wives were left as young widows in 1944, but because their husbands had worked on merchant ships, they were not entitled to pensions. Through the efforts of Eduardo Faleiro and the Bailancho Ekvott, a struggle was carried out to secure pensions for these women, which they eventually received with retrospective effect.” Auda’s father Luis Alex Viegas, was a sailor whose ship was also torpedoed. He survived by floating in the sea on a plank for three days, and the prolonged exposure to water left him deaf. “He was not highly educated but he was a great man. He saw to it that three of us, my two brothers, late Adv Albano and Adv Anacleto and I got sufficient education. I got my mother’s heart as she had a heart to give. My father treated me like a boy. Even the name he chose for me comes from audacity, he coined ‘Auda’. He was a very intelligent and a self-made man. He was not qualified much but he saw to it that we succeeded. His father died when he was four years old. He was a strong person, he wanted us to be somewhere and I hope we have done for him what he wanted us to do for the society,” says Auda. Her first book was ‘Diary of a Servant’ in 2015 which was based on similar stories of women and children affected by violence and how they can make themselves strong and come out of it. ‘Co-parenting Plan – A guide for separated/divorced parents’ was a guide because of her experience with divorced and separated parents. “I had gone to New Zealand where I came across their ministry for peace and what arrangements they make for children of separated and divorced parents. The guide was also based on my experience here because I worked as a person who takes charge of visiting rights.
The court says the child has to be visited by the opposite parent. Sometimes, the visiting rights were given in my office. Sometimes, I had to accompany the child to the other parent’s house. The parent who has custody of the child tries to keep the other parent away from gaining love and affection of the child. So in the whole process, the child suffers. The child doesn’t get love or hope which is intuitive. Based on that, I had written the guide,” explains Auda. Last year, she released ‘A Silent Inveterate Serial Killer – A product of ‘chalta hai society’ where she wrote about Mahanand Naik. Published by Qurate, the book will be available at The Dogears Bookshop and Confidant at Margao.
