TEAM?HERALD?
PANJIM:Jerome Mendes was born in Goa in the 40s and as a Portuguese citizen he was named Jeronimo Cirilo Mendes. He lived in Goa for six years with his mother Mariana Goes Mendes and grandfather Manuel Manuel Francisco Mendes, as his father, Menino Santano Mendes, emigrated to East Africa, a British colony, for employment. Many Goans were given jobs in East Africa because they spoke fluent English and worked as clerks and PAs to British government officers.. And as with so many Goan families they built schools and clubs for Goans there.
Jerome’s memories during his six years in Goa are of seeing Portuguese soldiers and being so frightened that he used to hide in the bushes. His mother used to send him walking from Ambebag to Verna to learn Portuguese at a nursery where they used to teach ABC in Portuguese. But he never learned Portuguese as he left Goa on a British ship, the SS Karanja, for Mombasa and then on to Nairobi in Kenya. Jerome schooled in Nairobi at Dr Ribeiro’s Goan High School, and afterwards as his father could not pay his school fees, sought a job.
With great difficulty, Jerome was employed as a post boy doing filing and posting letters. He was later employed at a tea growing company, James Finlay (now Tata Finlay) with factories in India. Ken, his boss, decided to send him to college after work. He learned shorthand and typing and good English and Swahili, the African language.
From a post boy Jerome became personal assistant to the general manager of Finlays, Sir Collin Campbell. The company used to give him overseas leave and after three years of service Jerome brought his mother and two brothers to Goa to see their roots in 1961, just before Liberation. He encouraged his mother to buy land in Verna to build a house. The house was built in 1964 and named Villa Sharon (because after four generations they had a first girl born to Jerome and his wife Anastasia, Sharon!). They lived at Villa Sharon whenever they visited Goa from the UK where they now live. Jerome tells everyone he meets that ‘India is my country but Goa is my mother!’
Jerome celebrates the feast of St. Francis Xavier every year for the past 20 years at his Leonoras restaurant at Verna.
