PANJIM: Believe it or not, the urge to acquire a Portuguese passport and earn in British Pounds has not just taken Goans to London in search work but has left villages bereft of males, with mostly girls shouldering the man’s responsibility.
This stark reality came to light when residents of Merces approached the organisers of a 3-day fete to inform them to cancel competitions which were to be organised during the church fete scheduled from April 26.
The church is organising the annual 3-day fete where competitions were announced for couples from the village, but the organisers of the fete had to cancel some of the competitions meant for couples as the villagers informed the organisers that most of the boys from the village have either left for London or other countries for better prospects and there are now mostly girls in the village.
The organisers of the fete have now decided to change the competitions from couples to pairs (girl-girl or boy-boy).
A villager who has three sons working in London said, “It is a frightful scenario but with my sons working aboard they are in a position to repair our ancestral house. When they were in Goa they were just loitering around but at least by going abroad they have improved themselves.”
A similar scenario was played out in Taleigao some months ago when a dance organised by the villagers saw a poor response from the villagers as the village boys have left home for better prospects.
When Herald spoke to a resident from Taleigao he said that if one walks in the village in the evenings one will mostly see only girls or migrant workers around.
A mother of two girls said she is afraid to send her daughters out for even small errands in the evenings as there are mostly non-Goans who sometimes pass comments at not only her daughters but at other girls or women.
