Special people

Very Special People….in no particular order…

My Indian landlord Vivek is one of the kindest people I know. Working out of the USA, Bhutan and India Vivek concentrates much of his efforts enhancing and enriching the lives of children on an international scale. He has been an avid supporter of Xanders Children’s Fund since it’s inception. Vivek’s Father Shri Manglorkar Senior is also a fabulous man whom I have spent many timess chatting to on the balcony of Bananaville

Very dear friends Varun and Blanche are both dental surgeons with several clinics around Goa. Varun is also a musician with whom I have had many a musical experience both in UK and in India. One of the last engagements I had before leaving India was to attend their wedding in a little church near Margao. The service was fittingly beautiful for these very special friends.

Four young university graduates Laura, Emily, Harriet and Katie went over to India to volunteer at Kiran Niketan Primary School on behalf of Xanders Children’s Fund to the delight of our 250 children and became The India Girls . Their experiences are well documented on Xanders Website (click on the link to the side of this blog) and they clearly made an amazing impact on the children and staff. Katy continues to be an active member of Team Xander raising funds, promoting our profile and ethos and editing our website.

Francis Xavier shares the same name as the patron saint of Goa and is a real saint in my eyes. An old friend since about 1997 Francis has managed both our restaurant Limeys,and our charity (Xanders Children’s Fund) with a passion and continues to do so. Unassuming to the eye he is absolutely indispensable to me and my relationship with India and someone I will always consider a very close friend.

Commander Clifford is a Harrier Jump Jet pilot in the Indian Navy and he, and his wife Radhika, are firm friends. Between their very busy schedules they find time to do magic shows for the children at Kiran NIketan Primary School. Their son Kevin also does a few tricks and as a family they truly are lovely people.

Sheila and Joe are our oldest and best friends. They’ve been there for us and we’ve been there for them, good times and bad times. Having just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary they’re on holiday as I type and I hope they have a great time because they richly deserve it.

Chloe and Selwyn got married in Goa and had their reception at our restaurant. A few months later Chloe said she needed something to do and so I enlisted her as a volunteer teacher at Kiran Niketan Primary School. Chloe has truly enriched the lives of our little cherubs and grown to love the work she does.

I first met Manjula when she was about a year old; she is now 17. Over the years we communicated after a fashion in my pigeon Hindi and her pigeon English and are now able to have a good gas on the phone. In this picture she’s proudly wearing her English handkerchief dress which we gave her for her birthday. Carol and I became firm friends of the family (there are now 4 children, two boys Krishna and Kumar and another girl Pooja) and we are very close to them all. Trips to the cinema, restaurants, swimming etc are par for the course when we are in India.

My lovely niece Mia is the reason my autobiography ever happened. She pushed and nagged and pushed and nagged. Even today she pushes and nags and apart from loving her for who she is I’ll always love her for pushing and nagging. Having such a lovely niece is truly a blessing.

The Children of the African Village in the Gambia have witnessed some of the worst horrors of war including dreadful things happening to their parents including murder. Many of them were flown out of their native Sierra Lionne, an extremely violent country which I visited myself in 1974 and left with very bad memories. Many have HIV/AIDS and/or other serious medical issues and all are mentally scarred. The incredible thing about these children though is their ability to smile regardless of the things that have happened to them. Shortly after my visit in 2004 I was instrumental in helping one young man Babouka escape his life of violence and poverty and start afresh in safety