18. Lazarus Fernandes – Goan Hero

Written by his children – Lt. Colonel Dr. Lactancio Fernandes (USA Air Force), Mrs. Joan Lobo (Fernandes), Ms. Astrid Fernandes, Dr. Mitelia Fernandes, Ms. Yasmin Fernandes.

Our father, the late Mr. Lazarus Fernandes was an avid member of the Goan community in Goa, Africa and Canada. He was staunch in his belief about forging a strong Goan community wherever he lived.

He was instrumental in the formative founding of the Dr. Ribeiro Goan School, with his cousin, Dr. A.C.L. De Sousa. He was on the School’s Board of Governors for many years. He was also instrumental with Dr. De Sousa, in the founding of the newspaper the East African Goan Voice. Mr. Fernandes was also a founder of the Railway Goan Institute and the Goan Institute in East Africa in its formative years, emanating from Namasagali in rural East Africa.

Mr. Lazarus Fernandes was an avid sportsman, excelling in various sports in his youth, and continuing his passion, later in life in his seventies. He excelled in soccer, tennis, badminton and cricket. His passion was contagious, his wife Ms. Lourdina Fernandes and all his children participated in various sports at both local and national levels.

His legacy was continued when his children, Astrid Fernandes excelled in Track and Field events and Field Hockey, reaching representative levels in both sports in Kenya and Canada. Both, Yasmin Fernandes and Joan Lobo played field hockey and badminton at the local level in Kenya and Canada. His daughter, Dr. Mitelia Paul (Fernandes) excelled in track and field, badminton and field hockey in Kenya and Canada, also reaching representative levels. Dr. Lactancio Fernandes excelled in track and field and soccer in England.

To carry on their grandfather’s sporting legacy, Mr. Lazarus Fernandes’ grandchildren, Mr. Ivan De Sousa played for the Canadian Junior National Field

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The Goan players on the East African team. Standing: Theresa Mendonca, Nancy Agard, Mitelia Fernandes. Kneeling: Bertha Fernandes. Seated: Harjeet Sandhu, Ella Gomes, Delphine Francis.

Hockey Team, and played around the world for Canada. His cousins, Dr. Rowan Paul and Dr. Raina Paul attained Canadian National Level in Swimming, and eventually swam in the USA NCAA Division 1 swimming championship. Dr. Rowan Paul is also a Hapkido Black Belt champion in the USA. My brother’s children, too, were superb swimmers in the USA.

Dr. Faye Fernandes, Dr. Paul Fernandes, Dr. Victoria Fernandes, Dr. Diane Fernandes and Mr. Joe Fernandes all swam for the State of Mississippi Swim Team; they were also participants in the NCAA Division 1 competition in the USA. Additionally, they are active patriotic USA Air Force members risking their lives in Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey. Akin to their grandfather Mr. L. Fernandes, who sacrificed his career selflessly in the East African Railways, in the late 1940s, by working with Dr. A.C.L. De Sousa to obtain British colony pensions for the Kenyan Railways workers.

Both Mitelia and Raina achieved the Premier of Ontario and the Government of Ontario’s highest sporting award for athletic performance in amateur sports in Ontario, Canada.

Mr. Lazarus Fernandes continued his passion for a strong Goan community in

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Canada. He, together with his children, were founding members of the Goan Overseas Association in Canada from 1968 to 1970. Mr Fernandes was a guiding force through the many formative meetings with the three official founding leaders of the Toronto Goan Overseas Association, Mr. R. Fernandes, Mr. A. Vaz and Mr. W. Monteiro (the latter two being his cousins). Mr. Lazarus Fernandes’ daughters were the founders of the flagship of the GOA, the GOA Women’s Field Hockey Team in Toronto in the early seventies.

The Goan Overseas Association is now a strong organization, its membership emanating from approximately fifty plus in the formative years in the seventies to thousands in 2017. The late Mr. Lazarus Fernandes would indeed be proud of not only his family, but the Goan community in Canada.

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