Q&A – Francisco Colaço Xavier | Participant on the Gathering of Macanese Communities: ‘If people were away long enough they probably would not recognize Macau’

Seattle resident Francisco Colaço Xavier, a first-time participant  in the triennial Gathering of Macanese Communities, shared with the Times his ideas and feelings about the event, the community and the memories of Macau’s “Old Days” on the sidelines of the event’s welcoming dinner. The Macanese diaspora meeting concludes today.

Macau Daily Times (MDT) – You mentioned that this is your first time attending the “Gathering” – what made you decide to come this time?

Francisco Colaço Xavier (FCX) – Well, to start, I would say that everybody in my family has attended most of them (if not all of them). So I decided, since I retired [this year], I must come to one at least. So I did and I’m finding long-lost relatives and friends that I haven’t seen for a while, mostly cousins that moved away to Brazil and friends that I grew up with here, and that is so wonderful.

MDT – Was that your main objective, to find long-lost friends and relatives?

FCX – To be completely honest, my priority was to eat the food (which I came here to do) but it turns out that meeting long-lost friends and family was more exciting and more fulfilling. I was told that I would find a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time and even meet relatives that I didn’t even know about, but I always thought that was secondary as I wanted to eat [Macanese food] first – but it turned out just the opposite.

MDT – How do you feel about meeting these people?

FCX – I’m really excited and I have lots of pictures and stories to take back home to tell my mother and everybody there. I have pictures of people in our family that they haven’t seen since they were little.

MDT – How long had you been away from Macau? How do you see the changes of its landscape and people?

FCX – Although this is my first “Encontro” [Gathering] I have been coming to Macau more or less regularly. I have been here before in April and May this year and also last December, and I’m planning to come back again in January next year because I have friends and relatives that live in Hong Kong as well, and I do site trips to mainland China. I do believe that if people were away long enough they probably would not recognize Macau at all. When I was little, all my relatives lived here and I used to come often just to pass some time. It was so different, I remember especially how quiet it was, like a “Little Europe”… cobblestones… everybody knew everybody or they were related. I’d gone away: first, I grew up in Hong Kong and then moved to the U.S., but I returned regularly because I used to work for the airlines and would often fly to Hong Kong. I would make some “special trips” to Macau to see my “Tios” [uncles] and as I walked around, I saw the changes happening so quickly – I miss the old Macau! And I’m even disappointed with the extent of some of these changes. I see that people from many other countries came in and changed it and made it too commercial. It’s good progress but I miss the “old Macau.”

MDT – What positive surprises are there?

FCX – The people are still here! I like to see that! Yesterday I saw so many old friends – and I really mean old – that when they see each other they don’t even immediately recognize each other, but suddenly – bang! – they are embracing and hugging. That’s the “old Macau” I remember. In the old Macau, everybody hugged each other every day. We don’t see that now. As I walk around, I still see things from the old days and that makes me a little happy, but yeah, it’s not the same!

MDT – Are these “Gatherings” also opportunities to discuss the community and its own development?

FCX – Most definitely! It’s such a great opportunity for everybody to come back from all over the world and relive the old days, remember those feelings and through those, orient new ideas and projects for the future.