Seafarer sells chicken to weather the storm in life

DIANA FERNANDES | NT

Margao: The coronavirus pandemic snatched the job of   Joslino Xavier Rebello,  who   had worked for 12 years scaling up  to the position of a restaurant manager on  a  cruise liner.

But Rebello turned the adversity into an opportunity. He came back to Goa and opened a chicken selling shop at  Seraulim.

Undeterred by the job loss, Rebello rolled up his sleeves to do something of his own in his village of Seraulim. He started ‘Jos Chicken Centre’ in February this year, selling fresh chicken,  frozen food, homemade vinegar and dried fish.

“I had always wanted to start a business of my own – either a general store or something similar. It is unfortunate that COVID has affected the hospitality industry the worst. For the past one year, the cruise industry and seafarers associated with it have been the worst hit. Being the only breadwinner in the household, I had to think of something to keep the household going,”  Rebello says. 

With the support of his wife, family,  the village panchayat and villagers, Rebello along with his friend Sachin Fernandes set up the chicken shop.

As the second wave of the pandemic hit Goa, Rebello stepped up his efforts to help his community in the best way he could.

He introduced a delivery service of essentials from his shop to the homes of customers,  who are ordering  their essentials through the mobile phone.

Rebello says that the home delivery service  has helped many people especially senior citizens who find it difficult to leave their homes to buy the essentials.

Now that the business has been established and the income has become steady, Rebello is thinking of  going  back to his first calling, but only to fund the second one.

“It’s a tricky situation. But I suppose I will go back to take my future forward. I would like to expand the business in this industry and get into cold storage. But I also understand that all of that would require capital,” he says.

Rebello advises his fellow-seafarers to take risks and challenges.

“A lot of our seafarers don’t have Plan B. they  don’t want to take  risk. I would like to tell them that it is time we started taking risks. No job is small, no job is low. Every person has his or her  own strengths… Every individual is different and can do the best with what they have. This should be the mindset with which we should move forward,”  says Rebello.

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