John Everitt
Presents
Before the Wave
Building Tortola's "Patchwork Quilt"

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It is clear from the preceding “Background” document, “The BVI in the mid-1950s”, that the (British) Virgin Islands have changed immensely in recent years. This is a result of both external (“global”) influences, and internal (“local”) pressures. Simplistically, the people who have generated these internal change, the builders of the modern BVI, may be classified as ‘belongers’ and ‘non-belongers’. People tell me that there are different categories of belonger: those who have never left the islands, those who have left and not returned, those who have left and returned, and the children of expats. And perhaps there are others as well. Similarly non-belongers are divisible into ‘black expatriates’ mostly from other Caribbean societies, ‘white expatriates’ mostly from the United States, the United Kingdom, or Canada, and ‘other expatriates’ – from, for instance, Lebanon. Of course each of these categories could be further subdivided.

This web site will look at some of the stories of these ‘builders’ of what might be viewed as a ‘patchwork quilt’, where each person is an individual with their own story, but at the same time each of these individuals contributes to a larger whole. In large part as a convenience (in order to make more manageable my self-appointed task) I will be concentrating upon expats who lived and worked in the BVI for at least the 20 years prior to 2007 (i.e. coming to the Virgin Islands in 1987 or prior to that date) – which was the starting date of my project, and when I myself moved to Tortola as a more-or-less permanent resident. I will also occasionally be including the children of expats where this seems valuable and appropriate. Although this 1987 date is somewhat arbitrary, it does encompass all of the people who arrived on Tortola before the larger recent influx of expats, or ‘before the wave’ as some people term it. I will also include, where possible, people who are no longer available for interview, having left the BVI or died. Published obituaries of some the latter are included – when I could find these. In time it is hoped that the project can be expanded – for instance to include the many belongers who have built their own part of the Virgin Islands.

Draft of 17th July, 2014

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