Sandra Mazurkewich Henley

Sandra Mazurkewich Henley, a trained Clinical Psychologist, is originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. She has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Saskatchewan. She now lives in a house next to the beach at Cane Garden Bay. Along with her husband Elroy Henley she operates “Mongoose Apartments¹”, where “our only high rises are palm trees”. Mongoose Apartments is a holiday guesthouse complex of six apartments (with more being built) on the landward side of the main road through ‘Cane’, “a three minute stroll through a palm grove from the beach” (www.mongooseapartments.com ). Sandra and Elroy “designed, built, and maintain” the apartments on land that Elroy’s mother used to farm when Tortola was in a different era of development. Sandra is now a ‘belonger’.

Sandra originally came to the BVI on vacation in 1983. A friend recommended these islands, as a “non-resort” kind of place, which was safe for a single woman, was politically stable, and where people spoke English. She originally came for a month, and then for six weeks (twice), staying at Sebastian’s at Little Apple Bay. By then she had realised that this was where she wanted to live, and she moved here and got a job, living at first in Long Bay. Dr. Orlando Smith (later the First Minister of the BVI) helped to get her a contract position as a clinical psychologist with the government. While waiting for her work permit to come through she traveled/backpacked in the Asia for much of a year, having taken a leave of absence from her Canadian position. She arrived here full-time in 1987, working for the BVI government in Roadtown for eight and a half years.

Sandra met Elroy, who had been to college in the USA and had worked in the USVI when he returned to Tortola, in 1989. They “got serious” in 1990, and began construction work on Mongoose Apartments in June 1991, first renting in January 1993. Since then they have had a successful business, although suffering like most companies over the past two years as a result of the world economic downturn. Although Sandra recognises that there has been both progress and change in the BVI it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two. In the past few years Sandra believes that the increasing number of cruise ships has hurt Cane Garden Bay as a place, and made it less desirable for a business such as hers – which sells itself as a place of “peace and tranquility”. Although the beach is still public – like all beaches in the BVI, people are making ‘private money’ from the ‘cruisers’, using the beach while putting little back in terms of upkeep and preservation. Some of the natural environment of the settlement, including some salt ponds, has been destroyed by the “progress” that has taken place.

Although Cane Garden Bay is still for the most part locally run and owned, another major change that Sandra has seen in her two decades on Tortola has been an increase in the number of people coupled with an increasing Americanisation of the island. But she agrees that the use of the US dollar in the BVI makes sense. This cultural change has particularly coincided with the growth of the financial services industry in the BVI. This has led to a loss of culture and values, an increase in materialism and a drive “for more dollars”. In addition this challenge for the local population becomes ever greater as the proportion of BV Islanders declines.

There are cultural losses also as the number of black and white expats increases, as many of these migrants only plan to stay for a few years, and don’t necessarily want to be here, and they change the local culture without having a major stake in it. Sandra also feels that there has been an increase in racism on the islands – from the point of view of both blacks and whites. When she came she was one of the few white people living “in the country (the rural areas and small settlements)”. Most whites were “boat people” or “hills people”. The residential segregation can increase problems. In addition, if the local people keep selling off their land to non-Islanders, the problems she perceives are likely to get worse, as land ownership has been a traditional major source of pride and identity for the belongers. If they lose the land they lose apart of the culture that distinguishes the BVI from other places in the Caribbean. So perhaps population growth has to be curtailed.

Sandra is disillusioned by some of the recent changes on Tortola – what she sees as a loss of the traditional values, of close knit community and family ties, and the loss of the leisurely pace of life – but then most likely the other places in the world have also changed drastically, for the worse in her opinion, in the recent years.  She enjoys sharing the beauty and culture of the BVI with the guests who stay at their vacation rentals.  She is thankful that the BVI is her home and feels privileged that through her profession she has met many people.  She believes that she has made a positive impact in the lives of her clients – even in the BVI people still have their own personal challenges.  As it is, Sandra sees “more of the same” in her future.

 1. The mongoose is an introduced species (Herpestes javanicus) in the BVI. It is a predator to several native species including some that are endangered.
 

Draft of March 29th 2010, of interview of March 24th, 2010.

Builders of Tortola Guide
Builders of Tortola Contents
Back to the Main Contents Page