Angelika (Geli) Maynard

Geli was born in Berlin, but moved to Ireland when she was four years old. She now lives in Fahie Hill with a great view over Roadtown and the southern cays. She previously lived for several years in the East End, near the Queen Elizabeth Bridge, with a view of Beef Island. Her journey from Ireland to the BVI – where she is now a “Belonger” - is quite fascinating.

Back in 1979 Geli, a teacher by training, and her ‘then-partner’ were running a seafood restaurant in Ireland. One day, in the restaurant, they met some people from the BVI and decided to check out Tortola. They visited the island in September 1979, decided it was the place for them, but had to return to their restaurant. Geli’s partner then came back to check out the prospects of running a business here. He gave himself six weeks to do this. As there was little in the way of telephone connections in those days, they agreed to use a coded telegram to signal the possibilities. Red would mean ‘no chance’, Orange was ‘maybe’, and Green was ‘Go’. When the telegram arrived, the code word was Green and Geli settled up their life in Ireland as much as she could and flew out to Tortola with her five year old son Finian to help start up a charter boat operation. Winters would be in the BVI with summers back with the restaurant in Ireland. Geli has always been a “nomadic” person (“home is in my head”), and thus such a total transformation of her life didn’t phase her at all.

Although Geli had never spent much time on boats her partner had, and she soon learned. They got a boat that ‘needed work’ and fixed it up for chartering. He was captain, she was cook. They followed their original plan for a time, ‘commuting’ back and forth to Ireland, but eventually gave up the restaurant and became full-time Tortolans. The BVI had better weather, and better taxes. They continued with their charter operation for the following seven years. For a time, in order to help ‘make ends meet’ they chartered out of, lived on, and ‘caretakered’ Marina Cay, then owned by American, Gene and Ruth Tonkonogy

Geli loved the sailing scene of thirty years ago, but wouldn’t want to do it now. Back then sailing was “run by sailors” and not “by people with money”. It was “more real”. Due to their nomadic life (on the boat) and due to limited educational facilities on Tortola at that time, Geli home schooled Finian before he went to St. George’s School as well as one of the precursors of Cedar School, to further his education. He later went away to Antilles School, a well-known ‘independent school’ in St. Thomas, USVI (http://www.antilles.vi/). While growing up, Finian also learned a lot about water sports and boating. He tried windsurfing when he was seven and a few years later made it a career choice (he became a ‘pro’ at age fifteen, and a full-time pro at 18!). He is now a six-time speed windsurfing world champion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finian_Maynard).

Meanwhile, back on Tortola, a career change saw Geli’s partner working in construction, and Geli running a couple of bistros. She later got involved in teaching in a literacy programme at the (old Main Street) Prison and did this twice a week for a couple of years. She helped bring her students up to GED (General Equivalency Diploma) level as well as counseling them. She also wrote a “White Paper” for the government based upon her experiences with the system. Geli then moved on to help run, with local church members, Family Monday Nights which later morphed into the Family Support Network which “offers support to all members of the community who experience or are victims of the many major crises that can occur within family life”. Geli was “the academic” of this group, later training to be a legal mediator in order to help resolve legal cases. She also acted, at times, as a translator in court. She remembers a number of breakthroughs and highlights in her ‘social career’. One involved helping to mediate a long-standing land dispute within a local family – one of many that have resulted fro Tortola’s unique landownership challenges. She now concentrates her time working for the Tourist Board, as a trouble-shooter, helping to settle a variety of complaints between tourists and people in tourism, and has done this successfully for the past decade.

The last thirty years have seen tremendous change in the BVI – both for the better and for the worse. Geli is not keen on the new higher buildings, preferring life when nothing was taller than the tallest palm tree. She also believes that sea life has decline from the time she first arrived. The number and size of fish have both diminished. So has the variety of shells on the beach. Boats now all have holding tanks, but are they using them?

On land, the number of roadways has increased, and although this has improved communications, the number of new roads built long before any housing seems to unnecessarily scar the landscape. The airport is “stunning” but other ports of entry have not kept up and are not welcoming for tourist. There is also a problem with litter and the ongoing issue of abandoned cars.

However, the College (HLSCC) has improved educational prospects for many people, although a lot of young scholars still go overseas for their training. But all this has helped to build a new forward-thinking Middle Class in the BVI, particularly since the advent of the offshore banking and finance industry. Unfortunately the economic boom has also generated higher rents and an increase in crime (although it is not as bad as elsewhere in the Caribbean).

Geli has enjoyed her time in the BVI and has no regrets. Even setbacks have helped her become what she is today. She feels that it has got easier to live in the BVI as she has now been here for over thirty years. A very recent Belonger (April 2010), Geli finds herself accepted much more than (for instance) ten years ago. Geli feels she is not set in her ways – and doesn’t want to be. But she doesn’t plan dramatic changes in the near future, and although nearing retirement, she will still do some work, and plans to remain in the BVI. She hopes to get more personal freedom by selling her house on Fahie Hill (“owning a house ties you down”) and then renting. She wants to travel while she still can. She wants to pursue her hobbies of writing and photography. In her home in the British Virgin Islands.
 

Draft of May 4th, 2010 of interview of May 3rd, 2010

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