Stop this ‘I from here’ mentality – resident
The resident expressed on the Umoja radio show on July 4, 2013 that companies are invited into the Territory to do business and they are hiring locals so people needed to prepare to think like ‘them’.
“We’ve got to stop this mentality of ‘I from Tortola’,” he said, “that’s your right, but we have to show an attitude that we in our country can make our country better.” He advocated that persons coming to the Territory needed to help make it better as well.
He described the mentality of being ‘from here’ as a bad mentality because “the reality is, regardless of what happens we have to compete on that level,” he added. The resident further explained that the money is being brought into the Territory by persons who may not think like locals.
“We’ve got to understand how they’re thinking so that we can work with them, so when people come among us, they will want to respect us more,” the resident stated in reference to expatriate workers.
According to the resident, until VIslanders develop the necessary character and attitude the services being sold – financial services and tourism – would be affected negatively.
“We [have to] work with them and control our destiny so they can understand that when they come to us… they won’t try to control us but they have to learn to work with us.”
He described the situation using an old adage stating that expatriates would need to “do as Romans do when they are in Rome”. “When we do that we have to have the right attitude towards those people,” the resident said.
Host of the programme Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru agreed with the points made by the resident and added that it was fine for companies to come and try to achieve the goals that they have but it was also necessary that people be factored into the equation.
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66 Responses to “Stop this ‘I from here’ mentality – resident”
While we should respect the contributions that many others have made here in our lands, we must always recognize, embrace and cherish that nationalistic "spirit" that gave us what we now have-freedom, land, and a place to forever call our own!!
What do you say if you have BVIslander heritage and parentage but are born elsewhere?
Are you second class to born here BVI.
Is there a distinction between born St Thomas BVI, Born UK BVI. What is the Born here caste table like?
TABLE OF BVIslander PURITY
1. Born BVIslander Peebles (BVI Doctor)
2. Born BVIslander Peebles (Expatriate Doctor)
3. Born BVIslander (Ex pat Private Healthcare - Expat Doctor BVI Nurse)
4. Born BVIslander (Expat Private healthcare - Expat Doctor Expat Nurse)
5. Born in Africa BVIslander
6. Born USA BVIslander
7. Born UK BVIslander
8. Born Down Island BVIslander
9. Born on Ferry due to delays BVIslander
10. Born in a country we haven't heard of BVIlslander
11. Belonger
12. Resident
13. Born. (All the rest that are not wanted here)
All the young man is saying , times are changing and you need to move forward and stop living in the past. Also most of those old people worked outside of tortola to achive to things. Maybe you would have to some day, but with that mentality you would never be sucessful.
Can ur passport and the u.s $$$ take u to heaven?aryo like to talk to much bullsh*t, examine yourself first b4 u examine someone else
Well I never hear more. Such convoluted thinking, but let me take it point by point.
First off the only people BRINGING money into the territory is tourist. Unless you count those shady characters who bring suitcases of cash here to hide, and you can't count them because that money is not really "here" and does not circulate into the local economy. Everyone else comes here to MAKE money, not to BRING money. Got it? And when they come from abroad to MAKE money, where do you think that money GOES? That's right, it goes OUT of the territory, right back where the people came from, minus local operating costs (peanuts).
So once again, the only people BRINGING money is tourists. And when it comes to attracting and retaining tourists' money, nobody does it better than the BVI. We are one of the priciest tourist products on the market and yet we still retain such a faithful, even fanatical, client base that for decades workers have been flocking here from Jamaica, Trinidad, Anguilla, St. Lucia, in fact all the tourism destinations to come here and serve OUR tourists.
So tell me again what we are doing wrong. Make me understand because obviously I am ignorant. It seems to me that we should be MORE ourselves, more like the people, culture and destination that originally attracted these high-end, high-spend tourists who LOVE us, ALWAYS loved us just the way we are, love at first sight from the 60's til now.
Who else should we be emulating? The people who leave their country, culture and economy to come to our country, culture and economy to MAKE money off of OUR product (that product being US, our culture, our natural beauty, our tourism product)?
Our ports needs major renovations and are years behind other islands such as Haven Sight - St Thomas, Port Zante - St Kitts and Antigua, to name a few....every capital project always goes over budget and takes twice as long......if those are signs of a prospering economy and your only defense is the US Dollar, you are lost.
We need to think internationally with business ideas. He young people should not feel that it's easy to get a 3 yard truck and say home till they get a job and being satisfied they are self employed. We need to be innovators that serve international and locals alike and it's called BVI made.....when we get to that level, that's when things will start moving in the right direction and the islands will prosper again.
You haters go suck an egg Me Born Here and me going always rub it in ayo faces…BAM
I FROM HERE TEK THAT
Starting with you would suit me just fine.
Anyone of us can cry 'I born here' as much as we want. The caller is complaining about how some of us use it as an excuse for foolishness and laziness. Not all BVIslanders have that attitude, but in last 20 yrs or so it is our defining character and that is a sad, sad thing.
Those expats came here because we spent 30 years trying to 'develop' the BVI. You can't develop a nation with no resources if you don't allow outside capital and labour to come in and help develop it. That's what we did. Now we have house and SUV and all the damn trinkets we wanted in years back, but we want the people that comes with development to 'go home'? You crazy?
Fact of life: You can't have your cake and eat it. So step up and deal with the reality, don't use hate and xenophobia as a cheap way out.
Now I see why St Thomas, St Croix and the rest dont like you all backside.when you stay on your computer and put those a$$ne$$ on here you think you doing your country good. I really believe more sooner than later you all are going to ride this donkey once again, take a close look at you all country and see the big change. just stop those nonesence and Tortola will be fine. I hope you all realize that Tortola is God's country and if you all dont change your ways, than he will do what he has to do.