Colin Wilson

The following is the list of questions I was given by journalist Sam Shelley together with my unedited answers. See our story in iNews Cayman on October 18 2013 “Cayman social divisions according to Wilson and UK’s Telegraph” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/?p=88408

ORIGINAL INTERVIEW

Questions by Sam Shelley. Answers by Colin Wilson

1. How long have you been living in the Cayman Islands?

I have been living here for 31 years. I arrived here in April 1982 not knowing much about the Cayman Islands but expecting it to be very third world. I even packed cans of powdered milk and clothes pegs – yes clothes pegs in my suit case – because some friend told me they had been to the West Indies and there were no washing or drying facilities there. Everything had to be done by hand. I even packed an electric iron with a convertor. I had the presence of mind to check the voltage (it was 110v). I also bought with me a battery/power short wave radio so I could listen to BBC World.

2. What first attracted you to the island?

I actually didn’t want to come here. I am a Quantity Surveyor and was working for a surveying practice in Surrey and one of our ex-employees was working for a Cayman Building Company called Arch & Godfrey (still active today).

They urgently wanted a quantity surveyor to come out for a year to work on a condominium (flats) project called Papagallo. The first phase that our ex-employee had administered as project manager had proved so successful they were going to build two more phases and a restaurant.

Arch and Godfrey suddenly had an influx of work and there was too much work and they wanted this new surveyor to work on the building site full time.

As it was urgent I was sent there initially only for a month whilst we advertised for someone. Britain was in a recession and the firm I was working for didn’t have a lot of work. To show how bad things were we received nearly 100 applications for the job.

However, when I arrived in Grand Cayman (the biggest of the three islands) I fell in love with the Island, although I had a problem at first with the heat and mosquitoes. The island then was very laid back. The pace was slow and soon you got to know everybody. The ex-pat community was fairly small and tended to meet at just a few bars – Seaview – was where I hung out. The Falkland Islands War was on at the

time with Argentina. That dominated the conversation.

I enjoyed very much the quiet pace, the comradeship, the social life, the many parties. The locals – the Caymanians were friendly and seemed to like the English. Nearly all Cayman families employed mainly Jamaicans as maids and so did the ex-pats.

For the first month I stayed at Seaview hotel that was very basic with faucets (taps) covered in white mould that I tried to get off but failed. Seaview was on the waterfront with amazing views of the ocean. No sand but ironshore (rock). When I found my own place to live (an apartment in a block of flats – condos) it was just a few yards nearer George Town – the capital – where I was working.

I also discovered my first cockroach – actually lots of them. They were crawling over the bed and on my face the very first night that was very alarming. Everyone roared with laughter when I told them about it. It was the way of life then.

There was no television except for some huge satellite dishes – some made of wood – that the more wealthy had. Otherwise it was renting VHS tapes from the video stores. All pirated copies and dreadful reproductions where all the peoples faces were difficult to make out.

The heat I can only describe was like a wall that I awoke to every morning. I did have air conditioning but it was wall unit that was very loud and the motor would go on and off and kept me awake so I found leaving the windows open and running ceiling fans was best.

I suffered badly with mosquitos and every week a mosquito plane – a single engine prop plane, would come screaming from the sky diving and spraying to try and kill those horrible insects. This was followed by another noisy ‘mozzie’ killer, a vehicular drawn ‘fogger’ that would travel all the roads where still water formed – the breeding areas for mosquitos.

This major annoyance became minor over the months as my blood must have got used to the bites from these parasites, as they didn’t bother me anymore.

The sun, sand and the warm blue sea became such a huge plus I soon fell in love with the country and the people and I also met my new love – my future wife, Joan (pronounced Joanne)

3. Since you got to the island, what changes have you noticed in the expat community, as well as in the wider Caymanian community?

Over the 31 years I have lived here there have been major changes and most not for the better. The #1 change has been crime. The first five years there was very little crime. There were a few minor burglaries and some petty thieving. Murders were rare and persons caught with guns were almost non-existent. Very slowly it started and the culprits were normally from Jamaica.

Homes and cars being broken into started to increase. But it was extremely rare for anyone to be mugged on the streets and tourists could still walk safely, even at night along the beaches.

In September 2004 Hurricane Ivan hit Grand Cayman with over 150 mph sustained winds for 30 hours. The country was devastated. The government of the day downplayed the devastation for fear of banking and tourism being affected. The official figures of 15-20% of residential houses on the islands being completely destroyed and 20% with major damage were lies. Multiply that by FOUR and you would be more accurate. The government even sent two British Navy war ships away from giving any help because they were taking pictures. A huge tidal wave swept across the island and Grand Cayman disappeared from the satellite for a number of hours.

My home, a two storey house just off the West Bay Road (Seven Mile Beach) was flooded with 5ft of water. We were the only house in the area that only suffered minor damage to the roof but the ground floor was devastated. Virtually all utility poles were lying over the roads like matchsticks.

Virtually every tree was down and for the first time from my balcony I could see right into the town centre of George Town. The whole landscape was changed. Amazingly there were few deaths but persons afterwards did die and therefore didn’t make the official figures.

The clean-up started and this was mainly orchestrated and executed by the ex-pat community. For their thanks the new government implemented a five year roll over policy and the large majority of ex-pats were sent packing as they had reached their term-limit. They had had no warning this was going to happen and some had even bought homes. It made no difference if you were a top banker or a domestic you had to go.

To replace the sudden exit the government allowed into the island anyone who had a relative here and suddenly we inherited persons with criminal records who would never have been allowed here.

I had married a Caymanian and I had been granted status and become a ‘paper- Caymanian’ and therefore I was safe. Unless I was to divorce her then the Governor-in- Council could at his whim throw me out. Joan and I have been married for 30 years now.

The ex-pat community changed almost overnight. Even persons who had been living here for fifteen plus years were gone.

Filipinos flooded in and many more Jamaicans. Jamaicans married Caymanians and crime accelerated. Gangs started forming and they were armed.

As the recession started to bite and jobs started to become scarce so the crime increased. Rival gangs started shooting one another and the government had to call for help.

We also had Operation Tempura to contend with when high profile figures including the Police Commissioner and other senior officers were suspended and a judge was investigated for suspected corruption. Over the three years that cost the country and is still costing millions of dollars and not one conviction was made. Instead out of court settlements were made by government to the persons charged, even though the man who started all this wasn’t anyone from government. It was the then Governor appointed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Stuart Jack.

The premier – McKeeva Bush found himself under investigation and has been charged bringing much adverse publicity.

The ex-pat community, especially the British are now not so popular with Caymanians.

4) From the experiences of those you have spoken to while on the Cayman Islands, how do you think the Cayman Islands has changed since expats from all over the western world began settling there in the 60’s and 70’s.

Two persons from the USA have made big changes here. One is Michael

Ryan who built The Ritz Carlton and had other major projects looming until he ran out of money and to a much larger extent Ken Dart who built Camana Bay.

Dart has bought into a host of successful Caymanian businesses and controls the liquor industry and most jewelry stores. He has changed the look and business style to North American. He has a figure in most of the big businesses and has now advanced into the hotel industry.

He is the man most responsible for the demise of the Cayman traditional look to the concrete modern hospital clinical sanatised appearance.

From knowing nearly every ex-pat when I first arrived I don’t know three-quarters of them now.

5) Do you feel that there is a generation gap on the island? For example, are the younger generation more or less willing to embrace local culture, make new friends, become a active part of the community and get involved in voluntary work than the “oldies”.

There is a generation gap now. The Caymanians were mostly pro-British. During the Falklands conflict Cayman gave the largest contribution of money to Britain and it was mainly provided by the ex-pat business community. The older Caymanians are still pro British but the younger generation are not. It is only a matter of a few years before Cayman tries to get independence. My opinion.  McKeeva Bush is the man responsible for this and he has made it his ambition to turn the country against rule from Britain.  Stuart Jack helped considerably with his tenure here as governor.

The younger Caymanians do accept Jamaicans as their equals due mainly to the interbreeding between the two countries. There are very strong ties with Jamaica and Cayman going back to 1661 and Jamaica becoming in 1670 with Cayman being ceded as part of Jamaica and in 1883 Cayman becoming a dependency of Jamaica. This is where the resentment came from by the Caymanians when they were treated as second class citizens. This changed when Jamaica gained independence and Cayman stayed with Britain. Cayman became prosperous whilst Jamaica became

poor.

History lesson over but it helps to explain why the early resentment and I am married to a Caymanian whose father was the Chief of Police for over 30 years and one of the leading proponents for staying with the Crown.

6) Do you think the changes happening on the island are for the better or for the worse?

Personally speaking no I don’t. There is a great loss of genuine friendship within the ex-pat mainly because it has grown so much larger and there is a widening divide between the young Caymanians and the ex-pat. Propagated by many politicians there is the belief by Caymanians that ex-pats have stolen jobs they should have.

As an employer this is nonsense as it is cheaper and less hassle to employ a Caymanian than an ex-pat. You have work-permit fees and accommodation to pay before you even engage an ex-pat plus time consuming form filling.

END