Mrs Zelda George: A Country Girl With A Sharp Political Eye

Zelda George was born and raised in North Sound, Virgin Gorda.

She is over 70 years old. A straight talking and jovial senior citizen who has never wanted to live anywhere else other than in the beautiful British Virgin Islands.

‘I have been here all my life,” she shared with jahphixteleision.com Cathy Ricards for The Big Story Election 2023 Special.

Zelda described life in Virgin Gorda in the past as different.

“The principles of what our mother taught us, I think that we grow up a little bit different to maybe some of the other people in the Caribbean, or BVI. It’s much different and much better cause we have motorable roads now, things to that effect. They have got grocery shops about…supermarkets,” Zelda laughed.

Her parents were “strict disciplinarians” and she enjoyed her quiet life growing up on North Sound.

“I call myself a country woman. That’s all I am. I’m a home girl. I don’t really go to fetting and dancing and those things. They don’t interest me. I go to church and things to that effect, concerts and things like that.”

She recalled as a child listening to politicians who visited her parents’ home during election seasons.

‘Before that it used to be people coming from The Valley over here and Anegada. Sometimes Anegadians used to represent Virgin Gorda. When I was a little girl, I would hear the older people talking. Politicians would come around to the houses and tell them what they would like to see done and what they would do. As children, we would listen in.”

She added: “It didn’t have as much things like now, right now they have more to talk about.”

Zelda is no stranger to politics. She was married to the late deputy speaker of Legislative Council (now House of Assembly) Reeial George.

Reeial too was born on the north of Virgin Gorda. He was a natural leader in his community, so it was no surprise in 1967, when he decided to contest for the Seventh Electoral District. He was defeated by Robinson O’Neal.

Zelda was too young to vote that year, but she witnessed for the first time voters of Virgin Gorda elect a native British Virgin Islander. Hamilton Lavity Stoutt became the territory’s first Chief Minister and Education Minister.

“I was not old enough, so I couldn’t vote,” she recalled.

Historians agree that the 1967 elections, which saw 3,500 registered voters, introduced true direct democratic rule here.

Four years later, in 1971, Zelda witnessed her husband’s victory at the polls – Virgin Gordians made him the Seventh Electoral District representative.

“The second time I voted for him. (He went from) “house to house campaigning. Almost from morning ‘til evening from here (North Sound) to the Valley. I would go out sometimes with him. But afterwards, things changed. Everybody got jobs so people would go out when you can.”

She was there at his side when he lost to the late Ralph T. O’Neal OBE in 1975, and returned to the Legislative Council as a Territorial-At-Large representative in 1995 and 1999.

In 1993, after the Constitutional Review, the At-Large System was introduced to the territory, and according to Zelda, residents were excited to vote two years later.

“The at-large (system) came in after that so then they was from house to house, from village to village, from Tortola to Virgin Gorda, all over. After the at-large system came in we had to vote for five people, one district and four at-large candidates. It was exciting because everybody wants to go to the meetings, they want to hear what’s going on. It was very, very exciting at that time.”

Fast forward to 2023, Zelda believes this election is shaping up to be hotter than ever. Virgin Gorda is the second most populated island in the territory with around 4,500 residents.

“Right now. It is hotter than ever, hotter than ever before because so many people in the race this time so you got to hear what everybody is saying. But then again, you know what you got to do when you got to do it,” she smiled.

Already, she knows which of the contesting 42 politicians she will be voting for on April 24.

“My mind is already made up because the thing is…we know what we have to do.”

For Virgin Gorda, she wants the next government to address residents’ basic needs, including constructing a new dock and ensuring citizens have better access to healthcare.

“We have a lot of basic needs here on North Sound that I would like to see happen. We need another dock because they bringing cargo and I’m afraid that something’s going to happen. These vehicles coming back and forth, they calling people to come to the boat, people coming off the boat, vehicles leaving off there. I don’t really think that the cargo and the passengers should be coming to the same dock. That is a change I would really like to see.

“Another thing I would like to see too, if the government would, is assist us, the elderly, to go to like dialysis. Put in a couple machines in that clinic they have in The Valley. That would help us tremendously because a couple of us, about seven or eight of us, got to go like three days a week. It doesn’t matter whether it’s rough, or the weather is fair, whether it’s raining, or it is stormy we still have to go. Hurricane coming, we still have to go. That would be a great help to us here on Virgin Gorda.

Zelda reminded residents that they have a voice by voting.

“Some of the people claim they are not voting so I told them if you don’t vote, you don’t have a voice. So you need to vote, so you can have a voice. But the thing is, you make the best choice.”