“When Sarah Penney entered a room, she upstaged everyone, including her mother, which was a difficult thing to do.
For her mother, Joanne Penney, had a publishing career; Was the Founder and Director of The Community Agency on Drugs and Addiction (CADA);
Was Chairman of the National Drug Advisory Council (NDAC); And had even spoken during a meeting of the UN General Assembly. She also founded and directed the CADA players over a couple of decades.
Sarah had presence, poise, style. She was engaging, knowledgeable and a well-dressed woman with a smile that could easily challenge the midday sun for its brilliance.
And if her mission included interaction with anyone, her communication was clear, informed, confident. She ‘did not suffer fools gladly’ although she was patient and kind but mostly helpful.
Tenacious, brilliant, caring, genuine, are words that have been used to describe Sarah who interacted with a broad cross-section of the BVI public.
She was feisty and came across as opinionated on more than one occasion. She never understood the meaning of the word, ‘NO,’ and we did not grasp if the problem was with the ‘N,’ or the ‘O.’ But malice could never have been included in her lexicon.
Sarah surfaced in my frame in the late 1990s. Precocious was a word that could aptly describe her in those days. And Joanne doted on her. A fair number of Joanne’s sentences ended with a single word; A name. Sarah.
Sarah was a lot of things in her short life. Artistic was one of them. (She had a degree in Theatre). She was outstanding with the CADA players as they put on one production after another to the delight of her audience. Subsequently, she and her mother founded the Firebird Performing Arts which she directed.
But whatever Sarah did, she was all in; Body and Soul.
She once asked a gentleman from the Dominican Republic to play Don Quixote in one of her productions. He felt honoured but could not grant her wish. Nevertheless, he described her as ‘soulful, a great citizen, philanthropic.’ For she also raised funds to assist needy children in Haiti.
Our paths crossed again in recent times when she directed the efforts of Green VI, an agency set up to progress recycling, proper management of waste and mosquito eradication using non-toxic methods.
Sarah believed in recycling and was often at the vanguard of those efforts. The recycling bins that are strategically positioned around the island were conceived and rolled out by her.
And the green certification programme was her idea and a way to entice businesses to embrace, advocate for and support, environmental protection and preservation.
Regarding mosquito eradication, she was glad that initiatives like the oiling of ponds, using insecticides like abate and fogging could be left in the past given their assault on the environment. She welcomed the Wolbachia approach because of its green footprint and because it is highly effective.
But it was the BugOut Wolbachia programme that probably tested her the most when the community, not understanding the initiative nor its value, became vociferous in its criticisms and creative in its conspiracy theories.
She had moments of despair but never doubted the value of the programme. And in the end, her efforts paid off.
Oil Nut Bay (ONB) fully supported the programme and under her management, saw a 98% suppression in the prevalence of the aedes aegypti mosquito across the property. The aedes aegypti spreads dengue, chikungunya, zika and other diseases like yellow fever and encephalitis (not prevalent in the Territory).”
The ONB success story has been recognized by some of the leading US publications and others in the Fourth Estate. And environmentally conscious guests choose to stay at ONB based on its involvement and success with the Wolbachia programme.
But Sarah was not all about work. She was a kind, caring human being. A daughter, mother, wife, friend.
She paid attention to the nuances of the people around her and chose the gifts for them that she knew would be impactful. She was a good cook, something else to which she give her all.
A quiet hurricane called Sarah Penney blew through the BVI and improved the value and quality of the lives of everyone it touched. News of the untimely repose of her soul is still incredible and disorienting.
But long will we remember Sarah’s fearless and assertive approach to life and her love for the BVI and its people. BVI was her home. She knew no other.
We wish her family strength. They will need it to confront what looms on the horizon in her absence.
As for the faithful of Friday’s, we march on.
Happy Friday!l”