Thoughts on Brother King

“Living in the Moment” by- Judibrown Sample

Living in the moment is harder then you can imagine. Being present, not thinking about the future, just worrying about your next step is more important. Brother King taught us all a life lesson about living and being a thoughtful traveler. After reading Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place I felt guilty for island hopping. We are all working hard on getting to know the locals, saying more than hi and striking up a conversation. We have all learned that the more involved you get with a country’s culture, the more you learn and get out of it. Being in Bequia, I have noticed we are only a small part of the tourism here. The harbor is filled with many sailboats and not a single cruise ship in sight. Bequia is known for its whaling history. Still today the locals go out every so often hunting. They only catch one or two whales per year, but they used to catch fifteen to twenty in a season. Locals, like Brother King, described how us tourists design the country. With more and more of us visiting, the more the government wants to design the layout of the country, making it more convenient for the tourists. Bequia is a very rare Caribbean island to still have their culture and their country’s identity. With no cruise ships or fast food restaurants, Bequia has been able to stick to its old traditions. Brother King owns a turtle sanctuary and told us that each year the turtle population is becoming less. The turtles are getting trapped in fish nets and being killed or injured by large, fast motor boats. He takes in the wild animals as newborns and raises them until they have a better chance of surviving in the wild. Everyone around here has an impact on these animals. We all need to be more aware of our surroundings and help protect this species. Brother King needs more then Bequia’s help, so if you’d like to make a donation, that would mean more then the world to Brother King, the turtles and Bequia. Everyone should take a moment of their day and try to reconfigure themselves to living in the moment and let the future plan itself.
To make a donation to the Old Hegg turtle Sanctuary:
Email: oldhegg@vincysurf.com
Or mail to:
Orton G. {Brother} King
P.O. Box 36
Unionvale, Bequia
St.Vincent & The Grenadines



“Brother King” by Kaitlin Orne
Listening to Brother King’s speech today was inspiring to hear. He’s a local here in Bequia, 71 years old and one of the most content people I have ever met. We had the pleasure of visiting his Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary; which clearly is his passion. Brother King goes up and down the beaches of Bequia covering up all traces of nesting spots he sees so no one can disturb or harm them. He marks down where they are and goes back when they’ve hatched, collects them and brings them to his sanctuary. Across from the sanctuary is what he calls his hobby, chicken coops. He talked to us not only about his turtles, but inserted in his perspective regarding good living standards, keeping healthy and tourism. Brother King is a very knowledgeable, happy man, and his words have a lot of value behind them.

“Impressions at Old Hegg” by. Trey Feyler
Usually when people think about one person trying to help the world or anything in it, it seems unreasonable. Then again, there is the view that if you want changes to be made it must start off with one person helping. Today we got the chance to go visit Brother King at the Old Hegg Sanctuary specifically for turtles. Endangered sea turtles are the main focus for him. Brother King raises them from hatchlings until they are able to return to the sea, safe from predators of any sort. He explained to us how turtles are needed and spoke about their decline in numbers. The turtles Brother King raises directly contribute to keeping the reefs healthy. There is a type of algae that builds up on reefs, if it becomes too much the reef can suffocate and die, this means all the other wildlife living on the reefs would die as well. If there aren’t any reefs, then there aren’t any fish which, in turn, would keep marine wildlife on the decline.

What I really respect about Brother King and this whole situation is that he has taken it into his own hands to change something about the world and in doing so is increasing the numbers of endangered turtles by successfully releasing them into the wild.