Expat FAQs: Dominican Republic a “veritable encyclopaedia”

Ginnie Bedggood and Ilana Benady

GINNIE BEDGGOOD (1943-2010) graduated in History from Queen Mary College, University of London, undertook postgraduate studies at the LSE and Southampton University, and gained a Master’s in Public and Social Administration from Brunel University. She worked as a probation officer in Soho in the 1960s and spent seventeen years as a social work academic at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College before moving to the Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic in 1992. Unfortunately Ginnie passed away in July 2010. Ginnie’s previous books were "Culture Smart Dominican Republic: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture", also co-written with Ilana Benady, and an expat memoir, "Quisqueya: Mad Dogs and English Couple". Gibraltarian ILANA BENADY and studied and lived in the UK for more than fifteen years, graduating in Politics and Social Anthropology from the University of Kent at Canterbury. Her work at the Oxfam headquarters in Oxford first took her to the Dominican Republic in 1996. She settled there in 1999 and married Dominican photographer Pedro Guzmán. They and their son Lucas now live in Punta Cana on the east coast. Ilana is the co-author of "Aunt Clara’s Dominican Cookbook" and "100 Traditional Dominican Recipes" with Clara González, and "Culture Smart Dominican Republic: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture", also co-written with the late Ginnie Bedggood.