Beulah McField: God and Families in the LA

Beulah McField

by Brian Buckley

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

As seven United Democratic Party (UDP) candidates for the Legislative Assembly gear up for the 7 September run-off in the George Town District, Beulah McField remains resolved to become one of the party’s final candidates for the November General Election.

“What brought me into this race,” she said, “Is the life I have led for the last ten years, the work I have done, and the number of people who have approached me to run.”

Ms McField sees no conflict in the fact that one of her competitors is her brother, Dr the Hon Frank McField. “We are both strong, ethics-driven people who choose the battles we want to fight,” she said.

This is Ms McField’s first run for elective office.

The people who convinced Beulah to run came to her with the same message. “They told me we need you to run because we need a woman like you who believes in God, has ethics, and understands our problems,” she said.

She said they also told her that they believe she can relate to many people through her grassroots efforts and will represent families without being changed by politics and power.

At present, Ms McField is not willing to discuss the specifics of her policies, proposals, or plans until after the run-off.

What she does believe is that she has the heart to represent the people of George Town due to her understanding of the economic, political, and social challenges families are now facing.

“I worked as a community advocate for ten years, working with children, parents, and grandparents. When I say I understand the issues pertinent to the Caymans today, I can say that honestly from my work experience,” said Ms McField.

Now 50 years old, Ms McField was born at home in McField Square in George Town. She is mother to two daughters and one son: Gloria Nixon, Felicia Burton, and Kadeem Miller. Having spent much of her youth in New York, Ms McField moved to Miami and finally back to George Town to help her parents open a business and to help with aging family members. As a founding member of the UDP, Ms McField still agrees with the reasons for the formation of the party. “In the past in the Cayman Islands, governments were formed for reasons of expediency, not on the basis of loyalty, ideology, or even ethics.

I believe in cohesion and order and I believe the UDP has brought those things to politics here,” she said.

That the People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) has come together also makes Ms McField believe the nation is politically matured.

Speaking to concerns that the UDP represents big business over the environment and local people, Ms McField said: “That’s precisely why I am running. The UDP is now developing and I have put myself forward because I see a need in the party and in the government for issues such as families, communities, ecology, and sustainable development.” She said she knew she had a fight ahead of her within the party, but that process is how nations end up with balanced governments.

Lastly, she spoke of the issue she would first tackle if elected to the LA. Ms McField said she would address the entire package of issues facing children today.

While praising the current Minister of Education, Ms McField envisioned the educational system in the Cayman Islands being one day able to provide better means of instructing all the different learning styles and challenges students now bring to the classroom.

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