LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Re – A concerned Jamaican

Thursday,  October 13, 2005

Dear Sir

“But what a nice letta yu rite doe eh???!!!! Well done!!!” Indeed it was a pleasure reading your letter, along with the local commentary of Carol Hay, and going on to read all about Justice “Kripling” Douglas.

Excuse me please Mr. Douglas, but you do know that is what we still very affectionately call you here in the Cayman Islands, where with your firm but kind Justice and discipline, indeed, Caymanians and Jamaicans, everybody alike, were kept in good order.

In dem days we use fi ‘fraid even fi speed fahr we neva want yu ketch wi. $200 was a big blow! Yu rememba ou we use to begu ketch wi fren? Me wish yu was still dere instead a wid de, what yu call it, FATF?

Net News’s issue dated September 21 went on to be more interesting as we read Woody Foster’s, Steve Hawley’s and John Cridland’s views on the business aspects of cultural integration due to situations arising with the Immigration Law, the need of expatriate labour and Gainful Occupation Licences.

The fact is, we are all expressing our concerns to live together in peaceful harmony while we all look toward a better life. The truth being, we are all guests in a human existence that does not belong to us, but rather to a greater power than ourselves.

After all, “HE hath founded it upon the Seas”!

In this way you see, God,.... Mother Nature,.... or whomever we choose to name Our Creator, has put Germans in Germany, Orientals in Asia, Indians in India, Africans in Africa, the Brits in the U.K and so on and so forth. And then He said, ‘alright uno walk good!’ And so we move from place to place in free will, all looking for the mystery of a better life. And we quickly learn, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. This then, like the Concerned Jamaican, brings me to the point of this letter. Me bex too!

Virtually all of my conscious life has been spent in the Cayman Islands where “I live, and breathe and have my being”. This is my home where doors open to accept many friends and people who have nowhere else to go. Where faith and Christian charity are the principles of our life!

Now, like all of us from this sea,  I consider myself a lil gal from the Caribbean. ...(mind you though you know: my blood is German,....British and Canadian, - yes man blue eyes and natural blonde hair, straight as can be - my education is Jamaican.....and.....as for my disposition????....yu afe ask Him ‘bout dat!)

Here, like they say in Hawaii, some of us are this, some of us are that and the rest of us a little bit of everything else. And so, like the Concerned Jamaican I wish to remind all, who is Caymanian!

Caymanians are the gentlest people in the world! Soft-spoken, easy going, humble, loving and kind, in simplicity my people live a good Christian life!

We share our food and entertainment, simple though that may be.....we swim and fish and bask in the sun.....and oh yes, you’re going to wake me up now!

To tell me, that has all been destroyed to what we call progress.

Cum ere, cum ere, mek a tell yu sumting!!! We, the gentle Caymanian people have allowed our country to grow by our own choice. At a time when we were unskilled, we were smart and imported labour from elsewhere, all over the world.

As the world’s fifth largest financial centre, there are Laws, Rules and Regulations which Govern and Protect Caymanian life and families regardless of who comes and goes. Our legal system is perhaps the most thorough in the world, certainly when it comes to the foreigner bringing his money, skill and culture here. We have someone we call “Riddles” who sees that we dot our i’s and cross our T’s.

And we have a staunch policeman who loves to sing, “what you gonna do when they come for you, bad boy, bad boy!”

The backbone of our Immigration is still “Boss stock” !

Invest well!!! When you arrive, welcome.....these are our laws and this is our culture!!! You change! Transfigure! To free yourself from the shallow pond of your own resources.

And oh yes, when you arrive at the airport do not tell the Immigration Officer any lies, like you are visiting our children, while you wish to do business with our Father!

Here, we also have a Jamaican who has a Marblecraft tiolet in his backyard.

A beautiful thing filled with good soil from which flowers grow!!!

You is a sweet boy!  Me proud a yu!  What a nice letta yu rite doe eh!

Gimme five! 

Merle McGann-Burke (nee Whorms)

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