By Catherine MacGillivray
In spite of their demanding jobs and hectic schedules, Dave and Angela Martins still find quality time to bond with their each other and their children. Read their story on Pages 16 and 17. Photo by Miguel Escalante
Christmas beef, ginger beer and sorrel will be adorning the festive table of Caymanian couple David and Angela Martins this week.
Alongside the traditional fare will also be garlic pork and pepper pot, indigenous Guyanese dishes from the land of Mr. Martins' birth.
Mr. David Martins with his wife Angela, their son Bryan and daughter Annika
This celebration of fused cultures is becoming commonplace in Cayman, now one of the most cosmopolitan countries in the world.
Mr. and Mrs. Martins are a reflection of the way people from different backgrounds have come together to make the Cayman Islands what it is today.
Mrs. Angela Martins with her younger daughter Janine
Mr. Martins, 67, was born in Guyana before moving to Canada and becoming an internationally celebrated musician, finally settling in Cayman.
Born in Jamaica of Caymanian parents and leaving for Canada aged only 12, Mrs. Martins is fiercely proud of her cultural heritage.
Mr. Martins with his son Bryan
Mrs. Angela Martins with her elder daughter Annika
Both highly successful professionals, they have chosen to make their home in Cayman, raising their three children on the island.
As the country evolves rapidly into the 21st Century, changes inevitably follow.
Mrs. Angela Martins, Executive Director of the Quincentennial Celebrations Project.
And, as celebrations are about to begin to mark the 500 years since Columbus first "discovered" Cayman, development has never been at such a rapid pace.
As executive director of the Quincentennial Celebrations Project, Mrs. Martins has spent a lot of time recently reflecting on the changes to her homeland and what it means to be Caymanian.
Mr. David Martins, General Manager of the Tourism Attractions Board and Executive Director of Pirates Week
"I am proud to belong to these Islands and I want all the changes to be for the future benefit for Cayman," she says.
But she is worried that in "making things better for our children", today's generation may have lost some of the values of yesteryear.
Having just celebrated her 50th birthday, she recalls: "When I was a young girl it was horse and buggy that were commonplace here.
Mr. David Martins, lead singer and songwriter for Tradewinds, plays his guitar
"My generation was the last to have outside toilets and sometimes our shoes had holes in them, but we still went to school. We looked forward to Christmastime to get a new dress."
She adds: "In a society where we now have things whenever we want, we have lost some of the hard-work ethic of our forefathers. Children nowadays are much more global in their perspective. They are influenced by TV, computers and the close proximity to the US mainland."
Although Mrs. Martins' parents were from the Cayman Islands, she was actually born in Jamaica where her mother worked as a nurse.
She came to the Cayman Islands at the age of four and then left for a new life in Canada when she was 12.
After school and then a university degree in psychology Mrs. Martins' sense of "belonging" was brought sharply home to her.
"It was Christmas 1975 and my grandmother in Cayman was very ill. She had raised me and I flew home to see her.
"When I got there she spoke her last words. She said 'she could die in peace having seen me' and passed away a few days later. I knew over the course of that visit that I had to come back. I went back to Toronto, packed my bags and came home without a job, to stay with my aunt," she adds.
Having worked briefly in the credit card division of CIBC in Canada, the bank was able to recommend Mrs. Martins to its branch in the Cayman Islands, and so began a long and distinguished career on the island.
Until last year she held the post of Director of Tourism and then was moved to the equally important task of heading the year-long Quincentennial Celebrations.
The transfer, Mrs. Martins admits, wasn't without its difficulties but she stresses that she learned a great deal from the experience.
"It strengthened my faith and made me realise what was really important in my life God, my friends and my family," she recalls.
"Moving to this project has been one of the highlights of my life. I never thought that me, of all people, would be given this chance to help honour the history, beauty and culture of the Cayman Islands."
Events begin on New Year's Eve with a thanksgiving service, slide show of 500 images of Caymanian life and a spectacular fireworks display.
Around 10,000 people are expected to turn up for the extravaganza at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex which Mrs. Martins is confident will be remembered for years to come.
This brings her to the point of who is considered Caymanian and what is the culture that is being celebrated?
"This is for everyone as long as they are on this rock legally, no matter their background," she says.
"We are looking at dialect, art, craft, music, culinary treats and our people. We are not just concentrating on the achievements of the last 20 or 30 years, this is looking back over 500 years and to the future as well."
Identity is something Mrs. Martins knows about all too well, having been forced to prove her own.
"Although I was born in Jamaica I had always considered myself to be Caymanian but when I wanted to live here at age 32 I had apply to request to be considered to be a Caymanian.
"My father, who was at sea when I was born, had to sign an affidavit to say he believed I belonged to him which I found deeply offensive," she says.
"I bitterly resented that I had to go through this process, it was a very emotional issue for me."
Looking forward to a happy family Christmas, this feisty woman is optimistic for the future of Cayman.
She sees the economic successes of the past few years as an opportunity for the islands' social set-up as well.
"When people move into the island from other countries, change is inevitable.
"I can see why people originally from here can be afraid of what this can sometimes mean but I think blended families in Cayman give a wonderful colour to our society."
And Mrs. Martins maintains she is willing to listen to the views of all, suggesting mutual respect should be offered when it comes to differing opinions.
"Cayman has a great chance now to embrace the future and make the most of this multi-cultural society we now live in."
She speaks, of course, from personal experience, have met husband David in 1981 and married him two years later.
She may be a high-profile Caymanian but Mr. Martins is equally celebrated in his own right as an internationally renowned musician.
The grandson of Portugese immigrants in what was then called British Guyana, he grew up in a tiny rural village.
But after the death of his father, the family moved to Canada.
It was there that he embraced the music of his childhood and formed the acclaimed band Tradewinds.
With Mr. Martins as song writer and lead singer the band played to West Indian audiences in Canada and soon began to travel to the Caribbean where they were, and still are, hugely successful.
In the early eighties he was determined to return to the area and when the band secured a lucrative deal in St Martin, headed south.
The contract fell through and the band was persuaded by Caymanians to remain with them instead.
The Tradewinds were attracting packed audiences two or three nights a week and Mr. Martins was thankful to be settled after years on the road.
True to form, in more than 30 years with the band, the most defining moments of his musical career are its Caribbean successes.
"One of the greatest achievements was playing at the Trinidad carnival for 12 years from 1968," he says.
"For us, such a small band with five musicans compared to most there with 10,12 or 14, was wonderful."
And his other moment of personal pride was being awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement in Guyana in 1982.
The award is the highest civilian accolade in that country and was presented to him for his musical achievements.
Having studied journalism in Canada he then worked for a couple of years in the editorial room of the Caymanian Compass and edited the now defunct magazine Newstar.
Mr. Martins' talents were much sought after and he became chairman of the Cultural Foundation and founded the Cayfest arts festival.
He became executive director of Pirates' Week in 1998.
Two years ago he was asked to become general manager of the Tourism Attractions Board.
And, in addition, he writes a popular annual revue with witty, topical references dedicated to goings-on in the Cayman Islands.
This last year he has also been elected president of the Cayman Music and Entertainment Association.
Although Mr. Martins has become a Caymanian, he retains strong ties with Guyana, visiting around once a year.
"I see myself more as a Caribbean person and take that view with me wherever I go," he says.
This view was one of the reasons that the band was named Tradewinds, as the breeze blows across much of the region.
And he describes the economic development on the islands over the last few years as a "double-edged sword".
"The fact that people have been asked to come here to be part of the labour force can have a very positive effect," he says.
"A lot of people have come and made an enormous contribution to the islands which many Caymanians appreciate.
"Inevitably sometimes the local population is not always happy with that foreign presence.
"The 'quaintness', which is sometimes used to describe Cayman, is what attracts me to it.
"Values which nowadays may be seen as 'old-fashioned' in other places were values which I grew up with in Guyana and have been lost in many places."
Although he still travels occasionally with the band, his feet are firmly planted on Caymanian soil.
And, it seems, he is sowing the seeds for future generations of his family.
In his spare time he loves to grow fruit and his Northward home has a garden full of mango, ackee and breadfruit trees.
In fact, focusing on family is how the couple manage to juggle their hectic schedules and still find time for each other.
"We have to be very focused on what is important to us," says Mrs. Martin.
Along with daughters Annika (18), Janine (16) and son Bryan (12) they go out for dinner around twice a month and take a family vacation each summer.
"We do a lot of things, just the five of us together and, for my part, I love to cook and do things around the house.'
This week she has been busy shopping for Christmas dinner, making sure that all the favourite treats will be on the table.
Of course, like increasingly many families on the islands, the menu will have a definite international flavour.
Photos by Miguel Escalante