Black Immigrant Daily News

This past October saw thousands of food lovers indulge in one of the most notable culinary events, the Cayman Islands Restaurant Month.

The Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) organised its largest Restaurant Month to date, with a total of 37 participating restaurants from across the island collectively offering over 55 menus for lunch, dinner and Signature Brunches.

Jay Ehrhart, Executive Director of CITA, shared that the association is proud to see how successful this year’s event was at showcasing the local food and beverage sector.

“Restaurant Month is a unique event that takes the best that Cayman’s culinary scene has to offer by allowing residents and visitors to get a proper taste of the vast flavours, talent and culinary artistry that can be found right here in the Cayman Islands,” said Ehrhart.

“There was certainly an extra buzz around Restaurant Month this year, especially with our borders open again, and I truly commend the efforts of the restaurants, culinary teams, sponsors and our patrons for making this year’s event a tremendous success,” added Ehrhart.

One of the primary goals of Restaurant Month is to support local restaurants and generate an influx of returning customers by spotlighting these businesses and the high calibre of food and service they offer. This was achieved by creating dining experiences with affordable three-course menus that demonstrate each restaurant’s cuisine.

One of the participating restaurants this year, The Edgy Vedge, a newly launched plant-based eatery and marketplace, experienced a high volume of patrons who chose to dine using the designated Restaurant Month menu.

“We’ve prepared almost 200 meals for Restaurant Month, and as a brand-new restaurant that only opened two and a half months ago, to be able to participate in something like this – it’s been incredible,” said Sian Weinzweig, Co-Founder & Marketing Director.

“The people who have come by to try it out have definitely been a mix of vegan and non-vegan, so we really thank the organisers for allowing us to be involved. It’s been a great initiative.”

Several other participating restaurants reported they experienced a high volume of customers last month, such as Bayside, which also hosted its first sold-out Signature Brunch this past weekend.

Though the restaurants are the foundation of Restaurant Month, the support of the sponsors is crucial to the event’s success. This year’s Gold sponsors included Loop Cayman, DMS Broadcasting, Tower Marketing, Cayman Islands Department of Tourism and Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce. There were also two Silver sponsors, Home Gas and CaymanRestaurants.com.

Hon Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, MP and Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce, described Restaurant Month as both an opportunity to support local businesses and to demonstrate to the rest of the world the strength of our commercial infrastructure.

“For us at the Ministry of Financial Services, we are of the view that a robust local business sector also compliments and enhances our international reputation as a commercially-stable place to do business,” she said.

“Government’s support of initiatives such as Restaurant Month is intended to help local restaurant owners navigate through the tough economic challenges many of them face. This sector provides an array of goods and services as well as employment opportunities for Caymanians, so it was important for this Ministry to be a part of this amazing initiative.”

CITA looks forward to making this event even bigger and better in 2023 and encourages local businesses and restaurants that would like to get involved to contact info@restaurantmonth.ky.

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door Jason Pinas PARAMARIBO — “Ik vraag me af of dit een wijs besluit is van de president. De regering

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The shift system may have adversely high school students’ performances in the CXC CSEC exams this year, according to Education, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sharie De Castro.

During a House of Assembly sitting on Oct. 25, Ms. De Castro noted the difference between the time recommended by the CXC for each subject and the schedule offered by the shift system that Elmore Stoutt High School has often used since Hurricane Irma.

In many cases, she said, ESHS classroom time was as much as 40 percent below the CXC recommendations. Only English A and theatre arts were scheduled to fit the weekly hours recommended by the CXC, she said.

Nevertheless, she said, the pass rate was 100 percent for 10 subjects, including agricultural science, Caribbean history, and family and resource management.

In other subjects, however, students didn’t fare as well. For example, the pass rate for English A was 96 percent (an increase of over 12 percent from last year), and the pass rate for mathematics was 56 percent (an increase of nearly nine percent from last year).

“This year, the subject which resulted in the least acceptable pass rate was industrial technology (electrical), at 28.57 percent,” Ms. De Castro said.

Planned return

The minister added that the planned return to full days of schooling later this year should make a difference. She didn’t specify when this would happen, but it is dependent on the completion of the new ESHS buildings.

“With the much-anticipated change from the shift system to full-day schooling this year, with the exception of the sciences all subjects will be allotted the recommended time or more than the recommended time,” she said. “Recommended times from CXC are based on two-year timeframes; our schedule is based on a three-year schedule for most students. Our advanced students, however, are able to take CSEC examinations in two years.”

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The question of which of the two major political parties locally has done a better job of providing housing solutions for the Jamaican people is taking centre-stage ahead of Local Government Elections which are due by February 2023.

On Friday, the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Spokesman on Housing and Sustainable Living, Floyd Morris, defended his party’s record in this area. He even defended the controversial Programme for Resettlement, Integrated Development Enterprise (Operation PRIDE).

Morris was speaking in the Senate as he made his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate.

By Sunday, the Minister with responsibility for information, Robert Morgan, who is also the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Clarendon North Central, charged that Prime Minister Andrew Holness had opened more houses for Jamaicans than any other prime minister.

He also took a swipe at the PNP, which he described as “chalk”, while referring to the governing JLP as “cheese”, as he pointed out what he described as the many accomplishments of the JLP, housing solutions being chief among them.

“Dem talk bout house, dem say dem build house fi poor people — unu ever see no PNP minister or prime minister open as much (many) houses as (Prime Minister) Andrew Holness? Make we look pon di facts,” said Morgan.

Robert Morgan

He cited that when the JLP retook the reins of Government in February 2016, the National Housing Trust (NHT) built 1,859 houses that year.

“Di first time wi lick it inna 2017, wi guh 3,000 house fi di year; 2018, we guh over 5,000 house fi di year; 2019 we guh over 6,000 house fi di year, and prime minister has now announced that we a build 70,000 house fi people who contribute to the NHT. PNP a chalk, JLP a cheese,” Morgan stated.

For his part, Morris not only defended the PNP’s record in housing, he went further by defending Operation PRIDE that was established by former Prime Minister PJ Patterson in 1994.

His tone was more measured, as he acknowledged that the various political administrations had over the years, implemented diverse housing projects to improve the living conditions of Jamaicans. He presented what he called a “sample of projects implemented by PNP administrations”.

“Let us never forget that it was the Rt Excellent Norman Manley (PNP founder) in the 1950s that (who) introduced the first set of housing schemes in the island. Mona, Hope Pastures and Harbour View are among these seminal achievements,” said Morris.

“Thousands of Jamaicans owned their homes through this housing initiative. Indeed, these housing developments triggered the establishment of a new middle-class in Jamaica,” he added.

Morris told the Senate that “In the 1970s, the venerable and indefatigable Michael Manley triggered the housing transformation in Jamaica. This was led by the creation of the National Housing Trust in 1976. Between 1976 and 1980 alone, over 40,000 housing units were delivered to Jamaicans through the NHT. The era of the thatch houses and the wattle and daub was coming to an end, thanks to the visionary housing policies of Michael Manley.”

Morris also stated that the NHT has indicated that it has built over 110,000 houses over its 45-year existence.

In the face of recent criticism from the JLP, Morris defended the PRIDE programme.

JLP Members of Parliament have raised questions about Operation PRIDE both inside and outside Parliament, and have pointed out that up to $9 billion associated with the programme has gone unaccounted for.

The MP for Trelawny Northern, Tova Hamilton, recently criticised the programme during her contribution to the State of the Constituency Debate. According to Hamilton, more than 20 years after a number of her constituents made deposits on Government-owned lands for the construction of houses under the Operation Pride programme, the promised development is yet to materialise.

But, Morris insisted on Friday that “Patterson embarked on one of the most commendable and comprehensive initiatives to deal with the historical injustices of slavery”.

Floyd Morris

He said Operation PRIDE delivered over 58,000 titles and certificates of possession to ordinary Jamaicans across the island.

“We can proudly say Pines of Karachi, developed by PJ, Wentworth in St Mary, developed by PJ, Mount Edgecombe in St Ann, developed by PJ, Luana in St Elizabeth, developed by PJ, Melrose Mews in Manchester, developed by PJ, Langston apartment in St Andrew, developed by PJ.”

“We make absolutely no apologies about the Operation PRIDE developments,” Morris stated even as he acknowledged that there were problems with the programme.

“I say emphatically, yes,” he said about whether there were problems with the programme.

As to whether questionable decisions were made relative to the programme, Morris said “probably”.

“However, Operation PRIDE brought significant benefits to thousands of Jamaicans who would not have received the chance to own a piece of this rock. We in the PNP create opportunities for the small man to gain access to and be included in the society by implementing initiatives such as Operation PRIDE,” said the Opposition senator.

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