From 18 to 92, seasonal work programme attracts large turnout

Arthur Ransford McLean sat on a park bench under a sea grape tree overlooking the freshly painted dock on the coast of North Side and reflected on a job well done.

“I am 92-years old and I love to work. I love to be out here with these good people,” he said.

“Every time they clean up I am out here and I hope and pray with the help of the blessed Lord I will be on the next one.”

He was one of 651 people, aged from 18 to 92, who took part in the National Community Enhancement (NICE) programme, cleaning docks, beaches, roads and cemeteries for $10-an-hour in the two weeks leading up to Christmas.

The government funded seasonal work programme aims to put money in people’s pockets over the holidays and provide a pathway to lasting employment for those that are looking.

Stacie Sybersma, deputy chief officer in the Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure, said this year’s programme had specifically focused on beautification.

She said NICE attracted everyone from school leavers to retirees and people between jobs as well as long-term unemployed.

“One of the wonderful things about this programme is that it creates an opportunity for people in each of those situations and everything in between to support their families, get a little bit of job experience, make connections with the community and open doors to opportunities in the future.”

For McLean, who started his career as a teenager with H.O. Merren and Company in the early 1950s, work is what keeps him young.

He has no helper and keeps his house and garden neat and tidy through his own labour.

He’s been coming out with the programme for more than 10 years. He’s blind in one eye, his mobility is not what it once was and he admits his crew mates won’t let him near the machete. But he was still able to play a role on the North Side crew, helping to spruce up public beaches and docks.

McLean, who was born on Cayman Brac, has had four wives and 17 children. One of his sons was on the North Side crew with him and he had children and grandchildren on the programme all over the island.

Though he loves to work, and did a stint as a seaman, he believes some of that ethic has been lost in Cayman.

“Some of those looking for work, they are looking and praying they don’t find it,” he said.

NICE creates pathways to employment

The NICE programme is designed as a stepping stone to work and is open to all unemployed Caymanians over the age of 18.

Speaking in Parliament during the debate over the Immigration Bill last week, Minister Jay Ebanks cited the high turnout as evidence that Caymanians were being overlooked for jobs.

“Hundreds of Caymanians across every age group stepped forward, ready to work. That tells us that Caymanians are available, that tells us Caymanians are willing and that tells us that Caymanians are still being overlooked in areas of the economy where they could and should be participating.”

Among those looking for full-time work during the programme was 19-year-old Nathaniel Pomare-Dixon.

At the opposite end of the age spectrum from 92-year-old McLean, the teenager said he had found it difficult to get work since leaving school. But he believes the programme has provided good experience that he hopes will stand him in good stead to get full-time work with the National Roads Authority.

“It was a good little programme. It was challenging but I learned some new skills. I want to work. I want to do hard labour.”

To any young people looking for advice, McLean simply said trust in God and work hard, something he hopes to do as long as he lives.

“If God saves my life to see 100 I hope to get out in my yard and pull one holy bush … and say, ‘Thank you, Lord. Thank you very much’, and he can take me any second after that.”