SEVEN MILE BEACH WATERFRONT WALKERS ROAD TOWN CENTRE PLAZA RED BAY cayman compass Your most trusted news source Established 1965 $1 | Funding local journalism | Weekly, 29 May - 4 June 2020 Police slam brakes on speeders Page 5 Cayman’s Top 10 athletes Page 14 See inside: Hailing Our Heroes Feeding the hungry Cayman’s jobless turn to charities for food. Pages 8 and 9 Photo: Taneos Ramsay Saluting all the essential workers of the Cayman Islands A Compass Media special supplement Hailing our Heroes640-FILM (640-3456) Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 Camana Bay Cinema is currently closed. Stay home and stay safe Cayman. Follow us on social media for Movie Trivia Tuesdays. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Cayman Compass Ltd. Compass Centre, Shedden Road, George Town, Cayman Islands SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman, KY1-1108 Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@compassmedia.ky ADVERTISE WITH US: T: (345) 949-5111 E: sales@compassmedia.ky W: caymancompass.com PUBLISHER KATHLEEN CAPETTA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KEVIN MORALES Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with a 30% chance of showers. weather Forecast today Cayman Islands 89°F 77°F HIGH LOW WINDS East to northeast at 5 to 10 knots tonight. SEA STATE Slight with wave heights of 1 to 3 feet. FIND US ONLINE Caymancompass.com Facebook.com/Caycompass cayman_compass@cayCompassCayman Compass Most new Cayman cases asymptomatic JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@compassmedia.ky COVID-19 testing passes 10,000 mark By Thursday, public health officials had tested 10,466 people in the Cayman Islands for the coronavirus, giving the territory the sixth highest per-capita testing rate in the world. The vast majority of those now being tested are front-line workers. Cayman now has 140 positive cases. Positive cases continue but most asymptomatic The majority of new positive cases of the virus announced in the past several weeks involves healthy people showing no symptoms of the virus. Dr. John Lee, Cayman’s chief medical officer, said Wednesday that only one person out of 72 active cases had any symptoms and no-one is currently in hospital. He said it was not clear why Cayman had so many asymptomatic patients, but speculated that as those being tested are in the working population and younger demographic, they are less at risk. He also stated that about half of the positive results showed a “weak” presence of the coronavirus, which may indicate that Cayman’s lockdown period had impacted the virulence of the disease locally. Construction industry resumption continues Several construction sites were back in business this week with new measures being implemented, including temperature screening for employees. Health officials continue to test hundreds of workers and the next phase of reopening the industry will proceed on Monday. Finance minister spells out stark economic reality The Cayman Islands can expect a double-digit drop in its gross domestic product and the loss of nearly 9,000 jobs in the best-case scenario because of COVID-19, according to analysis from the Economics and Statistics Office. Finance Minister Roy McTaggart said government was also facing the prospect of a $250 million budget deficit by the end of the year because of lost revenues and increased costs associated with the coronavirus crisis. He added that government planned to take out a $500 million emergency credit line to help it through the lean times ahead. Economic recovery plan with Cabinet Cabinet is discussing details of an Economic Assessment and Stimulus Plan, which McTaggart believes will help save hundreds of jobs. Measures under consideration or already implemented include loans to small businesses, direct payments to those without work, and an expanded National Community Enhancement (NiCE) work programme. More lockdown measures to be relaxed Government is set to reopen further sectors of the economy on Tuesday as it updates the shelter-in- place order. The details were still being finalised at press time, but Premier Alden McLaughlin said restrictions on retailers would be relaxed further. More than 100 curfew breakers fined Magistrate Valdis Foldats continued to work his way through a backlog of curfew cases in Summary Court hearings held at Constitution Hall, in George Town. Most defendants were given a $500 fine or in some cases community service. Efforts to evacuate jobless expat workers continue The governor’s office continues to work on flights to allow work- permit holders who have lost their jobs to return to their home countries. A flight to India has been agreed and will take place within the next three weeks. Another flight from London is planned in early June, while flights are being worked on for Jamaica and Colombia. Flights to Miami are also taking place. COVID-19 weekly round-up More construction sites were allowed to reopen across Grand Cayman this week. 2cayman compass 3 FRIDAY, 29 MAY 20201234567 89 101112 13141516 17 181920 212223 2425 1234567 89 101112 13141516 17 181920 212223 2425 ACROSS 1 Offspring (5) 4 An elaborate spectacle (7) 8 A social insect (3) 9 Unreasonable demand (4,5) 10 Meagre (7) 11 Juice of cooked meats (5) 13 Uncertain in prospect (6) 15 Rabbit colony (6) 18 Pretentious nonsense (5) 19 Prolonged lack of rain (7) 21 Prominent (2,3,4) 23 Steal from, forcibly (3) 24 Unfortunate (7) 25 Irritable (5) DOWN 1 Remarkably typical (7) 2 Lacking information (2,3,4) 3 Outmoded (5) 4 Contemptible (6) 5 Southeast European country (7) 6 Assistance (3) 7 Slow to act (5) 12 With respect to (2,7) 14 Strive for supremacy (7) 16 In particular (7) 17 Hateful (6) 18 Unforeseen difficulty (5) 20 Done openly (5) 22 Useful hint (3) The Compass Crossword Puzzle The Compass universal kakuro Puzzle 16391 The numbers in the black cells are clues. Numbers above the slash are across clues. Number below the slash are down clues. The goal is to enter digits 1 - 9 in the white cells to add up to the number clues. You cannot enter any digit more than once when adding up to clue. TODAY'S SOLUTIONS Puzzle 16391 ACROSS: 1 Child, 4 Pageant, 8 Ant, 9 Tall order, 10 Slender, 11 Gravy, 13 Chancy, 15 Warren, 18 Hokum, 19 Drought, 21 To the fore, 23 Rob, 24 Hapless, 25 Testy. DOWN: 1 Classic, 2 In the dark, 3 Dated, 4 Paltry, 5 Georgia, 6 Aid, 7 Tardy, 12 As regards, 14 Compete, 16 Notably, 17 Odious, 18 Hitch, 20 Overt, 22 Tip. cartoon That's mine - By Caymanman 4 Local postal voting, more polling stations being considered RESHMA RAGOONATH rragoonath@compassmedia.ky Although the 2021 general election is almost a year away, elections officials are already figuring out how voting will take place if the COVID-19 crisis continues until then or beyond. This would include such considerations as implementing postal ballots and placing polling booths far-enough apart to meet social-distancing regulations, Elections Supervisor Wesley Howell told the Cayman Compass in a Zoom interview. Governor Martyn Roper announced last week that the next genearl election will be held on 26 May 2021. Howell said his team has been keenly observing developments locally when it comes to the health crisis and they have been discussing contingency plans. “If we’re still in the middle of some level of social distancing, we would have to re-examine the number of polling stations that we have and also maybe even look at the legislation in relation to postal ballots and having people vote remotely that way. “But it all depends on where we are within the next six months or so in relation to what we do,” he said. Currently, under the law, postal voting is only allowed for those who are not on island during an election. “We do have the flexibility of adding additional polling stations so that we can reduce the number of persons that would be lining up at any particular polling station in order to vote,” Howell said. For events leading up to Election Day, such as Nomination Day on 31 March, when candidates register as nominees for election, the status quo may remain, he said. “[Nomination Day] typically involves the candidates coming in with a couple of people to sign up for it,” Howell said. “I would imagine that nominations would follow through in a normal process.” Getting a head start The Elections Office is more fully prepared for the 2021 poll than it would normally have been, as it had already been getting ready to hold the now-cancelled referendum on the cruise port. “Our folks are fairly well prepared because we did quite a bit of preparation for the [cruise port] referendum,” Howell said. The people-initiated referendum, spearheaded by the Cruise Port Referendum Cayman petition-signing campaign last year, was initially scheduled for December 2019. “We have 21,800 persons registered [to vote]. That’s the Howell: Elections Office gears up for 2 021 polls highest that [voters’] list has been ever,” Howell said, adding that this was because so many people had signed up to participate in the referendum. Next steps Howell said while his team does not kick into high gear until the election writs are issued, on 9 Dec., there is still a lot of ground to cover before that happens. “Essentially, we start to ensure that our logistics are in place. We have sufficient booths and all the materials we need for the volume of persons,” he said. He said the 26 May election date was determined after “heavy discussions” with Roper. “The date of the general election has to satisfy a couple of things, including the constitutional requirement to have the elections within four years of when the LA [Legislative Assembly] first meets after a general election. So, we’re happy with that date,” he said. He reminded voters to register as soon as they can because there are only three more opportunities left to get onto the Register of Electors. “We have a voter-registration deadline in July, one in October, and then the final one will come in January 2021. That list would come on 1 April, which would be the list we would use for the general election,” he said. As for those voters who will be turning 18 on or before 26 May 2021, Howell said, they can register to vote any time before that period. “We will take their information and add them to that final list, ensuring that they were able to vote on that date,” he said. COVID-19 and the voter process Since March, Cayman has been under shelter-in-place and curfew regulations, leading to operations at the Elections Office being realigned electronically, as has been the case with all government departments. Howell said, despite the restrictions, the voter-registration process has continued uninterrupted. “As it now stands with the COVID-19 procedures, our offices are physically closed, but we’re still able to maintain contact with our customers through email and telephone and we also have a cellphone WhatsApp for folks who prefer to message us via that...,” he said. Howell added the law allows voters to register electronically and it is something the Elections Office has been doing for years, particularly for university students and others staying overseas who need to register. However, he said, with the COVID-19 restrictions, the team at the Elections Office has been “doing a lot more [electronic registrations] now than we had been previously”. “They can call us at [345] 949- 8047. They can email us at office@ elections.ky or they can send us a WhatsApp at cellphone number [345] 927-2830. "The staff are monitoring all of those channels and they can direct them as to where the forms are located, send them through if necessary, and if they need to make physical contact for something specific, then they could make arrangements for that to happen as well,” he said. Supervisor of Elections Wesley Howell.CONTACT DPMS FOR MORE INFO ABOUT SANITIZING SERVICES: 345.925.9887 • INFO@DPMS.KY • WWW.DAVENPORTPROPERTYSERVICES.KY NOW OFFERING SANITIZING FOGGING FOR YOUR BUSINESS PREMISES OR HOME 345.925.9887 • INFO@DPMS.KY • WWW.DAVENPORTPROPERTYSERVCIES.KY Almost every business has a great interest in maintaining healthy environments for their staff during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, more than ever, it is beneficial and important to use the fogging process to sanitize your office building, home, food preparation areas and public areas. Disinfecting your property is a vital way to limit the spread of infections. 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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & SERVICES LTD. cayman compass news N news 5 ANDREL HARRIS aharris@compassmedia.ky Since the start of May, police officers have issued more than 100 speeding tickets a week, as they tackle the increasing number of drivers breaking the speed limits. “Last week we recorded over 166 violations on the roadway,” said Inspector Dwayne Jones, head of the RCIPS Traffic and Roads Policing Unit. “So far this week [by Wednesday], we have recorded and prosecuted 104 individuals for excessive speed. Quite frankly, that is just too much. People need to slow down.” Since the gradual reopening of the domestic economy, thousands more motorists are on the roads, many making multiple journeys each day. That number is added to the already several thousand people who venture out on their assigned letter day. The Traffic Law empowers officers to issue speeding tickets. The penalties begin with fines of $20 per mile for every mile over the speed limit. Throughout this month, Jones and his team have been setting up speed-detection checkpoints across Grand Cayman. Cayman Compass staff accompanied police to some of the locations this week. “This motorist was just caught going 60 miles in a 40-mile zone,” Jones told the Compass as an officer showed him a radar gun that recorded the speed of the vehicle from more than 1,600 feet away. “As the law dictates, for every mile that is in excess [of the speed limit] it’s $20; he has just accumulated a $400 ticket for himself,” said Jones. Within the next five minutes, along the same stretch of road, another three drivers were clocked travelling at more than 55 miles an hour. Compass staff also visited the Linford Pierson Highway where the National Roads Authority has installed speed-detection cameras. Within a space of 15 minutes, a camera in one section of that road captured dozens of motorists travelling at almost 20 miles over the speed limit. Further up the road, police had set up another checkpoint, where multiple people were also detected speeding. “Shamrock Road, and in particular this stretch commonly known as ‘Spotts Straight’, continues to be an area where persons speed on a very regular basis,” said Police Constable Athelston Watts . “We have captured several motorists in the last few days going in excess of 80 miles per hour. In one instance, one motorist [was travelling at] 85 miles an hour, and that person was captured from a distance of over 2,000 feet away.” For those caught travelling at more than twice the speed limit, the penalties are greater than a fine. “Travelling at 85 miles per hour in a 40-mile zone, that person is going to be prosecuted, sent to court and, if convicted, will be disqualified for a minimum of six months,” said Watts. Police have been chastised in the past for ‘ambushing drivers’. At a West Bay town hall meeting last year, one motorist described the experience as being nothing short of “entrapment”. At speed-detection checkpoints that Compass staff attended, officers were either hardly visible or not visible to motorists from afar. “By no means are we jumping out of any bushes to intercept anyone,” said Jones. “We place ourselves at strategic locations where we have an advantage to detect road users who are speeding.” Jones noted that excessive speed is a major contributing factor to fatal traffic accidents in Cayman. Twelve people died in road accidents in 2015, a quarter of which occurred due to excessive speed. With gyms closed, and the sea and beaches off limits until last week, people took to the roads to do their exercise, leading to a major uptick in pedestrian activity along public streets. Cayman Islands Football Association referees Jonathan Hughes and Ben Whitty are two of the many people trying to keep fit during the lockdown. “I’ve been trying to keep off the roads as much as possible,” said Hughes. “I’ve heard [about speeding] anecdotally, but I have ... noticed the police presence out trying to keep a lid on it, and that is definitely positive.” Whitty added, “My opinion is that nowhere is far on this island, so I don’t know where you are rushing to. Obviously, the police are out doing speed traps when they can, but it might be that they need stationary cameras in place to take a snapshot of the speeding [car’s] licence [plate] and go from there.” Jones said that, while police understand many families are currently in financial difficulties, his officers won't compromise when it comes to speeding offences. “Motorists have a responsibility ... to ensure they are operating within the law,” said Jones. “But if you are caught speeding, you will be prosecuted, because the ultimate [goal] at the end of the day is saving lives and ensuring that you, the motorist, get safely to wherever your destination is.” Police slam brakes on speeders More than 100 Speeding tickets issued by police each week this month FRIDAY, 29 MAY 20206 JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@compassmedia.ky Criminals are using the coronavirus crisis as bait to hook people into a variety of cyber-scams. Regulators have seen a “100% jump” in criminal activity online since the start of the pandemic. Alee Fa’amoe, who represents OfReg at the National Emergency Operations Centre, said his office was constantly processing reports of new threats. “We are responsible for national cyber-security,” he said. “We have a team of IT professionals who talk with each other about the threats they see – and the threats are constant.” OfReg also receives reports from US federal cyber-security agencies and from the UK government. For the most part, its role involves monitoring threats and advising businesses on how to guard themselves against attack. The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service’s cyber-crime unit is also on high alert for new threats associated with the coronavirus. “There has been an escalation in phishing emails since March 2020 globally, in particular playing on the public’s emotions – ‘act now or someone may die’,” Joanne Payne, a detective constable with the cyber-crime unit said in an emailed response to questions from the Cayman Compass. Police say such scams are becoming more sophisticated and are often sent from email addresses set up to mimic legitimate and trusted businesses, like banks, hospitals or the World Health Organization. Even the Cayman Compass was impacted when a fake news alert about COVID-19, purporting to come from the newspaper, was disseminated in March. Police say there have been no reports of Cayman Islands websites being successfully hacked in recent months. In many cases, cyber-criminals are still using emails and passwords that were hijacked from an attack on the classifieds website EcayTrade in 2015. “All reported cases within the COVID-19 period appear to be related to this business compromise,” Payne said. Fa’amoe says that certain scams are specifically targeting the Cayman Islands, using the names of local businesses as a front to lull victims into a false sense of security. However, police and regulators believe the criminals are almost exclusively based overseas. Work-from-home culture shift exploited The workplace shift to home offices has also led to less-secure computers being looped into business networks. “They can now get into the corporate network just by getting into your unprotected home computer,” said Fa’amoe. The police’s Digital Forensic Hub was recently informed of a case involving a ransomware attack on a local business. The criminals were able to exploit weaknesses in the system when employees remotely connected to the corporate network using their smartphones. “There are extreme vulnerabilities with people working from home due to the lack of security their business systems would usually have,” Payne said. To compound the problem, during the initial pandemic stages, IT professionals were very busy facilitating business transitions from office to home. During this time, Fa’amoe says, it appears that hackers tried to take advantage of overworked and distracted IT teams, making it easier for criminals to exploit weaknesses. “We have seen a massive jump in cyber-attacks of all different flavours – ransomware specifically targeting healthcare providers, phishing attacks, brute force attacks,” he said. OfReg advises IT professionals across Cayman of new threats on a regular basis. Protecting the territory from cyber-threats is part of the national security response to COVID-19. OfReg has the capacity to track the source IP addresses used to disseminate malware and block them from accessing Cayman’s networks. However, this is a complex, time-consuming and expensive process that would only be used when a specific malware is posing a threat to the country – for example, by targeting the national energy grid or the Health Services Authority. The police cyber-team is not yet seeing a marked increase in reports of Cayman businesses being attacked. But they are concerned that the hype and fear around the health threat has also made it easier to lure people into clicking on phishing scams with a fake coronavirus alert. “Bad actors are also actively exploiting the worldwide shortage of medical supplies created by the COVID-19 pandemic to target payments intended for ventilators, PPE, and cleaning products, whereby payment has been made urgently, and right into their hands,” added Payne. Deloitte monitors business threats Deloitte’s cyber practice is constantly monitoring threats to the region and globally and is providing updates to its clients and the business community in general. Alexandra Simonova, director of the company’s risk advisory department, said organisations in Cayman and worldwide were facing numerous challenges on various fronts. She said ‘collaboration technology’, like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, is being targeted. “We’ve seen many ransomware and phishing attacks in the region, as well as personal data breaches,” she said, adding the source of the threats ranges from bedroom hackers to sophisticated criminal organisations. Ransomware – technology which allows cyber-criminals to lock individuals or businesses out of their computers or networks and asks for a ransom to regain access – is among the most common visible threats. “There are ransomware services that people can just buy on the dark web and start using right away. They even have help-desk support,” she said. Deloitte provides weekly briefings to the business community on current cyber-threats. In its latest briefing, the company wrote, “Coronavirus-themed cyberattacks have now been confirmed in every country in the world. “Targeted attacks are also on the rise – zeroing in not only on popular applications and platforms, but on industries across the board. With each passing week, the urgent need for heightened security vigilance, employee education, and a cyber risk-aware culture becomes clearer.” Online criminals exploit COVID-19 crisis There has been a major increase in cyber-crime during the coronavirus crisis. 100% The increase in online criminal activity since start of COVID-19 crisis • Change passwords for email and other services regularly. • Make sure passwords are different for each account. • Do not use easily guessed passwords, or words that link to you or your family. Social engineering is the num- ber one method to hack people’s details. Try to use mixtures of letters, numbers and symbols. Advice from police for people and businesses to operate safely: CYBER CHALLENGESBe there for each other. We’ll be there for you. Even if you can’t physically be together right now, it’s important you stay connected to family, friends and colleagues. At Logic, we’re working hard to keep our network strong so you can connect with those important to you. Here are a few more things Logic is doing: Stay home. We got this. Promoting Education - Logic is offering free speed upgrades for teachers delivering classes from home. Providing flexible payment options - We are providing flexible payment arrangements for those that have lost their businesses or jobs due to COVID-19. Community Pledge - We’ve pledged $25,000 to the private sector COVID-19 relief fund, through the R3 Foundation. Charitable Donations - Logic has contributed $14,000 spread across the following organizations - Cayman Red Cross, ARK, Feed our Future, Meals on Wheels, Cayman Food Bank, NCVO and the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre. Connecting our Students- We have been working with the Department of Education to provide connectivity to those students in need. Adding free news and entertainment - We’ve opened a number of channels to all television subscribers. cayman compass 7 news N news FRIDAY, 29 MAY 2020 Flow and Digicel apply to expand networks JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@compassmedia.ky As work patterns shift from office to home, Cayman’s telecommunications infrastructure is feeling the strain. Wireless internet and cellphone networks are suddenly dealing with traffic they were not built to handle, says Alee Fa’amoe, OfReg's executive director for information and communications technology. “We are seeing the same thing in Cayman as in a lot of cities around the world,” he says. “People are physically in different places during the day, which has caused a massive shift in traffic patterns almost overnight, and the mobile networks are seeing a lot of stress.” While the technical infrastructure that supports cellphone and internet traffic is less visible, it is comparable with the roads infrastructure that supports vehicular traffic, says Fa’amoe. He says the sudden shift in online activity from business centres to residential areas was like moving rush hour traffic from George Town to East End. The regulator has received numerous complaints about slow internet or dropped calls on the mobile networks. Much of it, says Fa’amoe, can be attributed to this shift in traffic. Meanwhile, another kind of congestion is affecting internet access from home. “When people work from home and complain about internet speeds, a lot of the time their WiFi is congested. It is just like a pathway, when there is traffic, there is congestion, and things move slower," he says. WiFi networks are a shared set of radio frequencies. If you click on the WiFi icon on your laptop, you can see how many other users are sharing the same frequency. “When there are a lot more people doing a lot more things on the same radio frequency, things can slow down,” Fa’amoe said. One workaround is to plug your laptop directly into your WiFi router. The same congestion problems occurring on cellphone networks are harder to fix. “Mobile networks in town were designed to handle that kind of traffic, but now that people are sitting home, they are struggling with this sudden shift in activity,” he adds. The extent to which the shift to a work-from-home lifestyle is a temporary measure for COVID-19 or an acceleration of a longer-term trend remains to be seen. But telecommunications companies are already moving to accommodate the shift in traffic. Both Digicel and Flow have requested a temporary expansion of radio services on cell towers in the districts, which OfReg is processing. “What they are seeing is a step up in need in residential areas. We understand that need and we realise it may not be temporary,” says Fa’amoe. If there is capacity on the cell towers, increasing radio frequencies is relatively simple. That is not the case in all districts, however, and a longer-term shift in work habits may necessitate major infrastructure investment. “If the traffic shift becomes permanent, the whole topography of the network might need to be changed and reconfigured,” Fa’amoe says. The reported impacts, including slow internet, lost images on Zoom video-conferencing, and dropped calls, can have a serious effect on businesses and public services. Another concern brought into sharp focus by the COVID-19 crisis is the lack of local peering to connect administratively separate internet networks. So, whenever a Flow customer calls a Digicel customer via WhatsApp, for example, the call is bounced through Miami. “This is problematic when we are using conference facilities like Zoom, because instead of a call being made locally between our providers, it is going through the US,” Fa’amoe says, adding that OfReg is exploring ways to facilitate local peering. Work-from-home shift taxes internet infrastructure OfReg's Alee Fa'amoe “What they are seeing is a step up in need in residential areas. We understand that need and we realise it may not be temporary.” Alee Fa'amoe , OfReg CYBER CHALLENGES8 I issues Economic victims of COVID-19 share their stories JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@compassmedia.ky The sound of Beto Anglin’s truck idling in the narrow back lanes of West Bay is music to the ears of the residents on his delivery route. It is a sound that means they will not go hungry today. A gregarious West Bayer, in mirrored shades and a mask converted from a bandana, Anglin holds court about the disconnect he sees in Cayman society as the scent of home- cooked chicken drifts in from the back seat. “I think a lot of people are better off and self-sufficient and have very little clue or care to educate themselves on the plight that is out there,” he says. “Most people don’t understand it till it affects them or someone they care about.” Anglin is out of work himself. His wife lost her job amid the COVID-19 business shutdown and he splits his time between working with her to home-school their five children and running food deliveries for ARK. Today he is delivering 49 food packages – a soup, a hot cooked meal and a $25 Foster’s gift card – to 11 households. That’s just a fraction of the meals that will go out across Grand Cayman. Currently, just over 2,000 people get two deliveries each week from ARK. For some of them, charity organisers believe this is the only food they get. The level of need out there is staggering, says Anglin, as he pulls into the driveway of the first home on his list. Usually he places the food on the porch and gets on with his route, but today the home-owner, Jan Smith, comes to the door and passes the time with us. A small child rides on her hip as she explains the difficulties her family is going through as she cares for her husband and tries to look out for her children and grandchildren. A little income is coming in from a couple of tenants, she says, but that is not what it was, and the donation is gratefully received. “It really helps a lot,” she says, lifting the Styrofoam containers of soup and bottles of juice onto a table in the hallway. “My husband is sick. I can’t get to go out there during the time that the governor give us through the alphabet orders to get food and pay bills.” As he reverses on to the main road, Anglin is eyeing up the mangoes ripening on the tree that covers most of the yard. “I got a couple of those coming to me,” he laughs. “None of us have got much, but what we have we share. We are Caymanian, man. We always help each other, especially in times of need. “Obviously, I don’t have the money but I have the time, I have a vehicle. I am able to help in a different way,” he says. Praying to stay healthy enough to work At the next stop, Anglin leaves the meals on the doorstep and is about to make a call to ensure someone can pick it up before the dogs get into it, when Illirine Knight pulls into the driveway with three of her four children. The older boys are carrying fishing rods. “They caught three or four small ones, so I think if they keep going they will get enough for a meal,” she says. Knight works as a cleaner at Health City Cayman Islands. Even though she is working overtime to pay the bills, the money coming in is not enough. Her oldest daughter, who also lives at home, lost her job as a hotel receptionist, and she has two grandchildren to take care of as well. Knight was tested for COVID-19 after the initial outbreak at the hospital and thankfully her results came back negative. Though she is worried about contracting the virus, she is more concerned about not being able to work. “We don’t want to get infected and come and have our family infected,” she said. “It is really scary, but it is a job we have to do because we have mouths to feed.” Without the help from ARK, she is not sure how she would manage. Every day she takes her vitamins and prays not to get sick, so she can continue to work. “I have to give God thanks, grace and glory, and try to keep myself healthy. I drink a lot of water and try to stay healthy.” Anglin is a larger-than-life figure in his Raiders Nation cap and matching jersey, a crucifix dangling from the gold chain around his neck. He gets a kick out of doing his part for the people in his neighbourhood and he calls out a greeting to nearly every passerby as he winds along the route. Though he is happy to be of service, he is not convinced the help he and other volunteers are providing is enough. As he travels, he sees houses in disrepair, homes without proper access to electricity or water, and so many people reliant on charity to eat. It makes him think twice about his own situation. “I could be doing better but my situation pales in comparison to others. There is a lot of people doing a lot worse than I am,” he says. The Kindness Kitchen At Deckers restaurant on West Bay Road, the chairs and tables are stacked away and rainwater pools in the outdoor dining area. There have been no customers and no income coming in for months but the chefs are busier than ever. As the headquarters of ARK’s Kindness Kitchen, the restaurant prepares hundreds of soups and hot meals every day. At the back of the building, Neil Hunger, humility and hope as humanitarian crisis grows Thousands of people across Grand Cayman are struggling to survive without income as the impact of the COVID-19 crisis takes its toll. The Cayman Compass went on the road with charity Acts of Random Kindness, one of the most prominent of several non-profits providing emergency food deliveries to those in need. 6,000 The number of meals being prepared at ARK’s Kindness Kitchen per week Beto Anglin carries food to hungry families as a driver on ARK’s West Bay route. Illirine Knight works overtime as a cleaner at Health City. But with her daughter out of work because of COVID-19 she has extra mouths to feed.cayman compass 9 I issues FRIDAY, 29 MAY 2020 Rooney sits at a small table, feeling the breeze from an electric fan as he inputs numbers into a laptop computer. Neil and his wife Kelly are a husband-and-wife partnership that has taken organisational responsibility for the food programme. With their day jobs on hold, they each put in 50-60 hours a week supporting ARK’s operation. It is not the time commitment that worries them, it is the thought that they may have to stop. The volunteer effort has developed into a mini-business, pulling in meals from restaurants around the island and relying on more than 30 volunteer staff, like Anglin, to deliver and distribute food to homes from West Bay to North Side. Though much of the labour and some of the food is donated, the cost of the operation runs to nearly $100,000 every month – every cent coming from private sector donors. “It all costs money and it is only a matter of time before our benefactors say ‘we have given all we can’,” says Rooney. Right now, he believes there is enough in the kitty to go through to July, but the need is continuing to grow. Flattening the curve At this point, everyone is familiar with the term ‘flattening the curve’ used by public health officials to describe the strategy of slowing the spread of the coronavirus and preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. As far as the virus is concerned, this appears to have been successful for now. But Rooney points to another graph illustrating a different problem where the need is only growing. His bar chart shows the total number of meals going out of ARK’s kitchen has gone from around 2,000 per week to 6,000 per week in the space of a month. Very soon, he warns, ARK and the restaurants that support it will be overwhelmed. “We need to flatten this curve as well,” he says. “Our phones are ringing every day from people that need help. This is much bigger than people realise.” Rooney is also painfully aware that ARK’s deliveries are really the bare minimum for the families it serves. Each person gets four meals per week and a $25 Foster’s card to share among the family. “I know, for a lot of them, this is the only food they are getting,” he says. Sisters help spread hope in their community At the back of McField Square in George Town, in a rugged courtyard strewn with beach chairs and picnic tables, Denia Walker struggles to make herself heard over the squawks of crowing roosters. Like many people in this neighbourhood, Walker, who was working as a courier, lost her job when the lockdown began. “I see the Cayman Islands doing a great job about the health part. Thank God for that,” she says, “but it is what happens in the economic part… I fear more what’s happening outside, I don’t fear so much the virus.” Walker and her sister Oneyda Esperanza Calderon came to the Cayman Islands from Honduras more than 20 years ago. They are stalwarts of this small community. Whenever ARK or the neighbourhood church drops by with food, they distribute it among a dozen or so families in the area. “The most important thing is the children,” says Calderon, “They are not going to school. The parents have no jobs and they can’t go nowhere to pick up food.” Calderon is also out of work. She says she applied to the Needs Assessment Unit for support at the end of April and is waiting to hear back. She believes many in the area are in the same situation. Despite their struggles, the sisters see it as an honour every Tuesday and Friday afternoon to deliver food from ARK around the neighbourhood. “It is mostly the children has been suffering. They come round to my little car and ask for the food and we deliver it for them with this nice organisation,” says Walker. Even with the support of ARK and the church, the sisters worry that some are not getting enough to eat. But the charity they have received helps them stay optimistic. Calderon points out that her name, Esperanza, means hope in English. “We can’t lose the hope,” she says. “We survive because of that, we need to have hope every day.” Stranded without income A few streets away, Norlan Jimenez is carving up barbecue chicken to share among a group of Nicaraguans living in a block of lime-green apartments on Avon Way. It’s an old neighbourhood, and a painted sign on a wall in the narrow alley that leads to the apartment advertises rooms-for-rent by the day. The hotel, if there ever was one, is long gone. On a folding picnic table, Devorn Samuel helps separate the food, delivered by ARK, into 25 portions to share among a large group of Nicaraguans left stranded in Cayman without work after an evacuation flight was cancelled. Most of the men worked in water sports, tourism or construction and have been without pay for two months. After the flight was cancelled in April, they were each given a $150 grocery voucher by government, says Jiminez. They pooled their resources together and tried to make it stretch, buying rice and eggs and other budget foods in bulk. But more than a month has passed now and the supplies have run out. They depend on the regular deliveries from ARK to eat each day and on the generosity of their landlord to have a roof over their heads. While they are grateful for the help they get, the men say they wish they could provide some work in return. “It is really embarrassing, we appreciate the hospitality that everyone is doing, but we don’t know when the door will close on us,” said Samuel, who worked for Red Sail Sports prior to the closure of Cayman’s borders. “One day we will think that someone is bringing something for us and no one is there.” Ideally, he said, he will return to Nicaragua as soon as a flight is sanctioned. He believes the Nicaraguan government will allow its citizens to return if they can get a negative COVID-19 test. Jimenez is also desperate to return home. He has four children in Nicaragua and no way to send them money. “My biggest daughter calls me, ‘Dad, I need this, I need that’, and I say ‘Baby, you not hear about this pandemic? I not working, I can’t send money’. I feel so bad. She says ‘my mummy not working either so how can I survive?’ It makes your heart break.” No time for bureaucracy It is stories like these that keep Kelly Rooney awake at night and get her out of bed in the morning. What we have seen, she says, is just a small fraction of the families and communities of all races and nationalities that are suffering the impact of the coronavirus crisis. Tomorrow, it will be a different route, hundreds of different families with hundreds of different stories. Some are people ARK was already helping – single mums like Seantel Jackson, who drove from Bodden Town to pick up some food for herself and her two young children. For her, a tough situation has become even tougher in the past months. Others are leaning on the charitable sector for the first time in their lives Kelly Rooney handles the phones and sorts out the delivery rota for the food programme. She has a driver on standby for emergencies. “We have had people call who only just found out about us and sometimes they haven’t eaten in days,” she says. When people are starving, she says, there is no time for bureaucracy. “When you have a mother call you saying, ‘Me and my baby are hungry, can you feed us?’ Yeah, you bet I am gonna feed them as fast as I can, even if it is the end of the day and I run to the supermarket for them myself.” Government support needed While some expat workers have left the island and the construction sector is beginning to go back to work, many in the tourism industry have burnt through the last of their savings and are only now coming for help, says Neil Rooney. ARK, which is just one of several charities providing food support to those without income, believes the problem will get worse before it gets better. He says he is surprised that more is not being done by government to directly help those in need. He accepts the Needs Assessment Unit is providing increased support but, for many, this is often not enough and, in multiple cases, the applications for help are not dealt with swiftly. In the interim, people go hungry. “The humanitarian side of this thing is being missed by government,” he said. “Organisations like ours are prepared to work as hard as we can. Our system is in place, we know exactly where the need is and we can make it work, but there is going to be a point where we run out of money and that need is still going up. “I don’t even want to imagine what happens when those two things happen at the same time.” Premier Alden McLaughlin said government would have to think very carefully about using public funds to support charities helping with food relief. He acknowledged there were delays in people accessing support from the Needs Assessment Unit, but he said it was still providing support to 2,700 families. He said most delays were associated with people not filling out forms correctly. Asked at a press conference Wednesday if his government would consider supporting charities that provide more- immediate emergency food support, he suggested the lack of a screening process for people getting assistance could be a problem. “The reason why the NAU process takes longer is because there is a vetting process,” he said, “Government simply giving money to entities that don’t have any filter process – you just turn up and you get what is available – is something we would have to consider very carefully... This is still government funds that we are using.” For full story, visit www.caymancompass.com. Premier cautious over using public funds to support charities For more information on ARK's Feed Cayman 2020 programme, to donate or to find out how you can help, go to https:// www.caymansark.com/feed- cayman-2020. Norlan Jiminez and Devorn Samuel divide up the food brought by ARK to share with more than 20 fellow Nicaraguans, stranded in Cayman without income. Neil and Kelly Rooney have taken organisational responsibility for the food programme.Next >