Barbadian meet and greet evening

By Christopher Tobutt

The Barbados Honorary Consul  held a small, but very special, meet and greet with distinguished Barbadian,  Dr. Joy St. John, Executive Director of CARPHA, the Caribbean Public Health Agency at the Lions Centre on Tuesday 7 March.  Juliette Gooding Honorary Consul to Barbados, MC’d the meeting where there was lots of fun, food and fellowship.  Dr Joy St John came  coming to Cayman Islands to participate in training of Law Enforcement Agencies. Those attending the conference as well as Barbadians living in Cayman have been invited to meet with her.

Dr. Joy was the Chief Medical Officer of Barbados for 12 years before joining the World Heath Organisation, as Assistant Director General. In 2019 she became Executive Director of CARPHA which which is a CARICOM institution thathas 26 member nations including the Cayman Islands. Established in 2013 it fulfills the roles of previously separate instititions, bringing them under one roof, and covers areas including the management of both non-communicable and communicable diseases,  emergency responses to disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding), and the prevention of injuries, violence and job-related illnesses.

“We came here to present to local security stakeholders,” Dr. Joy  said. “It is important because Cayman needs to know what the rest of the Caribbean is doing, but it’s also important because security is something that’s easily threatening the Caribbean. It was wonderful because we had a great reception. They listened, and then they asked really good questions,” Dr. Joy said.

Juliette Gooding started the fun and games with an ice-breaker quiz, all about questions on Barbados. The first one, “who is Rhianna?” was answered by, “She’s a singer,” which was good enough to win a lovely gift of fancy Barbadian goods, all wrapped up with a ribbon. Other questions kept comming.

Ms. Gooding invited people to take the mike and introduce themselves. Anton Gash was one of the first. He said said he had first been to Barbados when he was 16, and remarked on how much Nelson Street had changed when he went back at the age of 45. Afte 38 years in the Royal Navy and another 10 working for a company, Mr. Gash is helping with aspects of Border control and had contributed at the conference with Dr. Joy.

Ms Gooding also spoke about the work of the Barbados Overseas Association. The  Association looks out for Barbadians living here, getting together with community projects and activities which support the community and bring it together, while also  giving back to the Cayman community they call home.