LAST WEEK we read about the journeys of Tenny Fields in her partnering with Bajan solar energy specialist Jilliam Wharton and systems analyst Miriam Cuffy as they constructed self-sufficient units throughout Jacknal, Haiti, having electricity being generated via solar panels to support the energy needs of the young artisans at risk.

With this facility we saw how the sculpture, painting, art and music of these youth were being sold in markets all over Europe and the hotels of the Caribbean.

It is important to add of course that as each item is tagged and inventoried locally, thanks to a system specifically designed by Miriam, there is no middleman and the majority of the profits handled by Tenny return to the community for the young people, enabling them to go to school, feed, house and clothe themselves. In this way the coordinated actions of a few are having a domino enriching effect on many parts of Caribbean societies, and really creating a much needed stability throughout rural Haiti.

Both Tenny and Miriam say it has all been made easier by the many measures, from the banking restrictions to people and goods restrictions, that have been introduced in this increasingly single economic space.

But let's look a little more closely at the measures put in place to really make links like this possible. When Tenny leaves Mustique tri-weekly for Haiti, she travels by air. The goods that she ships travel by sea.

Not as economical

The fares by air are not as economical as she'd like them but when you factor in that it takes about US$1 million a day to maintain LIAT, the airfares don't seem quite so uneconomical. She finds the service has improved with the introduction of Caribbean Airlines though she suggests quietly that it has slipped since the merger.

As one would expect, Tenny has quite a few views on how we can improve travelling and transportation in the region. Looking at the cost of maintenance even separate from oil hikes, she is of the firm opinion that governments need to get out of subsidising air carriers and let the market do its bidding.

Martin, a British executive heading a company that has subsidiaries throughout the Caribbean, is of the opposite opinion. He very firmly states there is no way one airline could service the needs and wants of the Caribbean adequately and he suggests that a monopoly would, in every way conceivable, only harm the airline industry in the Caribbean. Martin looks at it like practically everyone else in the world looks at the Caribbean, as islands in close proximity, deftly sovereign but having no means to maintain such in an increasingly globalised world and needing to be linked, somehow.

There have been no fewer than 176 different plans lodged in CARICOM – ideas as to how to facilitate that linkage. People have come up with bridges, trains, hydro planes, ferries, tri-island planes . . . to link the people, cultures, bounty of this region, but we have not yet come up with one that is palatable to all. Perhaps we will, perhaps we won't, but try we must.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment