Community

All creatures great and small | Inspire

By Erline Andrews | Issue 161 (January/February 2020)

Last September, Hurricane Dorian devastated the lives of thousands in the Bahamas — and not just the human residents of the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahamas, but their pets as well. As Erline Andrews learns, in the aftermath of the storm, animal welfare organisations have stepped in to save hundreds of domesticated animals and reunite them with their owners

When disasters like last year’s Hurricane Dorian strike, human victims are the priority — but animal welfare activists say pets shouldn’t be forgotten. Photo by Design Pics Inc/Alamy Stock Photo

OK to be proud | Inspire

By Bridget van Dongen | Issue 152 (July/August 2018)

Six years ago, the tragic suicide of a teenager motivated the launch of an initiative to support young LGBTQ people in Trinidad and Tobago. Bridget van Dongen reports on the Silver Lining Foundation, and how they work to protect the vulnerable

Silver Lining Foundation members and friends at their Easter 2018 family event in Port of Spain’s Queen’s Park Savannah. Photo by Brandon Kalyan courtesy the Silver Lining Foundation

Guyana’s Wai Wai: Friends in the Forest

By Anna Nicholas | Issue 45 (September/October 2000)

Only discovered by westerners in the 1800s, the Wai Wai of Guyana still live deep in the forest, near the border with Brazil. Anna Nicholas, who joined an expedition headed by the British explorer John Blashford-Snell, reports on what it's like to live with the Wai Wai, and why she's looking forward to returning

hese Wai Wai children are for more interested in the camera than in their agoutis. Photograph by Anna Nicholas

After the storm | Perspective

By Caribbean Beat | Issue 148 (November/December 2017)

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, here’s how you can help the islands most badly affected

Heartland album: Andrea de Silva & Alva Viarruel explore the landscape of Indo-Trinidadian culture

By Various Contributors | Issue 145 (May/June 2017)

For generations, the plains of Caroni in central Trinidad were the agricultual heart of the island. The busy town of Chaguanas and its vendor-lined streets now dominate the area, but across the surrounding countryside still sprawl small farms and villages. Photographer Andrea de Silva and writer Alva Viarruel explore this landscape of Indo-Trinidadian culture

Inner-city art in Kingston

By Tanya Batson-Savage | Issue 144 (March/April 2017)

For middle-class Jamaicans and tourists alike, downtown Kingston, with its deprived communities, can seem off-limits. So when a group of young artists began a public mural project in the Fleet Street area, it wasn’t just about beautifying the neighbourhood, writes Tanya Batson-Savage. It was really about opening opportunities for local residents

Caribbean “farmer-preneurs” — back to the land

By Erline Andrews | Issue 142 (November/December 2016)

Agriculture is an essential industry — how else do we feed ourselves? — but traditionally has been considered back-breaking, thankless, old-fashioned work. That’s starting to change, Erline Andrews reports, as a new generation of young Caribbean “farmer-preneurs” adopt the latest technological advances in one of human-kind’s oldest activities

Pastor Bobby Wilmott: Trench Town Triumph

By Chris Salewicz | Issue 40 (November/December 1999)

Pastor Bobby Wilmott is a man who’s bent on converting Jamaica’s rough Trench Town into a place of hope he calls Joytown. Chris Salewicz explains

Wilmott at the Joytown Learning Centre with a class of young children. Photograph by Wayne Tippetts

The Merikins: heroes of the forgotten war

By Judy Raymond | Issue 140 (July/August 2016)

Two hundred years ago, a group of free black veterans of the War of 1812 arrived in Trinidad. In the island’s deep south, the villages they founded still preserve the traditions of the “Merikins,” as writer Judy Raymond and photographer Marlon Rouse discover — and still have much to teach their fellow citizens

First things first: the Caribbean’s First Peoples

By Caribbean Beat | Issue 137 (January/February 2016)

The Caribbean’s First Peoples shaped our landscapes, language, and culture — and across the region, our indigenous heritage remains within reach, if you know where to look

Ark of hope

By Zahra Gordon | Issue 136 (November/December 2015)

The Children’s Ark charity channels the energy and know-how of T&T’s movers and shakers to help give at-risk youth the opportunities they deserve. Zahra Gordon learns more

Eid-ul-Fitr: the end of the fast

By Caribbean Beat | Issue 134 (July/August 2015)

At the end of the month of Ramadan, Muslims in Suriname celebrate the joyful festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, like their fellows in Guyana and Trinidad

Breaking  the Barriers

By Donna Yawching | Issue 47 (January/February 2001)

Donna Yawching on an ingenious outreach programme from the University of the West Indies

Leroy Clarke. Photograph by Robert Taylor/ Trinidad Express

Once bitten: Chikungunya in the Caribbean

By Nazma Muller | Issue 131 (January/February 2015)

It was the Caribbean’s big public health crisis of 2014: a rapidly spreading outbreak of mosquito-borne chikungunya. Nazma Muller investigates how governments have responded, and suggests how visitors to the Caribbean can avoid the dreaded pains and rashes of CHIK-V