Family time. Caribbean style in a European way

It has been a while since I updated this blog, and it has a reason, no excuse, but a valid reason.
In 2013 my daughter was born, and my wife and I are raising her alone in The Netherlands. This takes quite some dedication and time. We do it with love and enjoy it. Now she is almost 2 years old, and we have entered her in daycare and soon she will enroll in pre-school. This will provide us with some free time.
Since our daughter entered our lives we often talk about the difference between living and raising a child in the Caribbean compared to in our case Europe. We have visited both Aruba and the Dominican Republic to let our families meet her. The biggest difference between the two regions is the role a family plays in your child's life and upbringing. In the Caribbean I feel much more dedication from relatives, and a more pro-active approach. In Europe people love the child, will help out from time to time, but it is more an exception to the rule.
In Europe things are structured and organized. What they expect you and your child to do from birth till her 18th birthday. And the child will enter into this system, which has its benefits and downsides. Time will tell in our case. We do miss our families even more now that we have a child and realize even more the value of having, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. To be fair, the problem in Europe is that relatives often live far apart from each other, making it more difficult to just drop by or letting you bring over your child to them. In the Caribbean, distances are shorter, and very often relatives live next to each other or in the same neighborhood/village.
Therefore I think it has also to do with the geography of the Caribbean, having a positive effect on family situations. From a European perspective one could argue that the proximity of relatives brings a lot of social control and pressure. Relatives who meddle in your family situation for example.
As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side. I Think raising a child in both regions has benefits and challenges. For now, we are making the best of the European advantages and coping with the "missing" Caribbean culture. I just wonder what culture my child will tend to go for more. Nevertheless I think having both, she will be able to reap the benefits of both. Time will tell.

Football (soccer) in the Caribbean

With the World cup in Brasil getting closer,we are all getting a bit more excited. this year unfortunatly no Caribbean nation is participating. Remember the times when Trinidad and Jamaica were part of this? Their fans brought extra reaggea and Soca joy

to the stadiums and were a really good addition to the atmosphere.
But how big is football in the Caribbean? Having many backgrounds, many Caribbean Islands tend to prefer other sports such as Baseball and Cricket. Yet football most of the times still is in the top 3 of national sports practiced.
Lets check out first the FIFA ranking, to see where we are at.

Based on June 8 2014; http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/index.html:

Trinidad leads us with a 71st spot, followed by Haiti at the 73rd spot.
The other Caribbean nations:

Jamaica 81

Cuba 95

Aruba 120

soccer fans/supporters from Trinidad and Tobago (Soca Warriors) and Sweden in front of Worldcup-stadium (FIFA WC 2006) in Dortmund, Germany before the match T&T vs. Sweden began. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dominican Rep. 131

St. Vincent & the Grenadines 132

St. Lucia 137

Grenada 144

Antigua & Barbuda 151

Puerto Rico 158

St. Kitts & Nevis 160

Montserrat 166

Dominica 169

Barbados 170

Curacao 182

Bahamas 186

USVI 195

Cayman Islands 196

BVI 198

Anguilla 206

Turks & Caicos 207

The route to a World Cup tournament for any Caribbean Nation is by competing in the CONCACAF region. 

So how about the local national championships? It takes a bit of searching to find out about local leagues and championships. But there is a lot of activity ion the Caribbean regarding football. I did some research and the results will give you an insight. Lets take a look into the top 5 FIFA ranking nations' competitions and most successful clubs.

Trinidad

The local competition is called the TT Pro League. It consists of 9 teams:

W Connection; Central FC; Defence Force; Point Fortin Civic FC; North East Stars FC; Caledonia AIA; Police FC; San Juan Jabloteh; St. Anne's Rangers

W Connection is the most successful club with 5 titles in the leagues' 15 years of existence  



Haiti

The local competition is called League Haitien. It consists of 14 teams:
Aigle Noir AC; America FC; AS Mirebalais; AS Petit-Goave; Baltimore SC; Cavaly AS; Don Bosco FC; FICA; RC Haitien; Tempete FC; Valencia FC; Victory SC
RC Haitien is the most successful club with 11 titles in the leagues' 77 years of existence.

Jamaica

The local competition is called National Premier League. it consists of 12 teams:

Arnett Gardens FC; August Town FC; Boys' Town FC; Cavalier FC; Harbour View FC; Humble Lions FC; Montego Bay United FC; Portmore United FC; Rivoli United FC; Sporting Central Academy; Tivoli Gardens FC; Waterouse FC

There are 3 clubs sharing the most succeses wielding 5 cups each in the leagues' 41 years of existence: Portmore United, Santos FC and Tivoli Gardens

Cuba

FC Villa Clara 

The local competition is called Campeonato Nacional de Futbol de Cuba. It consists of 16 teams split in four groups of 4 teams each. The group winners will enter a round robin competition where the winners enter the semi finals followed by the final.
FC Villa Clara is the most successful with 13 championships in the leagues' 102 years of existence. The current champions are Ciego de Avila.

Aruba
The local competition is called Division Honor. It consists of 10 teams:
SV Britannia; SV Bubali; SV Caiquetio; SV Caravel; SV Dakota; SV Deportivo Nacional; SV Estrella; SV La Fama; SV RCA; 
SV Riverplate
SV Dakota is the most successful club having won 15 titles in the leagues' 54 years of existence. For current updates go to www.avbaruba.aw

So whenever you visit the Caribbean, try and check out a local game. You will not only be treated by football, but chances are that you will be able to experience gastronomy, music and dance at one of these games. It is also a great way to meet locals and dip into culture.

By the way, my club is Deportivo Nacional from Aruba.

Venezuelan Crisis, they're our neighbors (Caribbean)

In Europe it is not on the news as much, as we have the Ukrainian situation on the Crimea peninsula. That does not make it less important. Especially because some of the islands in the CAribbean are either geographically very close or have economic ties and/or do business with Venezuela. My native island of Aruba is only about 40KM in front of their coastline and Venezuela is still the second largest source market for tourism into Aruba. Even if it is not direct, we are feeling the indirect effects. I sincerely hope we will not get to the point where we will feel it directly.
Then there are other Islands who depend on Venezuelan oil, produced by PDVSA. Such as Curacao, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. With their oils refining, storing or transshipment business under pressure, it affects their economies and on a second level the region.

Images from the Caribbean to the world II

As mentioned in my last blogpost I am sharing some of my personal images to help you get inspired for your next vacation. Last week was my native Island Aruba. This time it is my Wife's country: The Dominican Republic. www.godominicanrepublic.com
The cool thing of the DR is that with various regions they are able to cater to a larger audience. Whatever you like you might find it there. Beaches, jungle, mountains, city, history etc.

This small selection does not do the country justice but I hope you enjoy the images.

Boca Marina, Boca Chica

Colmado downtown Colonial Zone Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo

Jarabacoa

Las Terenas Beach Samana

Plaza Padre Billini, Colonial Zone Santo Domingo

Lagoon somewhere in Punta Cana

Salto Jimenoa Waterfalls, Jarabacoa

Sunset at Malecon Santo Domingo

Colonial Zone Santo Domingo

Images from the Caribbean to the world

One of the main reasons I started this blog was to write about the Caribbean from a different angle instead of just tourism focussed. However, the Caribbean thrives on Tourism and it is our beauty that attracts the visitors. As it is the season of the year for people looking for inspiration towards their next holiday destination, I share some images.

First up…..Aruba, One Happy Island

View of Malmok Beach

Andicuri Beach at the North coast

Scenery at Alto Vista

Sunset with plane departing

Daimari Beach at North coast

Mangel Halto Beach

Archeological Museum Downtown Oranjestad

Just a typical little road on Aruba

For more information on Aruba visit www.aruba.com 
Or if you have any questions for me about Aruba, feel free to contact me or leave a comment.

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Traditional Caribbean upbringing....should we return to this?

Next month I will become a dad and over the last couple of months I have been pondering on how to raise our child. Therefore the inspiration for this blog.

My Wife is from the Dominican Republic and I am from Aruba, so both of us have a Caribbean background and upbringing. However, we have been living for some years now in Europe and have adapted a bit to this lifestyle and culture. The children in Europe are brought up quite free and modern, and I am not sure I agree with it all the time. So lets revisit our own childhood and reminisce about the values we have been taught by our parents and family. I will limit this to the age of 5 to 10 years old because I think that that is the most important period where your parents had the most influence on you as a growing little person. For me this period ranged from the mid 1981 to 1986.

For us children of that period the most important people teaching us values and providing guidance and behavior corrections were: Father, Mother, Grandparents, Aunts, uncles, older cousins (older than 18, which in the Caribbean is normal, because our grandparents had up to 10 children so your the age difference between your parents and  your oldest uncle/aunt could be up to 10 years).
Outside of the family sphere, teachers also had a big influence and enjoyed a great deal of respect by both you and your parents.

One of the most important things we were taught was that you always respect your elders. This included never talking back. I remember the phrase: when the big coins speak, the small change shuts up (typical Aruban saying: ora placa grandi papia, placa chikito ta keda keto)
And when we did want to say or ask something we had to address them with either their family title followed by their name. For example: Aunti Judith, may I.... And when it was not family you used Sir or Miss/Mrs. followed by their name. These rules were also applied in school when communicating with teachers.
Also elder family members of your friends were spoken to in this way (when you were in their yard, playing, ripping out their plants and drinking water directly from their garden hose or water tap sticking out of the ground at the back of their house).
And if memory serves me well.....even the village drunks and hobo's were treated with a certain respect...(whenever you got caught by them after yelling crazy things at them while hiding in the bushes).

Having covered the basics on how to speak to people when allowed to speak to them, we get to the language you are allowed to use. In these days I agree that it is difficult for parents to monitor and try to get their children not to use profanity. It is all around us and seems to have become standard lingo. But back in the day.....I remember our school teachers washing our mouths with soap (for real). and at home the ol' belt, rubber flip-flop or flat of a hand came into the equation. Sometimes it as enough to just show us these props and we would know what to do....shut up and apologize (and run away outside and play....far away).

There are many other things that you might have experienced or miss in this short blog about these values we were given by our peers. There is however, one, which I have struggled with as a child and still struggle a bit with as an adult. And I am not sure how I will tackle this with the upbringing of my own child. This was the fact that we were not allowed (or expected) to question anything. For me this was a problem in elementary school, where early on I started questioning certain things we were taught or told. At this point I understand that for a child around 5 years old this is normal behavior. This is when we start making sense out of the world around us and ask questions to try and make sense out of it all. And as mentioned before, it was not expected that we went on and on in those days. We would have to accept and make do with the one answer we were provided with. Because of course, we could not reply with an additional question, because....one does not talk back to grown-ups.
On the other hand, when sometimes I see toddlers or children talk to grown-ups nowadays and being replied to as if they were equal conversational partners. One can argue that the boundary between childhood curiosity and a child being ill mannered, is fading. Where do you draw the line? At this point I think that I will engage my child in a "grown-up" way, but making clear that when daddy says its enough.....it is enough (no need to props to evoke fear).

If you have any stories or things based on this topic to share, please do so. I think it can be very useful for us to learn from each other and celebrate wisdom we posses handed over to us from our elders.

What shall I pack?

Today's Guest-blog comes to us from Sandals resorts. The tips can be helpful for anywhere in the Caribbean and therefore very relevant. Enjoy....

Quick Tips for Caribbean Trips

It can be easy to forget a few things during the hustle and bustle of packing. In order to prevent you from smacking your forehead in exasperation as you board the plane, we’ve put together a handy-dandy guide to make sure your all-inclusive Caribbean vacation sails as smooth as a catamaran. From packing tips to daily advice, we’ve got you covered

Pack a Waterproof Camera

Sure, crystal clear water is ideal for swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving in the Caribbean Sea, but not so much when it comes to dropping your camera into the tide and losing your memories due to a case of the butterfingers. Bring a waterproof camera – it’ll put your mind at ease, so you can splash and frolic at the base of a waterfall with nary a worry in sight.

Bring Rechargeable Batteries

You’re going to be snapping pictures in all directions, so regular batteries just won’t do. Save the bank (and luggage space) by purchasing rechargeable batteries to capture every spectacular moment.

Include Hair Clips/Ties

If your locks are long, this must-have accessary will keep the salty breeze from wafting tresses directly into your mouth. Trust us - this makes a huge difference, especially when you’re windsurfing.

Don’t Forget Your Medications

As you’re packing up, it’s easy to get excited about those sandy white beaches and to forget your prescriptions. A few days before you leave, you should make sure your supplies are stocked and talk to your pharmacist to make sure you don’t need to bring anything else.

Footwear: Bring a Supply of Sandals

Packing light is always a challenge. (What if you need that bathing suit, too?) Rest at ease, you won’t require more than two pairs of sandals – one for dressy romantic dinners and one for more casual pursuits. Stilettos don’t fare too well in this sandy terrain.

Protect Your Eyes with Some Sweet Shades

You’ve been waiting for the perfect excuse to splurge on those glamorous sunglasses. And now – it’s here! Not only will the specs fling UV rays away from your eyes, your pictures will be tres elegante, too.

Cover Up

Wardrobe changes throughout the day may seem glamorous, but the novelty quickly wears off. By packing a comfy, cute cover up you can keep swimsuit-ing in style as you sip mimosas by the pool or read a spicy novel on the warm sand.

Water, Water, Everywhere

Drink up! The Caribbean sunshine and flowing adult beverages will leave you thirsting for some good ol’ H2O. The last thing you want is to be dehydrated during your romantic getaway, as this can cause headaches and put a real damper on things. Try adding a few slices of orange or lemon to infuse your water with minerals and nutrients depleted during a day in the sunshine.

Apply Lots of Sunblock

You may have imagined coming home from your Caribbean adventure bronzed and beautiful, but sunburn can sap the fun right out of it. Apply sunscreen regularly to keep the smiles coming!

Make a To-Do List

Don’t leave your island paradise with regrets. Start working on that to-do list now. Zip lining? Horseback riding? That gourmet restaurant you read about? If you keep it on your phone, you’ll be ready to edit the list whenever inspiration strikes.

Enjoy Your All Inclusive Vacation

Finally, don’t forget to smile (although all of the awesome times you and the love of your life will have makes this tip a bit of a no-brainer). Discover more ways to maximize the fun during your stay at your all inclusive Caribbean resort – we’ll see you soon!

Copyright © 2012 Sandals.com

Your current Caribbean Island infrastructure is a product of your aspiration

During our latest marketing meetings we have been discussing the current state of our Islands infrastructure and how this affects tourism. More and more we have been getting reactions from tourists that our Island is losing its identity and becoming a destination just like everything else. We have the same architecture, the same franchises etc.

The internationalization (Americanization) of our Island can be considered both a good thing and a bad thing. Some people don’t like to find things they can find back home and others appreciate the comforts provided that are “just like home”. Fact is, we can’t change what we are right now. Problem is that we could end up in a “blame game” pointing fingers at who is at fault for letting our infrastructure develop into what we have now.

English: Logo for Esso (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In my opinion we are all responsible for our Islands infrastructure, design , look, feel and development. As a small Island we have been influenced strongly by neighboring countries and cultures. Especially the U.S.A. This is mainly the result of Aruba housing one of the largest oil refineries in the Region from the 1920’s to the mid 80’s. This refinery was run by Esso, a large US corporation. Esso invested large amounts of money into the Island and trained most of its local workers. They even built a colony for its expats which was a copy of what they had back home. These factors determined the aspirational benchmark for locals. This went on even after the refinery lost its importance and during my youth in the late 80’s through the nineties.

The point I am trying to make is that we were looking at the US as a target. A target for how we wanted to design our world (Island).  Whatever we saw on TV or in the movies, was something to aspire to and all local things became inferior or not worth it (in our minds). I remember when I was a little kid, we would rent videos that were just cartoons that were recorded via Satellite dish TV (by the few people who had one).  These videos included the commercials, mostly of toys. And our desire for these  toys grew and all the American brands such as Mattel, Hot wheels, Tonka and Fisher Price became “wannahaves”.  The same happened to our parents and ourselves when we turned adults. At some point I remember how proud we were to be able to tell a tourist that we have all the popular American fast food chains on the Island. This made us modern, and we felt that we were part of the developed world. We aspired to be like the US, and we made sure that our Island was developed in just that way.  

Currently a trend in tourism is “authenticity” and culture. Tourists want to escape what they have at home and experience new things and exotic cultures and locations. This puts us in a slight disadvantage, as we have been building and designing our Island to be a kind of copy of Miami.

Funny thing is that through social media I am seeing that especially my generation (30 -40 yrs.) is longing for originality, typical Aruban Nature, architecture, products etc. And we are all now complaining about the “Americanization” of our Island. Point is, we al wanted to be like that…..so we have only ourselves to blame. And yes, I mean you, all of my fellow Islanders who used to be brand conscious, and behaved like we were in a perpetual “saved by the bell” kinda world or teens wearing sporting goods of US teams that we have never heard of or seen playing and as if we were walking the streets of New York. Did we not all want to go shopping once a year at all the Malls in Florida? Well, that’s how we ended up with an Americanized Island.

So we should stop complaining and make sure that if we are now into different things, such as local criollo and typical things, we just have to do it. Restore your grandparents cunucu houses instead of building something new, Start making pan bati instead of driving to Wendy’s drive through. Have a beer at your local rum shop instead of going to South Beach. Teach your kids to play marbles (kiniki) instead of taking them to watch  cars, Toy story etc.

We are all responsible for what and where we are now. If we want to change…..we just have to be that change.

Current affaires, business and The Caribbean

The largest Tourism show (ITB Berlin) in Europe just ended. On the second day, we received the sad news about the situations in Japan. However, business went on as usual. I was at the Aruba stand handling a full agenda of meetings and appointments. Things for Aruba are looking good. A small part we play in what is keeping this world go round.

Going into the ITB my head was full of chatter and thoughts. It was a cocktail of recent privatisation/re-organisation, marketing plans, budgets, happy and not so happy people, The Middle-East, local politics, a sick grandmother of 92, contract negotiations, cash-flow problems and my personal stuff.

The world does not show mercy on you, this is life. The Dharma, the one truth, the one and only law if you will. In western terms: These things come with the job. Then watching the images from Japan on the news, puts things back into perspective. Don’t take life and yourself too serious, it is all impermanent.

Nevertheless all these things can get to you and cause some stress. So….how to handle this the Caribbean way?

Currently, the Caribbean has this romantic and exotic image of bei

Image via Wikipedia

ng the most relaxing and fun place on earth. Has it always been like this? I have read and learned a bit about our history. Not so relaxed and fun at all. Slavery, bloodshed, genocide, disease, racism and exploitation. Some of these still go on, however, in comparison, it is much better now.

One of the Caribbean’s greatest heroes, Toussaint l’Ouverture, has been through similar situations as I am encountering now (not that I can compare myself and my situation with him, but at the basis it can be compared a bit).

Toussaint did what he believed in and he was pushed by goodness and love for his people and country (and by people we are talking all races here, he did not discriminate). He came from nothing and grew to become a loved and respected General (also feared by his enemy). It is said that he did sleep only 3 – 4 hours a day while carrying out battles, thinking of strategies, running the country (Haiti and at some point the Dominican Republic as well) and taking are of his family. His life drifted through bloody periods, then prosperity and bloody again. In the end he died alone and forgotten in a dungeon far away from his beloved Caribbean.

Reflecting on this I sometimes think about what I am doing and why I am doing it. The same reasons Toussaint did. Will I gain glory? Will I go down empty handed and be forgotten?

The Caribbean way tells me that the reasons mentioned above should be enough. Glory is secondary and not real. All is impermanent. Surprisingly these things are also taught in Eastern/Asian wisdom. I’ve practiced and learned a bit of Japanese Zen Buddhism for the past years and therefore it helps answer my question:

What is a Caribbean boy into marketing to do amidst all these current affaires, pressures and life? What can I do to help?

Take it day by day, be driven by the love of what it is you are doing and never mind the rest.

It might not be a practical consolation, nevertheless….to all our Japanese brothers and sisters….. you will manage and get out of your current situation.

As Mr Paulo Coelho says: the one who fights a good fight on a daily basis will be redeemed.

Never give up, keep on going, one love …from the Caribbean 2 the World/Japan/New Zealand/Haiti/Libia/Tunisia/Egypt/Zimbabwe…./…./…../…..

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Don't succumb to stress, reflecting on your business or career the Caribbean way

There is a reason people in the Caribbean do not have a lot of problems with stress. we take things easy. Although this is regarded in some cultures (western capitalist) as not being professional, it does have its advantages. The current trend is: being able to adapt your professional life to your private lifestyle. The younger generations are combining these more easily by the day.

Ancient wisdom, religions and sages always recommended to be still and listen to your surroundings. Now if you work in the Caribbean you have an advantage. My colleagues for example have offices with ocean view. Talk about being blessed. However, this can also be applied in other regions. In Holland where I live, there is a small park nearby with a little lake. When weather allows, I often go there and take my 30 min. break. The Challenge there is to switch off for a while and look to what is there and "listen". In reality nothing really happens. The birds and ducks just look at you for a second and go about their business. However, it creates space for creativity and good business ideas and solutions.

What does this have to do with the Caribbean? I hear you think. Well, nothing and everything. We Caribbeans have limited ground space and often gaze at the ocean out of lack of Panoramas. It is my unproven conclusion that this might be one of the factors that gives us the tranquility to take things easy and someway somehow manage to do good business with the rest of the world. We are, still one of the most desired Holiday destinations.....

Our gift to you:

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Donkey Sanctuary Aruba, a Caribbean Social Media success story

For the past couple of months I have been a FaceBook fan of the Donkey Sanctuary Aruba . The amount and quality of interaction with their fans really impressed me. By well use of new "free" social media to promote themselves an reach their goals, in my opinion, they really got it right.
This is a good example on how using social media can be an important tool for small Caribbean organisations in communicating, exposing themselves & reaching goals on an International playing field.

I had the opportunity to interview Desiree Eldering, who manages the FB fanpage for the Sanctuary. She shares the following with us:

TT: When was the Donkey Sanctuary established and how long have you been active on FaceBook?
DE: The donkey sanctuary was established on April 1997 and we have our FB page since July 2009 and started by an adoption parent as Aruban Donkey Sanctuary. This had its limits cause I couldn’t write as Donkey Sanctuary Aruba. So in February this year I made a new page which is Donkey Sanctuary Aruba. It took me a while before I was really a fan of the whole idea and now I try to post everyday something on the page.
TT: For a fanpage of a Non-Profit organisation on a small Island, you have a large number of followers, who are also very active. what in your opinion is the main reason for their engagement on your page?
DE: I think because I try to keep it is as positive as possible, don’t point a finger to what is wrong, or complain and react on what people write. I ask people specifically to place their pictures (when they have visited us) on our wall.
TT: What level of priority does the managing of your fanpage have in your daily to-do list?
DE: I check the page every day, but taking care of the donkey sanctuary itself has a bigger priority.
TT: Is there a big difference in the amount of interaction/visits of your fanpage in comparison to your website?
DE: Oh yes it is. Like you say there is interaction. We do appreciate our website as well though, cause that is more like giving information.
TT: Can you tell us of any special stories, or occurances that happened as a result of your fanpage?
DE: I learned a lot about donkeys in other places, donkeys in general on FB. We have donkeys been adopted because of the stories on FB, orders in our e-shop and I even designed a logo for Walk with donkeys on Crete…..
TT: In what way has your fanpage helped you achieve your goals as an organisation?
DE: It helps us to grow. We started 13 years ago with 10 donkeys and today we take care of 106 donkeys. People become aware of us and visit us. Not only because of FB but also our website, so Internet in general helps us to grow….
TT: As an organization operating in the Caribbean, targetting an international audience, what advice can you give to others regarding facebook fanpage management and developement?
DE: Try to post something positive (even try to give a positive twist on a negative event/situation) every day. Answer people who respond on your post. Do not complain or whine and ask questions, so you invite people to interact with you. Make it personal. People like it when they are remembered or appreciated.

http://www.facebook.com/donkey.sanctuary.aruba

Grotere kaart weergeven

Claiming a (our) spot

Throughout history many regions, countries, continents and societies had their claim to fame and some still do. The Chinese had their various Dynasties, England their empire and industrial revolution, and currently we are living in the age of democracy and technology mainly distributed by the USA.
All my life I had been reading and learning about all these amazing nations and their people. The accomplishments and contributions to the world. I can remember that we always looked up (and with good reason) to other "western" cultures and never questioned and worse of all, rarely pushed and stimulated our own creativity and contribution to this world.

Working in the destination marketing business, promoting the Caribbean and my home country Aruba"target=_blank" , we always define our unique selling points such as: nice beaches, excellent weather, good food, friendly people etc.
It is actually while having deeper converstaions with our audience that we truly promote our "unique" people, customs, technologies and philosophy. Also our role in this worlds history. Two examples I love most are the contributions of two tiny islands and their people to the founding and defense of the USA.

The first country in saluting and accepting the newly formed United States of America
In the North-west part of the Caribbean you;ll find St. Eustatius, one of the Dutch Antilles. Their nickname is "The Golden Rock". It was given to them for making a fortune on selling and providing weapons for the American freedom fighters under George Washington. As soon as he won the war against Britain, the (then Dutch) Governor saluted an American ship with 11 canon shots, officially recognizing the newly formed United States of America. Read more: http://www.statiatourism.com/history.html

The largest producer of Fuel for the American and Allied forces during WWII
During the years the world was at war, a small Island called Aruba, under Dutch rule was host to a large American Oil refining company: LAGO Oil & Transport Company
The production of this facility provided 75% of the Fuel for the Americans in the Pacific.
Read more: http://www.bevrijdingintercultureel.nl/eng/antillen.html#wo2

The nice things about these stories is that all the people involved were a mix of Europeans, Americans, Africans and indigenous people and all other possible mixes that one could find on the islands.
Therefore one of the unique selling points of the Caribbean, at least in my opinion, is that the Islands are too small for anyone to be left out. Every person on those Islands have been directly or indirectly invloved. Wether it was people in high and official positions or common citizens performing tasks that were just small gears in a much large machine, but nevertheless very essential.

Caribbean people are known to be humble. But after learning more and more about our history we can be proud and claim our spot in the range of nations and regions mentioned earlier who contributed to this world.
And the uniqueness of being small will help us stay down to earth, becuase in the Caribbean there will always be someone who knows you and your background and be telling you:
"I know you, I remember you stealing fruit from the neighbour in your underpants after school. So you are a Director of a company now? nice......I think we still have that picture of you playing in the field with all the other neighborhood kids"