Students from B.V.I. return home

Hurricane Irma and Maria destroyed neighboring Caribbean Islands such as the British Virgin Islands and in their aftermath some students were relocated to the Cayman Islands along with families who work for regional companies. The BVI students attended local schools, but now they are making plans to go home.

Students relocated from the British Virgin Islands to John Gray High School say they are happy to go home for Christmas, but will remember the time they spent in Cayman.

“In the B.V.I they don’t really have some of the stuff like John Gray has, I would like to stay but I can’t because of immigration,” said student Shayvanie Karran.

12-year-old Shayvani Karran said after seeing her country destroyed, she was happy to spend time here and enjoy what Cayman has to offer and she made friends along the way.

“You see all kind of devastation actions, every time you walk outside you see helicopters and that’s really hard for me to see and when I came to the Cayman islands I felt a relief that it was just clean, you have trees, no helicopters,” said Ms. Karran.

“They let us in and support us a lot and then the kids, they were not too mean, we had ups and downs but it was good and the learning, I definitely learned a lot that I did not learn back in the B.V.I,” said Student, Raheem Hodge.

12-year-old Raheem Hodge and his older sister Rhianne Hodge were transferred from the island of Tortola after Hurricane Irma devastated their homeland.

“It was kind of hard, I didn’t want to leave my country but I had no other choice,” said Ms. Hodge.

Ms. Hodge spent her 14th birthday on island, she said she’s thankful her family is alive and for Cayman to welcome them and offer a helping hand.

“God forbid another hurricane comes, we could return the favor and invite you guys in and other countries when we rebuild,” said Ms. Hodge.