The past week has been one of the longest and most stressful week of 2017. As most of you know by now, Hurricane Irma made her appearance and came with a vengeance. While we know it’s hurricane season many of us never thought that we’ll see another hurricane let alone the size of Irma. Week’s before, our attention was on Houston after the destruction hurricane Harvey caused.

As you know I’m from the beautiful twin Island state of Antigua and Barbuda. I grew up on the island of Antigua, Barbuda however is our sister island. Hurricane Irma first made landfall on September 4th over both of the Islands. However, the island of Barbuda was heavily impacted. Approximately 95% of our precious sister isle was devastated, leaving almost 70% of the population homeless. She continued her journey through the Leeward islands( the British and US virgin islands, Puerto Rico, St. Martin and Anguilla). Irma also destroyed these islands leaving many homeless.

This week caused many to have anxiety attacks for a lot of people, including myself. Heck I stressed myself into getting a cold. Being up here in the US and seeing your loved ones suffer and the fear of not knowing if some loved ones made it, is not something I’d wish on anybody. The wait to hear from loved ones felt like an eternity and still does for the many who have yet to hear from their family members and friends. 

In spite of all this, what warmed my heart was seeing my fellow islanders coming together as one family to help each other out in a time of need(West Indies cricket team is our main reason for us always coming together but we all know how that’s been lately lol). We came to each other’s rescue, if there was any malice Irma sure wiped that out. Of course many would complain about losing their house, cars and other material things but with the minimal death we had I think its safe to say material things can come and go but to have life that’s an even bigger blessing. Beyonce said it right when she visited Harvey victims in Houston “it’s celebration of survival. You have life, your family is safe and that’s truly what matters.” In the midst of chaos we often time complain about what we don’t have and seem to not appreciate what we do have which is life. Life goes on, we will rebuild and we will move on as one one family.

Irma has made her way through Florida and here in Georgia. She was a woman on a mission and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. She definitely left her footprints on the sand of time

The message to take away is through the chaos of what’s happening in this world we must learn to appreciate what we have in the present, it truly is about the little things. My cousin Jermaine said it best “Just imagine the kind of love that can be going on without a catastrophic disaster. Just love and support from all sides.” In the words of our very own Calypso Joe “We have a nation to build and a country to mold.”

To find out how you can donate to the Barbuda relief and the other Caribbean islands click here Halo Foundation  Ticketing app

Below are some pictures of what Irma did to some of Caribbean Islands.

Barbuda. Photo courtesy ABS TV

Barbuda. Photo- ABS TV

Aerial view of St. Thomas after Irma. Photo Courtesy Chief Petty Officer Crystalynn Kneen/ U.S. Coast Guard district 7

St. Martin. Photo Courtesy The Atlantic