Well
To tell you the honest truth
I've seen a few hurricanes in my time
I've even seen a volcano blow up in my country
but this is something I've never experienced in my life, man
This made me fear for my life, actually fear for my life
This is something that no-one can describe
because if you ask everybody who's been through this
everybody has a different story to give
what they've been through, and what keeps them alive now
So... this is hard to talk about
Very, very hard
- Are you ready? - When you're ready
I moved to the British Virgin Islands alone
just to send money to my family back home
I wish my kids and my wife could be here with me right now
It's been a struggle all the while, so now we're even worse
Me and my friends are trying to live life as normal
We try to keep ourselves out of trouble, we just hang out
The morning it hit, I was in the bedroom
My family was freaking out
My mom wanted me to stay close to her
A lot of debris just flying over my head
Can't hear anything, just a ringing tone in my ears
My life is going to end now
and I didn't get to see my children and my wife one last time
That was part of my biggest hope, to survive to see them one more time
Eventually, I just decided to call my wife's phone in St. Vincent
I said, "Baby, I love you, tell my kids that I love them"
Then the phone just cut off
You can't see anything from my house
Except just the floor alone remains there
Man, I was devastated
It was sad because what people took many years to build
the Hurricane Irma came and took it in a couple of hours
People had to find new homes because people can't afford to rebuild
My house is so damaged that the landlord is trying to evict us
but we have nowhere to go
It was a struggle before the storm and it still is
I feel heartbroken, man
to know what we had and what we have lost
But I know a lot of people that have been devastated so bad
that they don't know how to pick up the pieces
Only the strong ones are still making it right now
Sometimes my mom finds it hard to provide for me
We don't always have money
When we lost our home, I built myself a shelter from the debris
I can look after myself
I couldn't find you yesterday
So that was very scary for me because I didn't
I actually didn't get any sleep last night
But I went down the road to look for you and I found you
living on the street, you know
that's not a thing for you to do, you're 14 years old
All you have to do right now is concentrate on school
Even if, you know, it gets really, really rough
I'm always going to be here for you
You don't have to try to be a man just yet
Right?
If I'm stressing, I just take a surfboard
and when I'm in the water
my mind is clear
After the storm, I said, "Damn, it took off my marriage ring"
I said, "Shit boy, I've lost my marriage ring"
And as I came down here the very next day and I walked up the steps
the first thing I could behold right on the ground, there in the clear
was my marriage ring
I said, "Well, yeah, it's telling me something"
I think it's telling me my wife needs to be here
The storm brought out the worst and the best in everybody
A lot of people have been changed forever
Those who weren't doing good are supposed to see it now to do better
Those who weren't helping are supposed to see a way to help better now
It's a message for everybody