Sometimes in life you just never think you’ll encounter certain experiences until they present themselves to you in strange ways. I was at home the other week when I had a call from my boss at The One Show who at the last minute, asked me to travel to the island of Dominica in the Caribbean to report on the devastating aftermath of hurricane Maria. Here in the UK we heard about islands who had suffered during hurricane season but on September 18th, Dominica was hit by a category five storm which was so severe that that it left thousands of people without shelter, water, no power, no communication and food. I had seen the pictures on the news but it wasn’t until I arrived there on the ground and saw it with my own eyes, that I properly understood the severity of the disaster. I met some resilient, determined people who in the face of adversity, have got back up, dusted themselves off and are taking each day at a time.

Being there was a real eye-opener and now that I’m back home, having seen what I saw and remembering the people I had the chance to meet, it has made me think about all the things that are so important to me and the things we can all take for granted. I’ve taken moments to pause and think that in many different corners of the world, there are other people out there with different stories to tell, having completely different experiences that they may not have any control over. Luckily there are things that we can do to help if we so choose to but in many cases, you simply can’t help but feel completely helpless.

If you’d like to see my experiences from my time in Dominica, you can see a series of films on The One Show this coming week on BBC1 at 7pm. It was truly a time in my life that I’ll never forget.