Last year, I travelled to St Kitts and Nevis with my boyfriend's family. One morning, we woke up before sunrise, and I joined his grandmother and aunt in the garden to pick leaves to make herbal tea. They showed me how to identify soursop leaves, guava leaves and the different plants they’d been using as natural remedies for decades.

It was such a simple moment, but one that stayed with me. Experiencing them pass that knowledge from one generation to the next made me unexpectedly emotional. I realised I’d never had that experience with my own grandmother. It also forced me to confront a question I’d been avoiding: just how far removed am I from my own culture? I proudly identify as St Lucian, but sometimes I find myself asking, ‘How St Lucian am I?’  Beyond knowing how to cook saltfish and green banana, the island’s national dish, what traditions, customs and stories am I carrying with me?