Well, quite a lot actually.
Thinking about it.
Natin, absolutely natin!
Sierra Leone didn't give me the memo to anything London related.
This was a new life. This was adaption 2.0
I was in limbo!
Thinking about it.
Natin, absolutely natin!
Sierra Leone didn't give me the memo to anything London related.
This was a new life. This was adaption 2.0
I was in limbo!
Upon arrival, I was lost.
Sierra Leone was home, still home and my reality.
That was quickly altered or should I say edited.
Landed in the United Kingdom in the dead of winter and as that winter blizzard slapped me across the face, I promised myself that Sierra Leone will forever remain my reality –
My unedited reality.
I was a teenager, uprooted from everything I know. Separated from my friends and culture. Divided from everything I have ever known. Detached from my roots and planted into the unknown.
I had no choice but to blossom in the uncertainty in the midst of my formative years.
The great news was, I was joining my parents which makes the transition a bittersweet ordeal.
And it began…
Aeroplane ride was a delight. Loved the ride. I love heights and adventure so that experience which I have only before seen on telly is coming alive for me.
I was over the moon.
Can you blame an African child who’s never crossed the river?
Does the war count? Well even that I fled by car to Guinea with my brother, few cousins and grandmother, and aeroplane to The Gambia – the experience was non-existent in my memory, partly because I was young and partly due to all the chaos that surrounded it.
We landed safely in the United Kingdom.
Welled up with a mixture of fear, anxiety and joy, I didn't know what to expect.
My first real fear was the escalator…who made these moving monsters of a stair I thought to myself. Why so high and mighty…I am talking about the never-ending escalators at Gatwick.
That’s no beginners’ affair.
I was terrified.
My younger teenage brother was more adventurous and before I could wink, he hopped on the escalator and shouted in the most exhilarating and ecstatic voice in our local parlance
‘’Na return ah day return, na ya me day. You na kam you kam’’
 |
| Pekin Noto Yase! |
Wow…my first wave of embarrassment in London. This kid was unbelievable and utterly unfiltered.
This loud outburst commanded a few weird looks from strangers and onlookers but bless him.
The innocence of a child is bliss!
After his innocent outburst, I couldn’t help but laugh as I adjusted my shoes which now couldn’t fit because I had on my brother’s socks used as a double as my toes were numb and nipples hard as a softball.
I wasn’t doing too well with this transition thing. Don’t think I’ve ever fully adjusted, even as I type this.
My brother, of course, landed safely at the other end of the escalator and was waving with so much pride and sense of achievement. I gave him a smile I mustered with all my strength amidst my fear at this point of never making it to the top of the escalator.
Bo na so London tan? Take me back bo. Ah beg, I’m sorry!
I was finally assisted by one of the guards at the airport…i made it people, I said I made it!
From my easy going life of simplicities and strings of Hakuna Matata to a swirl of what seemed like the Hunger Games.
From my easy going life of simplicities and strings of Hakuna Matata to a swirl of what seemed like the Hunger Games.
Well damn!
No one told me London was going to be a series of hurdles for me to overcome.
Let’s face it if you have seen me in person I look like I can be blown away by the wind. I can barely walk in a straight line….I was never the sporty type!
And London was like…I got you! Ha!
At this very moment, my thoughts were…Doris, you’ve run out of options.
I was doomed! I could cry…
My mum and I locked eye.
When she saw me at first glance she screamed.
Not out of fear but disbelief as I looked so …so out of it.
I tell ya, I was losing it.
And it’s only been a couple of hours. Sierra Leone was sounding like a mighty fine option for me at this point.
Take me back...I thought to myself.
My mother grabbed me and took me into the bathroom, polished me and I came out looking like a fresh African Londoner. I even smelled like them.
This business was automatic.
I looked at myself in the mirror and I murmured …Presentable...I nodded to myself as I make my way out of the bathroom.
As we left the airport and happily skipped towards the carpark, I saw a gust of smoke escaped my mouth as I exhaled. I stopped talking and it escaped through my nostrils. I opened my mouth again, a bigger gust of cloud escaped.
This was no Cool Runnings but my oh my…it might as well be!
I had to ask. Why am I breathing smoke, to which my dad replied with the most annoying smirk, condensation but welcome to LONDON!
It was all a bit too much. What is this situation, I pondered.
Was it a cloud, steam, fog, vapour, frozen air?
I was looking like a winter dragon right about now. Huffing and puffing nuff cold steam.
I thought to myself, humans live in this condition. I had too many questions and was too embarrassed to ask.
I kept them in.
As we embarked on the long drive home from Gatwick airport, I noticed all the shades of greys. It was quiet, dark and gloomy.
And cold!
The roads were wider than my usual and cars smaller than my usual. The streets felt abandoned and only littered with car horns and blinding fog lights.
No humans. Just humans in cars.
I wasn’t ready. Na graveyard?
At this point I was thinking who have I offended in this life for me to deserve this?
The houses were like those in my storybook my parents used to send back home, but less colourful - all like miniature sized homes with similar characteristics.
Why are the houses so small? – I thought this was London, I thought hard to myself. Everything was supposed to be big and extravagant.
Bigger and better…
Well that was my perception anyway until my rude awakening.
I was baffled! I was swimming in trance…
I was wrong and looking at the sizes of the cars on the carefully paved roads - I knew I was in for the shock of my life.
Please take me back! That unpaved road back in my country was all I could think of.
Yes to koto koto road.
I can endure that. Take me back!!
Back at the house, my mum had a rich and delicious spread of the most British palate, including fruits I’ve never seen and certainly didn’t know how to pronounce…whatever in the world was pomegranate? Why does it sound like a disease but looked like an oversized onion? (My hunger was screaming cassava leaves. It was a struggle)
Looking around my parents’ tiny abode, it was filled with so much love and joy. I suddenly realised we have been missing this for some time now.
My dad had the widest smile, my cousins intrigued and curious with a nervous anxiety, my grandmother elated, my sister silent in disbelief and I can just tell she was thinking ‘’why do I have to share space now with these two freshies, or maybe she was just pondering on her single child status being taken away…maybe just maybe she was equally intrigued and filled with questions.
She was both in shock and in silence.
From 32 degrees plus to minus 0
This cannot be real.
the only thing is....this was real, a bit too real for my liking.
the only thing is....this was real, a bit too real for my liking.
I didn’t have nuts but they were definitely frozen by now!
The Story continues...
