Visiting Home

As the vaccine for Covid19 is now out and travel might soon open up, I realised that there is a possibility that travelling may soon be possible. I began reminiscing about the most memorable travels that I feel have impacted my children positively. Travelling back to Zimbabwe is one that I feel has made my older children more grounded and grateful for the opportunities and life that we have built for them. In this post I am going to write our experiences and what we learned from them.

When moved to UK, we had a plan to work for a few years, get our masters degrees, save money and return to our home country within five years at most. The plan to return to home never came to life as we found that, most of the money we earned went either to childcare or other life expenses which we had not taken into consideration. At the time, the idea of identity and legacy never really crossed our minds.

Integration does not have to compromise your identity

We never once imagined that our children would adapt to the English language and the British way of life and lose the ability to speak Shona or Ndebele. Initially integration was more important to us than maintaining our identity. As time went on went on, we realised that even though integration was important, we also needed our children to retain their identity and African values. So we saved up and made plans to visit home.

Initially when we first broke the news to my then 7 year old son, he was so excited. After he told his friends at school about the imminent holiday, his peers started scaring him and they told him that it would be in the middle of the jungle and there would be a lot of wild animals. Despite several attempts to show him pictures and videos of Zimbabwe, my son was not convinced and continued to not want to go. When the day of travel arrived, we had to bribe him with a promise that he would be able to watch as TV as possible on the plane. On arrival, it was a totally different story, the sun was shining and he could not get enough of the vast space and all the children available to play with.

I realised that if you travel with your children, you are always there to ensure that they are eating well and that all their needs are met to the standards that you have adapted in the new country. Our desire was also for them to speak the local language on the whole trip, but we realised that their cousins were intrigued by the way they spoke English so they spoke to them in English more. The trip was a success in that both my children enjoyed themselves and they met a lot of their cousins and aunts and uncles and they continued to communicate with them on social media.

However we felt they needed to experience Zimbabwe without us meddling and trying to ensure that they were enjoying them selves by guiding their experiences. They needed to experience Zimbabwe without us putting pressure on them and putting ideas of what and how they should act or respond to the environment. So years later when my daughter completed her GCSEs, we put her on a plane and sent her to Zimbabwe by herself. This was difficult for us but she was so excited as she was already in touch with her cousins and had made plans. We did the same with my son five years later when he completed his GCSEs too.

When they returned to England, they both spoke Shona fluently, they both wanted to make something of themselves. The experience made them more focused on their future. They built even more relationships with cousins and their interest in what was going on in Zimbabwe made them appreciate what they had and were more grateful. Both my older children now know that even though they are in this country, they are aware of their legacy and are also taking active interest in family and friends back home. These trips also instilled a sense of responsibility in both my children, as they had to adhere to rules of another house hold and did more chores than they did when they are at home.

How have you managed to get you children to be aware of where they come from? Have you been able to visit your home land after immigrating to another country? Please feel free to leave and comment in the comments section. Also do not forget to subscribe. Feel free to visit our shop for a few things that I have found useful. Stay safe.