Two years in Nigeria – a long, long way from home.

When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?

When did I feel grown up?

I’ll need to have a think.

It comes with independence

And living on your own.

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You could say as a student

I started to grow up.

I lived away but shamed to say

Would still take washing home.

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I’d come home to play football

So often back weekends

But kind of living on my own

And learning from mistakes.

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But when I finished college

At the age of twenty one

I volunteered, two years abroad

A proper break from home.

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Two years in Nigeria

A long, long way from home.

This was in the seventies

So only letters home.

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Back then you couldn’t FaceTime

E Mail hadn’t come

Phone calls cost a fortune

So much that I made none.

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So that’s real independence

And you are on your own

Two of us shared a government house

In Kano, far from home.

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The house came with a steward

Which kind of blew our minds.

We weren’t used to servants

But to sack him too unkind.

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Ali was the greatest

He’d cook and help us shop

But we were his employers

And so I guess grown ups.

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It was such a different culture

Colourful extreme

It felt at first like a film set

That none of it was real.

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We learnt to live a different life

We learnt how to adapt.

Kano was a special place

It helped me to grow up.

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We rode around on motor bikes

The first I’d ever owned

To own a driving license

Is a fairly adult thing.

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Our jobs were quite responsible

For kids right out of college

Filling in for Nigerians

All off to take degrees.

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I got more from Africa

Then it ever did from me.

A brilliant place for growing up

The best time of our lives.

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