We do not have the same starting points; the key is to start!

I came to the UK from my home country Zimbabwe in 1999 when the UK government implemented an initiative dubbed Project 2000, aimed at attracting foreigners into the NHS. At the time, this offered the best passage into the UK for people coming from my country who could not afford fees for a degree. Most took up diplomas in nursing and either built careers in the health sector or used it as a stepping stone into other careers. Admittedly, I did not show such wisdom at the time, as I quit the 3-year diploma a year before completion but with no plan of what I would do next. As a result, I wound up a rent’s payment away from ending up homeless in the streets. To keep a roof over my head and to pay back some of the student bursary I had withdrawn without attending lectures, I registered with an employment agency aptly named Busy Bodies that supplied manual labourers for warehouses and factories across the Hertfordshire County.

For over 10 years, I felt stuck in a life far removed from the career and life I had imagined I would live when I left Zimbabwe and came to the UK. To add salt to the wound, my visa renewal was declined at the time I became a father for the first time. Knowing that I had a son who depended on me while I was facing possible deportation filled me with fear and powerlessness. To stay on the right side of the law, I quit warehousing and made a living from buying secondhand cars in the northern towns and cities of the UK selling them down south where I could make a bit of a profit. While the ‘hustle’ kept a roof over my head, I felt like a caged tiger because of my big dreams and limiting circumstances.

Recognising our turn-around moments is a gift

My turn-around moment was when I realized that the world does not owe me my success. This followed a call I made to an organisation that works in peacebuilding, offering them to perform my poetry at a conference. The voice on the other end asked what qualifications I had. I had none. I was told I could not speak at the conference as it was for academics and professionals only. It felt like a punch in the tummy hearing those words. But that is the ‘reality check’ I needed to snap out of my victimhood and complacency.

For the first time in my adult life, I stopped blaming my background and circumstances for my condition. I made the hardest decision of my life at the time, registering to go to university to study for my first degree at the age of 30 with people at least 10 years my junior. Knowing that I had more ground to cover compared to my peers motivated me to work hard; I became part of the furniture in the library, often studying through the night and going to my lodgings to catch a couple of hours of sleep before resuming ahead of the days’ lectures. Being clear about what I was working towards making the lonesome journey bearable, and I would often stumble out of the library in the early morning hours as many students stumbled out of nightclubs in the Leeds city centre. The hard work was rewarded by graduating top of my department and winning a couple of the Dean’s Special Awards from Leeds Beckett University and being accepted into Oxford University.

The bigger picture becomes clearer as we walk through the mist

While my turn-around moment was sparked by being told that I did not qualify to speak at a conference, I soon discovered that getting academic qualifications and a profession were merely a pathway to unlock a deeper desire to contribute to making the world a more equitable and fairer place. Only, I now had a lived experience to draw on to show others that it is not only possible but also necessary to believe in our potential to flourish whatever background we come from. That is why I am proud to say the words Never let your BACKGROUND keep you in the BACKGROUND to anyone who needs to hear them.

What lessons has your lived experience taught you that you are proud to share with others?