The untaught facts of life

The journey starts here. I was 8 years old and my parents had to leave Maseru, Lesotho in 1994 when a civil war broke out. Bombs exploding, people dying, you get the idea.

We said goodbye to the happy life, the weekend pony treks with friends, the Sunday barbecues, our beloved pastor (who was later assassinated) and our housekeeper whom we'd cherished as family for ten years. We ventured towards Windhoek, Namibia by car. My heart was torn, my soul was left with nothing but a memory and the love that we shared felt like it was gone forever.

Off we rode onto the desert tarmac. Nothing but sand and heat waves for thousands of kilometers. Two days later, we arrive at our destination. Yes, it was sad, for years later that Lesotho was no more to my father, mother and older brother. What the journey doesn't tell you, is that the answers to all of life's atrocities will find the peace within you on another unpaved road. You must find it, and you must take it.

Namibia, a sparsely populated country. Extremely arid and a historical German colony. There are tribes here? Why do they wear mud on their faces? I looked up at my mother in utter confusion at the choices she had made to uproot our family . "I don't speak German, mother. How am I going to make friends?" We don't know how, but we do it anyway. We spent our first Christmas at Etosha National Park. The sound of a hyena's laugh in the distance shook me as I opened my Christmas present in the family bungalow.

The years progressed and you won't believe the magic that I discovered along the way. I walked the Fish River Canyon when I was twelve. The coolest thing that ever happened was seeing Michael Jackson open his Chevrolet business opposite my dad's gift box factory. What I didn't know was that I would eventually learn how to rock climb the granite crags of the great Spitzkoppe at twenty six years old. On the day of my twenty seventh birthday I was reunited with my Belgian friend. Surprisingly, she offered me a trip to the North and introduced me to the Himba and Herero tribes. I was proposed to by one of the tribesmen. Five cows and eight chickens in exchange for my hand in marriage.

Namibia is the reason I booked a ticket to London and backpacked alone for a year. It was thanks to the journey. It will keep taking you places, always remember that. All you have to do is leave your comfort zone. Let life show you its miracles.