Living life to its fullest

I read with sympathy in April's Catalonia Today how many young Catalans feel forced “to seek work abroad”. Sympathy, because some of my own family have had to leave recently due to a lack of work. Also, because the article 'Generation in exile' cited those who didn't want to leave. But of course, people have always had to leave homes for different reasons: war, economic crisis, lack of housing.

And what an exciting prospect! Leslie and I left England (1947), recently married, but with no house. The Second World War and its aftermath left young people with no hope of a house. I had lived with my parents near Oxford, and Leslie had lived, after demobbing, with his family in London. But, we were young, I was nearly 21 and he was 24. Sad to leave our families, yes, but excited to find a new life abroad. After a turbulent voyage, we journeyed by train to Johannesburg through the bleak grandeur of the Karoo desert. In the city we saw for the first time the cruelty of so many white people against black people.

We first had to learn Afrikaans, while our first home was one room. Leslie worked as a junior consulting electrical engineer, and I tried teaching with my halting Afrikaans. To earn more money I tried modelling, I tried advertising, and finally I became an actress with the Johannesburg Repertory Company. Then children, six children came along, while we moved to Cyprus, then Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), to Jamaica. Experiencing challenges, ups, downs, illness, triumphs along the way.

Life is change, at home or abroad. Nothing stands still. If there was only the usual education, work, family, retiring, a pension with no change or challenge we would atrophy, stagnate. But life integrated with confrontation, risk, joy and despair is life at its fullest. It enlarges us, expands us. Isn't that worth having?