HOME AWAY FROM HOME 🌴 ✍️✍️✍️

Working away from home is a strange kind of adventure, it is exciting, yes, new place, new people, new life, but also deeply humbling. Because no one really prepares you for the quiet moments, the ones where you miss familiar voices, familiar food, familiar chaos, the ones where your heart whispers, “You are far from home.”

and then somehow… life gives you a different kind of home.

That’s what Seychelles became for me.

The first thing that captures you here is not even the people, it’s the beauty, the beaches look like postcards that forgot to be edited, soft white sand, water so clear you can see your thoughts in it, and sunsets that feel like God is showing off just a little bit. And then there’s the culture, the rhythm of Sega dance playing somewhere in the background, hips swaying effortlessly like it’s a language everyone understands. The music is not something you just hear, you feel it, it enters your body without permission and suddenly you are dancing… badly, but confidently, because here, nobody really cares how you dance, you just dance, and the food? Oh, the food!....

I came here thinking I would survive on basic meals, maybe cook a little… (what a lie 😂). Instead, I found myself introduced to flavors that deserve their own chapter, rich Creole cuisine, fresh fish, coconut-infused everything, spices that hug your soul. But let me not lie to you, I did not learn to cook, not even a little....

Because life gave me Lara....

Young, vibrant, full of life, the kind of person who walks into a room and suddenly the room wakes up, a true daughter of Seychelles, she doesn’t just like to dance, she lives to dance, music plays and Lara is already halfway into a performance before you even locate the speaker.

She’s always in the kitchen too, moving around like she owns the place (which, honestly, she does at this point). Cooking local dishes with confidence, flavor, and a little bit of chaos, and let me tell you about her greatest talent….......

Curing hangovers 😂😂😂

I don’t know what she puts in that food, herbs? love? magic? but one plate and suddenly life makes sense again. Meanwhile, I’m sitting there like a respected guest who contributed absolutely nothing except appetite.

Lara is also my personal language teacher, patiently teaching me bits of Seychellois Creole, laughing every time I mispronounce something (which is always). “Say it again,” she says, I say it, sShe laughs....I laugh. We all accept that I will never sound local.

Now, if Lara is the fire, then Shim is the calm. Shim, my other flatmate, is the quiet strength in our home, the kind of person who doesn’t speak loudly but when she does, you listen. Her conversations are deep, thoughtful, and somehow always come at the right time. She’s from the farthest part of India and she carries her culture with such pride and grace. You can see it in the way she speaks and the way she cares because Shim is not just a roommate, she is a walking pharmacy 😂

Flu? She has something.

Stomachache? Already prepared.

Cramps? She saw it coming before you even felt it.

Fever? Please, she handled that yesterday.

At this point, I am convinced she could cure heartbreak too if given enough time.

She’s caring in a quiet way, loving in a steady way,  the kind of presence that makes being far from home feel less heavy.

And then…......there is me 😂🤣 😂 🤣 

The proud representative of Africa, carrying culture, vibes, and absolutely no cooking skills, I cannot cook to save my life. If survival depended on me entering the kitchen, we would all perish, but listen, everyone has their role.

Lara cooks.

Shim heals.

And me?????

I provide emotional support 😂😂😂

I am there for moral encouragement: “Wow this food smells amazing!” “You guys are doing great!” “I believe in you!”

And most importantly…

I eat., With dedication, with consistency and with zero shame, but beyond the laughter, beyond the food, beyond the dancing and the jokes, there is something deeper.

This life, this experience of working away from home, teaches you that family is not always who you are born to, sometimes it is who you meet in shared spaces, in late-night conversations, in laughter over burnt food and perfect meals, in being taken care of when you are weak, in teaching and learning from each other. So yes, I am far from home, but every day, I come back to a place filled with laughter, warmth, dancing, healing, and love.

A home built by a vibrant Seychellois dancer, a wise and caring soul from India, and one African girl who can’t cook but somehow still belongs 😂

And honestly????

I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🌴