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I Crossed The North-South Divide And Found My Chosen Family In Newcastle

I was born in Southwark, South East London and lived there for the first seven years of my life. I regarded South East London to be one of the places that made the biggest impact on my creative life. Being beautifully enmeshed with so many cultures and languages I felt right at home, as if my soul was destined to be there.

Moving wasn’t a concept I was familiar with until my parents told me we were moving to a small town called Chafford Hundred in Essex. Moving from a vibrant city such as London to what my younger self saw as the middle of nowhere felt like I was being ripped from my roots and would never truly bloom in a new place I was so unfamiliar with. 

A couple months later we made the move and my young suspicions were correct. We were one of few Black families in the neighbourhood and my older brother Demi and I were two of the very few Black