Home is wherever we can be ourselves

The other thing I’ve been thinking a lot about this week is the meaning of ‘home’. Where is home? This used to be a simple question when we all grew up, lived and died in the same place as we were born. But today, so many of us have multiple identities and multiple homes. Diversity is a wonderful thing and should be embraced. We should feel comfortable moving between lands, across nationalities and within different families. The sooner we get to a world without borders, the better.

I have lived in four countries (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Canada and the UK) and in eight cities (Bulawayo, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kingston, London, Edinburgh, Nottingham and Cambridge), at 26 different addresses. So where is home? I used to be passionately nationalistic and proud about being a South African, but now I think that home is wherever we feel we most belong. Home can be where we long to be, or if we are lucky, where we happen to be right now.

I like to think of myself as having many homes. My soul home is Zimbabwe – and more specifically, Victoria Falls. This is where my spirit feels most free. My heart home is South Africa – especially Cape Town – where I feel most passionate. My head home is the UK – Cambridge – where I feel most intellectually comfortable. And my body home – where I feel most sensually alive – is in any forest, especially a tropical rainforest like the Amazon.

I’m also starting to feel that home may not be a physical place. Home is wherever we can be ourselves, without fear or pretence. Home is whenever we can be with those we love, sharing life’s moments.