“I HAVE A LOT TO BE PROUD OF, BUT REGRETS TOO. I’VE NEVER APOLOGISED UNTIL NOW. I' M SORRY”

I was only 10 years old when I got on a plane to England from Burundi, and was scared as hell. I’d never left Burundi before, or even the area that I lived in. My mum moved to England when I was six or seven. I stayed with my friend, then she did everything she could for me to join her. But when I arrived in England, we couldn’t find her – I had to go to a care home. When they found her, I had to do blood tests to prove she was my mum. Finally, I met her again. We were at a police station and it was so emotional – she literally got on her knees and crawled to me, then we cried. Being reunited with her was the greatest feeling.

I grew up in Burundi during a civil war. I lived in Bujumbura – then the capital – near Lake Tanganyika. A lot of the time, I was only exposed to what I knew. Adults deflected the truth and didn’t want to frighten us. The days were hot and sunny, and whenever I had the chance, I’d kick a ball around with a bunch of kids. The ball was a load of plastic bags wrapped together with a piece of string.

But there’d be scary days when there was a curfew, and you weren’t allowed to go to school or leave home. After a while, when things had calmed down, you’d go onto the street and see bullet shells and holes everywhere, with tanks roaming around and soldiers on foot. As a kid, you don’t understand what’s going on. The worst thing was the news, when you really got to see how upside-down the country was.

I was four when my dad passed away, but I’ve never asked questions or tried to find out details of what happened. I’m 27 now, and there’s no point going back. I don’t have many memories of him, but my mum says I’m exactly like him. It wasn’t until I was 21