"It was 1996 and I had just started the third year of my secondary school education, I had only been 13 for a few months but I felt quite settled in my life in the UK. Growing up in Enfield I just started to make some good friends and started to enjoy the independence of my teenage years. One evening, my mother sat me down and told me that "we're moving... dad's got a job offer in a place called Abu Dhabi". I did not know where it was, so she took me over to the bookshelf and pulled off an Atlas as at the time we didn't have 'Google Maps', she then showed me where it was on the map. Looking at the map, I saw that it was quite far from the UK, and I didn't know much at all about the Middle East. I then found it was next to a place called Dubai - as only a few months prior I was watching a TV show called 'Tomorrow's World' and they had a piece on them making the Burj Al Arab, which for me made the move a little more exciting. I started to settle with the idea as I saw that they were doing interesting, innovative things and I thought it would be cool.
When I found it was more likely that we were moving, I was a little bit concerned as it was so far away from what I know, and as I had already started secondary school mum and dad did give me the option to stay - which I don't think was really true - and I did want to stay with family members who lived close as many of my friends lived around that area, and I thought it would be cool and I could have more independence, not living under the rules and roof of my parents. I was later told that not coming with the family was not really a solid option, and I had to move with them. Just two weeks before moving, mum and Sadiece had visited Abu Dhabi, and Sadiece came back with good stories of swimming pools, sun and the people and friends who were there waiting on our arrival - which made the journey much easier."
-Cornel Holland