No.162: Barbados

Full story to follow ...

Owen Powell - 5th October 2007

Sometimes Alex and I get encouraging emails from people. (We also get lots of emails that say, "Why don't you try embassies?" even though we're pretty clear about not trying embassies). One of the most encouraging, recently, came from a teacher called Michael who told us that he was using our blog as a way to teach Citizenship to his GCSE class, which we found incredibly flattering. Oh, he added, would we like to meet Rashad from year 10 who was originally from Barbados? And would I like to travel on a tram for the first time in my life?

Sometimes you just have to say, 'Yes, please.'

To get to Addington High School, I had to travel on a bus, a tube, a train and, most excitingly of all, a tram. The school is so far from central London that the phone number doesn't even begin '020'. But it is definitely in London, and Rashad is definitely a Londoner. He left Barbados aged twelve, three years ago, and the kind of lifestyle that meant he "swam in the sea every day after school. Oh, and on Saturdays too." He's going back at Christmas to see family (he's the grandson of famous West Indies cricket umpire, Lloyd Barker, and a cousin of recent fast bowler Tino Best).