Ciao! We’re In Africa

A Crazy Move to Africa in the 1950s

If you’ve ever moved to another country, it is exciting but also scary. Imagine what it is like if you don’t speak the language; have a different culture or look foreign. And even worse, you are leaving behind your mum and grandmother, the only family you’ve ever known, to follow your husband of two weeks, as he pursues his dream (crazy idea?) of selling Italian Haute Couture to expatriates in developing Africa. Times have changed since my mum and dad left Italy in 1955; it was a much more daring and risky expedition in those days; it was almost as far-fetched as landing on the moon! Added to that, my mum only spoke Italian at the time…She was plagued with doubt and terrified. Yet, she loved her husband—he was her knight in shining armour—and he sold the idea of an adventure so charmingly. Thankfully, he was also an astute businessman (or had been up until then), and he was fluent in three languages, of which English was one.