We Left Home to Change Home
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Welcome to the Mellow Madness update, a space for thinking out loud about strategy, leadership, and the ideas that shape how we build lives, organisations, and our continent.
A few days ago, I came across a short interview with a young Zimbabwean footballer named Noel Zimbeva, who has just signed for NCAA Division I side Radford University in the United States. Like many of the short social media interviews that appear online today, the questions were simple. What is your name? Where are you from? What position do you play? What advice would you give to the next generation?
His answers were equally brief until he reached one particular question.
“What advice would you give to the next generation?”
He paused for only a moment before replying:
“We left home to change home.”
I do not think I will ever forget that sentence.
The more I have reflected on it, the more I have realised that it captures something profound about the African story. Too often, conversations about migration are framed around loss. We speak about brain drain, people leaving, talent disappearing, and opportunities being found elsewhere. Those concerns are real, and many countries continue to feel the consequences of losing some of their brightest young people.
Yet Noel’s words offer a different perspective. They suggest that leaving home and abandoning home are not necessarily the same thing.
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“We left home to change home.” — Noel Zimbeva
Across Africa, countless people leave with the hope of creating something greater than themselves. Some travel to study. Others pursue careers in medicine, engineering, business, technology, sport, or the creative industries.
Many leave because opportunities elsewhere allow them to develop skills they could not easily acquire at home. Yet for a remarkable number of them, the destination is never the final objective. The deeper ambition is to improve the place they came from.
That improvement takes many forms. Some send money home every month, quietly paying school fees, supporting parents or helping younger siblings build better futures. Others invest in businesses that create employment. Some return years later carrying knowledge, experience and networks that simply did not exist before they left. Many never relocate permanently, yet they continue representing their countries through excellence, generosity and the reputation they build abroad. Their contribution is measured not by geography but by impact.
As I reflected on Noel’s words, I realised they honour far more than a young footballer beginning his professional journey. They honour millions of Africans whose work often goes unnoticed. The nurses working night shifts in hospitals thousands of kilometres from home. The care workers looking after elderly people. The farm workers harvesting food. The cleaners who leave home before dawn. The athletes chasing impossible dreams. The musicians introducing African sounds to new audiences. The ballet dancers, engineers, doctors, teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs and countless others quietly carrying Africa with them wherever they go.
Many of them pay a price that is rarely visible. They miss birthdays, weddings and funerals. They spend years separated from parents, spouses and children. Some live with the uncertainty of changing immigration policies. Others endure racism, xenophobia or the loneliness that comes from constantly being reminded that they are outsiders. Yet they continue showing up every day because their journey has become about something larger than themselves. Through remittances, knowledge, opportunity and example, they improve lives both where they are and where they came from.
I have never accepted the idea that leaving home in search of opportunity is somehow an act of cowardice or betrayal. Every generation serves its people differently. Some remain to build institutions from within. Others create value from beyond the border. I still have the privilege of working with clients in Zimbabwe and across Africa while travelling extensively for my work, and those experiences have only deepened my appreciation for the continent and for the people determined to make it better, wherever they happen to be. In the end, what matters is not where we stand on the map, but whether our work continues to make life better for those who stand behind us.
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Noel’s story also reminds me that Africa’s greatest exports have never been minerals or commodities. They have always been people. We have watched Zimbabweans like Peter Ndlovu and Benjani Mwaruwari carry our flag onto some of football’s biggest stages. Long before them, Eusébio, born in Mozambique, became one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen.
Across the continent, legends such as Jay-Jay Okocha inspired generations with extraordinary talent and joy for the game. Beyond sport, musicians like Manu Dibango, Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Oliver Mtukudzi and Thomas Mapfumo carried Africa’s voice far beyond its borders. Their music did more than entertain; it shaped culture, challenged injustice, preserved identity and introduced the world to the richness of our continent. Our writers, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists and innovators continue opening doors for those who follow.
Every generation leaves behind new shoulders for the next generation to stand upon. Today, I cannot help but wonder whether Noel Zimbeva is beginning to write the next chapter of that remarkable story.
Watching Noel speak, I found myself thinking less about where he is today and more about where he could be tomorrow. I have a feeling we are witnessing the beginning of another remarkable African story. When he said, “Remember the name,” it did not sound like arrogance. It sounded like responsibility. It sounded like a young man who understands that every goal he scores, every match he plays and every opportunity he earns has the potential to inspire another child somewhere in Zimbabwe to believe that impossible dreams are worth pursuing.
Perhaps that is the deeper meaning behind his words.
We do not leave home because we love it less. We leave because we hope one
day to give it more.
Whether through knowledge, investment, innovation, creativity, sport or simple acts of service, our greatest contribution is rarely measured by how far we travel.
It is measured by how many lives become better because we did. As Africans,
we should never resent those who leave with purpose. We should celebrate them, pray for them, challenge them to remain connected to the places that shaped them, and welcome them whenever they return. The continent needs builders everywhere. Some will build from within. Others will build from afar.
Both are serving the same future.
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Noel ended the interview with one final sentence.
“Remember the name.”
I believe we will.
Not only because of the football career that lies ahead of him, but because in
a few simple words he reminded us of something our generation desperately needs to remember.
We left home to change home.
I cannot think of a better aspiration for Africa.
Thank you for reading.
Warm regards,
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