No one told me about the guilt of moving away from home to build a life of my own

Even as a child, Manon Gilbart had a desire to live and work abroad. An ambition fulfilled in 2021 with her move to Ireland. Here, she recounts how that move has left her feeling a measure of guilt

Manon Gilbart and her mum, Laurence Gerbayhaie.

I must have been 12 when I first told my parents that I would move abroad someday. But I never realised how guilty I would feel for living far away from home.

Over the years, the destination of my dreams might have changed but the feeling of not belonging in my home country never left me.