As a lecturer for the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Computer Science and Information Technology, I have been extremely fortunate in being granted three months’ sabbatical in 2026. For those readers who don’t know me very well, I lecture on Intercultural Competence to international Master students, and I lecture on Academic English to undergraduates of all nationalities. I have a few other roles too. My position at the University is varied, challenging, wonderful, exciting, demanding, and most of all fulfilling. At our University, a sabbatical can be applied for, and granted, every six years, and only for people under the age of sixty. (I’ll be sixty in 2026). A sabbatical is typically a leave of absence, relieving lecturers from regular teaching and administrative duties to focus on professional development activities, including travelling or writing. I will be doing both. For me, what this means is a deeply personal journey into the past, starting in Southern Africa. My sabbatical will take me back to my roots, to where I was born and raised on the eastern coast of South Africa, where I lived till I was almost sixteen, to a story of a long and epic journey on the Atlantic Ocean with my mother, father and three brothers, ending with where I am today. I am thankful. I am filled with gratitude. I am getting ready to shed my camouflage.