‘On arriving in Africa, I felt I didn’t need electricity any more’- Adrian

Right: Rescued migrants disembarking off the Italian Guardia Costiera vessel in Sicily. Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP. Left: Adrian Corish

Kenya: Everyone thought I was crazy when I moved to Africa in 1989. I was going to live in a place with no televisions, no electricity and a high risk of malaria, and at a time when so many other Irish were leaving in search of better lives in the US or England.

I had a different view of a “better life”. I needed to find more meaning. I had married very young, at 18, and joined the Army to provide for my family. My wife died several years later, and I went soul-searching. I moved around the world a lot, especially Europe, but found it difficult to make connections.