My brother made it in Lagos — and taught me lessons about my life in London

The award-winning novelist Chibundu Onuzo has lately been thinking about her life in London and her visits to Nigeria, where she was born: "What do I love most about my trips to Lagos? I lose my self-consciousness there. If I stand out, it's for something other than my skin color." (David Levenson/Getty Images)

I only have one brother. Chinaza is ten years older and so in my earliest memories of him, he was already a teenager. "Leave my room" is a phrase he uttered several times to me.

I remember him as loud but nerdy. He didn't have many friends and he didn't have a date for prom. He was 15 when he left Nigeria for boarding school in the U.K., which would have made me around 5. I was potty-trained but still learning how to read. I hadn't lived long enough for us to have much in common.