How three young Londoners set out to explore the countries of their parents' birth - and redefined the travel vlog

The Guardian

2 days ago

'Kayum was my friend for years,' recalls Abubakar Finiin. 'But when I met his grandad in Bangladesh, it just felt like I understood his whole story. I knew so much more about him as a person.'
This moment of connection captures the essence of Kids of the Colony, a grassroots travel series on YouTube created by three childhood friends from Islington: Abubakar, Kayum Miah and Zakariya Hajjaj, all 23. In a series of chatty vlogs that thrive on their offbeat humour and close friendship, the trio provide a rich travelogue of culture and identity as they explore the countries of their parents' birth.
The idea came to Abubakar while contemplating his next steps after graduating from Oxford University in 2023. 'I just thought about the places that we came from,' he says, reflecting on the layered identity of growing up in London with ties elsewhere. Abubakar is Somali, Kayum is Bengali and Zakariya is of Moroccan and English descent.
'My uni life was so different from my home life. I wanted to do something positive that inspires people,' Abubakar says. After his pitches to media production companies were ignored, he turned to his school friends. 'We were already planning to travel that summer, so I asked Kayum and Zakariya if they wanted to go to Bangladesh.'
'I was in love with the idea from the jump,' Zakariya says. 'I'm a guy who loves travelling – especially if my friends are there.'
It was also a no-brainer for Kayum: 'I couldn't let you [Abubakar] go to Bangladesh on your own.'
Despite lacking a studio or a big budget, they gathered some friends to help them film. 'Travel YouTube is such a huge mini-genre,' says Abubakar. 'But it felt weird that people only go to the markets with a GoPro and try to haggle prices. You can't go to a country and not show the culture or local traditions.'
Their rules were simple: no resorts, no tourist traps and no fancy restaurants – just real life, as lived by the people who call these places home.
'It's always important for us to have someone that's connected to that country on the trip,' Abubakar adds. 'I think that's what differentiates us.'
Their first trip was to Bangladesh, where Kayum's family is from. Serving as an unofficial tour guide, he took them to try on a lungi (traditional men's skirt) and sample street food from Sylhet, in the country's north-east. They swam in a fukri, a large communal pond dug by locals, and marvelled at cows wandering freely along the roads.
'A lot of Abubakar and Zakariya's first-time experiences were new to me, too,' says Kayum, despite having spent his summer holidays in Bangladesh. 'But seeing their reactions to things I viewed as normal, like the cows, was hilarious.'
One of the more moving, yet humorous, moments comes when they chat with Kayum's grandfather, a man who insists he's 120, though no one can confirm this. 'It was amazing to see my friends merge with my family in my homeland, especially when my nieces and nephews played football with us,' Kayum says. 'It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.'
The second series took them to Somaliland, where Abubakar has roots. There, they served shaah (spiced tea) in a local cafe, caught fish in the northern port city of Berbera, and joined the Eid prayer with thousands of others at the national stadium in the capital, Hargeisa. In one episode, they're invited to try martial arts at a local taekwondo studio. Kayum, who had never stepped inside a dojo before, was struck by the energy. 'They didn't have much funding – they were just doing it themselves,' he says. 'But inside, there was so much talent.'
Then came the trio's favourite moment – sharing an urn of camel milk. 'Everyone started dropping like flies – there was very little footage the day after that,' Abubakar laughs, recalling how everyone but him got sick. The chaotic aftermath of Zakariya and Kayum splayed out on sofas, of course, made it into the vlog. 'It was so funny to me that I drank it and just had immunity.'
Though not yet featured on their channel, the boys also visited Morocco, Zakariya's home country. In one TikTok clip, they're serenaded by a street performer whom they dub the 'Moroccan Shakira', somewhat questionably. 'We're planning to revisit and film another series,' Zakariya tells me.
Since uploading their first video in November 2023, Kids of the Colony has attracted a loyal audience. Their Instagram following has passed 35,000, their TikTok has racked up more than one million likes when combined with Abubakar's own page. Their fans include everyone from NBA star Kyrie Irving to Amelia Dimoldenberg of YouTube's celebrity interview show Chicken Shop Date. 'We've had people recognising us in public and teachers telling us [on social media] that they've been showing our videos in geography classes,' Kayum says.
'We wanted to create a fun family show where parents can watch and remember their childhood,' Abubakar explains.
The desire to represent their roots and reframe negative perceptions is reflected in their channel name, which was coined by Abubakar after learning about third-culture kids – individuals who grow up in a culture different from their parents'. He says he wanted to come up with his own version: '[The name] references children of immigrants from ex-colonies. But when we come together, we can create a colony of our own – like ants – to be a nice and powerful force.'
After filming in each others' countries of origin, Zakariya is keen to keep going: 'I want to go to every country. I love travelling, so this gives me more of a reason.' Meanwhile, Kayum sees the show as a chance to reclaim misrepresented parts of the world: 'I'd love to visit Palestine. I want to go to places that get the worst media coverage.'
While they're still self-funding, all working and using their savings to pay for the filming and travel, the trio feel the investment has been worth it: 'So many things are happening from us coming together, so it feels very good to see the results,' says Kayum.
'We grew up in working-class families,' Abubakar says, 'but through film, writing and the arts, children of immigrants are trying to forge an identity. We hope our platform celebrates that identity.'
As Kayum puts it: 'It's about preserving culture.'
And in doing so, Kids of the Colony reshapes the narrative around where we get to travel and whose stories are documented.