'Children of immigrants' turned viral superstars taking travel vlogs to the next level

A trio of British friends have been flipping the YouTube travel genre on its head by visiting their immigrant parents’ homelands – now, in a bid to make their travels their full time job, they're planning to release "the best series yet" and it's set to come out in early September.

While Bangladesh, Morocco and the self-declared republic of Somaliland are not the most frequented destinations for travel vloggers, for London-born, Abu Finiin, Kayum Miah and Zak Hajjaj, they saw an opportunity to learn about themselves and each other – as well as show their ancestral cultures through a non-Western lens.

The friends, who are looking to make the transition into full-time vloggers, spoke on their channel name's origin: “Kids of the Colony”. As the child of Somali immigrants, Abu, who was studying at Oxford University, wanted to explore the ex-colonial countries he and his friends came from. Kayum is from Bangladesh and Zak is of English and Moroccan descent.

Abu tells The Mirror: “I wanted a name like ‘children of immigrants’. Kids of the Colony had that ring to it.” He attempted to pitch the idea to several media production companies but it was ultimately rejected. They were told it was because their idea "only normally works with celebrities".

So, with no major budget or studio behind them, the trio gathered some friends and set off to Bangladesh to begin the series. They travelled through the streets of Dhaka and met Kayum's grandfather, who insists he's 120 years old.

From there, their chatty vlog style, immersive film and core message captured over 100K viewers. Their channel now has almost 30K subscribers and their social media videos rack up hundreds of thousands of views.

The trio have since visited Morocco, where Zak’s father is from, and Somaliland, involving themselves in everyday life: from getting local jobs to playing football with the local kids. Zak shares: "We gathered lots of locals kids in the football team each. I can't speak the language and neither can Kayum, but we were still trying to teach the kids."

One of Abu’s favourite experiences was when travelling to Somaliland and he, Kayum and Zak were working on top of a water truck delivering water to different houses – when they bumped into his grandmother. “We hadn't seen her on this trip and the first thing she saw was just us three on top of a water truck in overalls and she was like, ‘what the hell?’” he jokes.

Their travels also gave them the chance to reflect on their own lives. A memory which stands out to Kayum was visiting one of Somaliland's games cafes. "We went to one that was in not such a nice area and they had PS2s and the lights were barely working and there were power cuts," he says.

"It [gave me] humility...I appreciate growing up [in the UK] gave me a lot of opportunities that a lot of people that don't have from birth. Even things such as having a game console that I have at home that I barely play that these guys would love to."

Abu says these experiences stand out because they show how unscripted their videos are. The Somaliland series was mainly filmed in a one-mile radius to keep its “true and authentic” representation of the culture. He says: “For me, it was always about also creating a space for second generation immigrants to explore their identities.”

The impact of the series has been monumental with it gaining a large audience and positive reactions from viewers. Abu mentions how “touching” it was “because [he] never had that representation growing up.” And so was honoured to be able to provide that representation for others.

The Bangladesh series received “so much support from the Bengali community”, as did the Somaliland series with the Somali community. Abu says: “There were parents messaging me saying I’ve got something to show my kids, to show them where they’re from".

Aside from exploring different cultures they also gained knowledge in film production and “that was a big learning curve as well in terms of producing a show.”

Their hope that viewers can get out of their videos is that they want “children of immigrants” like them to “be proud of [their] heritage” Abu highlights that they wanted “to create a show” where “kids can see their country in a positive light and be like, 'Okay, yeah, that’s where I’m from'".

He adds: "I hope people get that sense of pride from that, a sense of representation, a sense of belonging" understanding "the identity of your parents being from one place but you being from a completely different culture and just navigating that balance."

Kayum agrees on their series showcasing “an unbiased opinion” on their countries as they do not have “a great media representation” so they want to show the objective view. Abu adds: “When we do our travels, we don’t go to fancy restaurants or we don’t stay in hotels. We keep it super authentic because we want people to see, this is what life is like.”

The outreach of their videos have reached the likes of NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving who follows them on Instagram. They mention Complex posting them and former footballer and media personality, Ian Wright liking one of their videos.

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The group explains how they aim to expand their content but still keep it authentic. They share how they recently filmed their Albania series and claim that it is “the best series yet.” From their previous travels they improved what they learnt and made this series have it all: “the relatability, it was natural, free-flowing, spontaneous and [they] introduced some challenges as well.”

When asked whether there are more new elements they are incorporating into the series, Abu says: “We’re just doing the craziest things that no one has ever done. And I just don’t see other YouTubers doing it because I just think they’ve got too much money and too comfortable in their lives to take the risk.”

They provide little information about their next series which will follow the boys as they travel across the UK. “It’s a countdown series where we travel across the UK. And the way it will be different is that it will be extremely interactive.” People will be dictating their journey across the country," Abu shares.

They will be posting everyday on their travels, "letting people know what city [they're] in" and whoever they come across will have the chance to express what they'd like the trio to do. This is something original that they have never done and are due to set off on their travels later this month.

Finally, they were asked what one word or sentence they would use to describe their content. Abu says, for him it was “reimagining travel.” Kayum also keeps it short and sweet with, “action-packed” and finally Zak shares that their content is “authentic and chaotic at the same time, we go out there, nothing’s fake or planned…it’s all action-packed, but it’s all authentic from ourselves”

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