My Family Culture
This week we were given a scenario to answer: A major catastrophe has struck our country and the emergency government has decided to evacuate us to other countries willing to take refugees, but we have no choice in where we will go. The culture will be completely different from ours and we may have to stay permanently. Evacuees may take one change of clothes and 3 small items. The items I take are those that I hold dear and represent my family culture.
The three items I would take are my iPad, my favorite book and a piece of jewelry from my mother.
I would take my iPad (assuming it was useable) in order to have my family pictures, access to my genealogy and family tree, as well as access to information about the culture and country I am going to. I would take my favorite book as a link to my culture and to have entertainment I am familiar with. I would take a piece of jewelry from my mother in order to have something to pass on to my children and give them a connection to their family and culture. If I had to give up all but one item, I would keep the jewelry. I honestly could live without any of these things, but the jewelry holds the most sentimental value to me.
As I was thinking about this scenario, I thought of my relatives who left their home cultures and families to move to this country, leaving everything they knew behind. They had to learn a new language and assimilate to a new culture, but they also carried with them the knowledge and customs of their home countries and passed it down to their children. I would hope that I could do this if I had to face the same situation.
BethAnn, I also want to take pictures with me but mine were not on an electronic device as I did not think the device would work in another country. I do appreciate the sentimental value of your mother's jewelry. How nice it is to have a tangible valuable item that may be the only thing you have left to give to your children. I hope that the relatives you wrote about still held on to their customs and traditions even though they had to assimilate to the dominate culture.
ReplyDeleteJill
Bethann, I see that your jewelry is very important to you. I didnt even think to take jewelry. Even though my wedding ring is very important to me. Pictures are also very important to me ,this is why I said that I would take my cellphone. This is easy access to pictures. Very good idea about the information about the culture that you live in.
ReplyDeleteBethAnn, I love the picture that you used on this blog. It is beautiful. While all of the items that you choose made a great way to hold on to family culture and history, your mother's jewerly was really special to me. Jewerly is something you can wear in the new country hopefully at all times if you wanted to keep your culture and memories close to you. I didn't even think about jewerly for my list of items! I'm glad that your family was able to adapt and make a smooth transition from their country to this one.
ReplyDeleteBeth Ann,
ReplyDeleteI also chose to take pictures (a small album). I also thought about the jewellery but I believe the pictures are vey important because it would keep the memories of my family and my culture alive. This assignment also caused me to think about the many families that have been displaced because of disater. Jamaica has experienced a few hurricanes and persons have been asked to evacuate places that are known to be disaster prone and many times we experience great difficulty in getting them to leave their homes. It is therefore far more difficult to leave your country and relocate to a new country where the culture, the norms and language are different.
BethAnn,
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful picture you added. I also chose a piece of family jewelry as the one piece I would take with me. It is one of a kind and I cannot part with it. I cannot imagine the actual horrific experience of having to leave your country and go somewhere that you do not even know where. So many groups of people had to though. Lets hope we never have to and continue to help those who don't have the luxury. Thank you for sharing!
~Jalice