My Family Culture

Imagine the following: A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

  • A description of the three items you would choose:

A situation in which I may never return to my home country nor see or experience the things that help to solidify my personal identity would be extremely difficult. However, I imagine that having the support of my immediate family would give me a much greater sense of security in making this transition as opposed to doing it alone. Being able to bring additional items that have meaning and significance to our family would provide an additional means of remembering who we are and where we came from while providing some comfort as we transition to a new dominant culture. As a means of remembering and representing our family culture, I would choose to bring a bible, a family album, and a very specific hamburger flipper.

  • How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you

I think that throughout the world, there is an understanding that many cultures have different faiths and that within each faith are sacred items. From this understanding, the significance of the bible to our family can be understood. However, this does not mean that all faiths are welcomingly received. Having an understanding of the dominant culture and their responses and openness to diversity in faith will be very important for our family to best understand how to continue practicing our Christian faith as we also attempt to assimilate into a new culture. In a culture that may not support or understand our faith, the bible is also a source of teaching and continuing our faith with future generations. That being said, Christianity is one of the most wide spread religions throughout the world and we may find ourselves in a new home that supports our faith, making the transition to our new life easier.

The family album is an item that brings great emotion and remembrance on part of the family sharing the pictures and an understanding of the significance of these memories from new friends who can personally relate to the value of family. The simple act of flipping through an album and sharing memories can bring great joy and celebration to one’s family culture while serving as a means of sharing and passing on cultural traditions with friends and new family members.

A very specific hamburger flipper in our home has special meaning to us and although we use it often in every day food preparation, it serves a very special purpose for a very “famous” burger. My husband’s parents owned and operated a mom and pop style hamburger joint called “The D&E” that was extremely well know in the community. Ten years after it closed, my husband is still recognized from this established community hot spot and the mention of the famous mushroom burger is on each person’s lips. Holding the family secret for this burger allows us to entertain friends for “D&E mushroom burger” nights that are always a big hit. Sharing this story and serving this family recipe with an original D&E hamburger flipper to new friends in our new country would be a wonderful way to make connections and share a piece of our family and home community identity. More importantly, each time we use the hamburger flipper, we are flooded with memories of my mother-in-law who passed away several years ago.

  • Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you

After much thought into choosing these three items, I can imagine that they would become extremely sacred and precious to myself and my family as we cling on to these last few items that help identify who we are. Items that held meaning for us before the devastation of our country have been assigned extra significance in the reflection of choosing them to bring to our new country. Having to give two of these items up after putting so much thought into what to bring in the first place would be more difficult compared to if we had not brought them at all. Without a doubt, I would choose to keep our bible. For within the sharing and reflection of God’s word, the messages of love, family, community, faith, perseverance, and hope would serve as a foundation of inspiration to continue moving forward in a positive way despite the hardship that we may endure.

  • Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise.

This exercise brought me a little closer to the realities of some of my community members and an understanding of how difficult it may be for them in coming to a new country. This exercise gave me the benefit of taking my immediate family with me and this alone may be enough support to successfully transition to a new culture. However, my understanding is that many individuals who come to work in Canada have had to leave their families behind. My heart breaks to imagine the separation of parents from their children and I am overcome with admiration in the courage and strength that they have in order to do this so that they can one day provide a better life for their families. As much as I try, it is difficult for me to even imagine living through an experience such as this.