Three items I will take along as a refugee are: my bible, a credit card and a family album.
My bible represents my spiritual armor that will strengthen my faith through such crisis. Situations like these test the very mettle from which we are made. It is important that I don’t lose hope during this crisis but hold fast to Jesus Christ, the source of my strength.
Over the years my family has enjoyed a level of independence because of our strong work ethics. We firmly believe that we should harness our abilities and our expertise in order to achieve a comfortable standard of living. In light of this, I will take along my credit card since the amount of credit available indicates my credit rating. My favorable rating should allow me to access goods and services to sustain us until I am somewhat settled and can seek some form of employment if that is possible.
A family album represents a significant aspect of our culture. It includes lots of memorable moments such as birthdays, holiday events and breathtaking scenery, family weddings, graduations and other memorable occasions that will serve as a source of strength and encouragement to the family.
If upon arrival I was told that I can only keep one item I will be very disappointed because it would seem as though I am being stripped further of some aspects of who I am. However, I will take courage in the fact that what is on the outside only constitutes to the surface culture and regardless of what may happen in life I still possess my deep culture –language, values, religion and extended family relationships, concept of work among others (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010 p. 56). Nevertheless, I will seek to keep my credit card because it gives me a sense of power. Hopefully it will allow me to purchase basic commodities family members need to survive.
It is absolutely clear that I like to feel a sense of empowerment. I believe that even though I am faced with challenging situations, my family values will navigate me out of these situations. My family culture has and it continues to play a significant role in my life. It has contributed in all aspects of my development.
Reference
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Evlyn,
ReplyDeleteYou are very smart to think of your credit card. When we arrived in United States we did not own a credit card. Those days credit cards were not available for us in back home. We travelled with travellers checks those days:)
I grew up listening to my father telling us about the strong work ethics. We took it to our hearts and I still believe that strong work ethics always matters.
Thank you sharing!!
Hello Evlyn,
ReplyDeleteWe chose similar things to take with us on this crisis. For example, I chose the Bible and family album, too. I must admit taking a credit card slipped my mine. It is something that I would remember if such a tragedy ever happens. Keep up the good work!
I also chose to take the family Bible and photo albums. These are things significant to my family. Having these items and my family safe, it would help me to get through such tragedy. This assignment required thought about our family culture and the items that represent the things that we value.
ReplyDelete