Perspectives on Diversity and Equity (EDUC - 6164 - 2)

"Paint-Time"

~~ My Family Culture~~

My Blog Link:  http://www.nmcclain-nmcclain.blogspot.com/

Week 2 Assignment 3~Blog

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.

"GrandSons"

• A description of the three items you would choose

If I was a refugee in a strange country with my family~ I would take these three items:

1.     Family Pictures

2.     Birth Certificates

3.     Social Security Cards

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

1.     Family  Pictures:  Pictures would be of my immediate family and extended family such as my mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and my siblings and my grandchildren; all these items mean so much to me because this is my only blood line and maybe someday we will see each other if I had the pictures to remember all my family.

2.     Birth Certificates: This is the only way I can proof that I am a United States  citizen. My American citizenship would mean so much to me.  I will have these documents so that people can see when each member of my family was born and when I was born; who is my mother and father and where I was born.

3.     Social Security Cards: This is the only way I can also have proof that I am a United States citizen. I can prove that I worked in the United States and how much retirement I will receive. Also, this is the only document that matches my name to me.

Mother, Siblings and Me

• 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

{Pictures}- I would keep my pictures if I was told that I could only keep one personal item. Since, I am in a new country, I may not be working right away and verbally, I could tell the officials all the information on my birth certificates and give them my social security numbers. I would plead with the officials to keep everything because I have a non-verbal son with a health and mental condition and if we get separated, he would be unable to care or communicate to others.

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

I would not want to separate from my family, nor would I want to separate from my country of origin. I would plead to stay with my family even if it meant giving up the material things that came with me. I know this can happen like in China, Japan, Sri Lanka or Louisiana, and other countries that have experienced hardships, tragedies and unforeseen emergencies. In the end, if I had to assimilate, I would make the best of it by learning about my new culture and telling them about my life in the United States.