My Family Culture

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

My Bible

Photo album filled with family pictures

My computer

 

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

II would take my bible because it is the foundation on which my family stand. Our faith has brought us through many situations and without Jesus being our Lord and Savior we would be lost. I would take my photo album because it holds so many memories of us as a family over the years. I chose my computer because I have a lot of my family’s history stored on my computer that goes back to when my great-great grandparents were living.

•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

If upon arrival I was told I could only keep one item I would be devastated because each item I chose has important information that relates to my family and our history.

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

As a result of this exercise not only do I understand how important my family and culture is but that of others is just as important. I understand the value of holding on to your identity and who you are as a person. Just like we would not want to lose what’s important to us, other family’s feel the same way.