My Family Culture

Growing up in the small Caribbean island of St. Lucia has been a privilege.  The lovely unspoilt beaches, lush rain forests, undulating agricultural landscape, warm, friendly people and low key vibe of the island makes it all seem like paradise.  If this tropical paradise was devastated by a major catastrophe and my family and I were told that we had to leave our island and move to a different country this would be very difficult.  If we could take only three some items, this would be even more devastating since there are so many things that represent our family culture and holds significance to us as a family.

Nonetheless, I would select the following three items:

      A family album which contains pictures of deceased family members, family vacations, birthday celebrations, family outing since family reunions is a major activity in my family.  Beneath each picture is a story/description explaining the occasion.  Family means a lot to me and these photos would help me reminisce on the memories we shared as a family, both good and bad.

      My grandmother’s wedding ring which she passed on to me after her death.  When she passed away, I was vacationing in Canada, although I tried to get back home as soon as I heard of her illness.  While on her sick bed, she removed her ring and asked my mother to present it to me.  This ring is very symbolic as it reminds me of the values and morals she instilled in me as a child.  It also represents the love she had for me.

      A rosary.  This represents our Catholic faith in God and the Christianity that we practice as a family.  Every Friday night was known as rosary night, where we sat as a family and prayed the rosary.   It is a biblical form of prayer as the prayers that it comprises come mainly from the bible.

Upon arrival in the new country, if I was told that I could only keep one personal item and had to give up the other two I would be torn as to which one to keep as they all have significance for me and a preservation of my family’s history/culture.  It would begin to evoke some strong emotions in me and I may display sadness, anger or even distaste for the person who is requesting that I choose among the three.

This assignment made me reflect on what is truly important in my life.  It has made me realize the importance of sharing family cultures/traditions as at any given moment they can be wrenched from us.  But most importantly, it has made me reflect on my role an early childhood educator.  It has made me realize the importance of honouring every family culture of our students.  Most often we take this for granted and we do not spend time getting to truly understand these families or too often do we want the children to assimilate to the dominant culture.