As tears ran down my cheeks, saying goodbye to all my family at the airport, saying goodbye to the place, the only place I’ve ever called home from the moment I stepped onto that plane, I was stepping into this unknown world. I vividly remember one day I’m playing in the backyard and the next I’m packing my stuff as my parents prepared us to move to the US. They said that we would have a better life there, that this was a good opportunity for us, especially me, being the youngest in the family. As a kid, I remember wondering how I could ever call a place that I don’t even know home when the one place that I’ve ever called home was gonna be 2000 miles away. Nine years later, looking backI know that home isn’t just a place. When my family came, we didn't just leave our culture behind; we brought it through our recipes. As a kid, I remember being in the kitchen when my parents would be making fresh bread from scratch. I remember the smell of it now every time my sister or my mom makes it. I feel like I’m back in Guyana, especially during Christmas back home, we have a traditional dish called pepper pot, which is our national dish. It is now become a tradition for us to make that every Christmas we eat it with freshly baked tennis roll, and every time my family starts cooking, I can smell my childhood being recreated.  

– Ekaimraj

Relationship:  Im/migrant who arrived as a child Im/migrant who arrived as a child