My mother is pretty crafty with her hands. Whether it be cooking cultural dishes, creating detailed makeup looks, painting landscapes, interior decorating, etc… She's most likely pretty good at it. When she moved to America with my father, she told me she was quite terrified because of the culture and environment change. Before leaving Bangladesh, my grandma and my mother spent most of their time sowing pieces of cloth very often. They would make their own designed pieces and then sow them together when they were done. So, as a parting gift, my grandma gave her a square of cloth for my mother to finish. During my mother’s free time in America, she ended up finishing most of it till she had my older brother. Later, when I was in middle school, I started to get into sewing as well. She would occasionally help me sow small things. She let me use her needles as well as the electrical sewer. She brought out what she had finished of the piece of cloth my grandma had given her. I had no clue my mother had created such a beautiful piece and had more back home. I asked her if we could finish the piece together and after a long 5 hours, we finally finished the job. We ended up framing it and placed it up in our first house in America which was quite the accomplishment for me and my mother. Now in our new house, it was the first thing I put up in our family room. I would hope that when I have my own home I’ll be able to put it up again.

– Eyana Uddin

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant