Thank you Western Union for sponsoring this post.
I recently watched this touching video from Western Union, and learned the backstory of how it was made. This whole project began when they held a customer-appreciation event in New York City, where they spoke with customers and invited them to share their stories around food, family and culture on camera.
Like so many of my friends who are students, expats, or immigrants, these “dual-belongers” have their hearts in two place: living in yet from another. When I ask my friends or ESL students “What do you miss the MOST from your country?” I always hear #1 family, #2 food. Isn’t it incredible that our comfort foods form such a great part of our cultural identity, that they can instantly fill our hearts with memories transport us back to another time and place?
My students and friends who send money home don’t boast about it. Nor do they consider making money to support their family out of the ordinary. Albeit selfless and challenging, it is standard within their cultures. Western Union is a lifeline, connecting them to their families and friends around the world.
Do you live away from your family? What is the number one thing you miss most about your country? Which food floods you with memories of home?
I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face. Thank you so much for sharing this video.
This is such a sweet video! Thanks for sharing it.
I love that they included someone living in a different part of the country from their family, I’m originally from Brooklyn, NY and even though I just live in a different part of the US, there are plenty of foods that I miss from home – whenever I am in NYC, I absolutely HAVE to eat a knish from a street vendor, for example, and when I went away for college my mother would send me regular care packages of bagels from home!
I agree! I thought that was touching that they showed the woman from Chicago:).