Olha Abakumova, an opera singer from western Ukraine, came to the U.S. with her daughter. (Her husband was not able to migrate.) Olha brought her most treasured sheet music for Ukrainian arias. "They connect me with my motherland, culture and my roots," she says. "When I'm singing, I see pictures in front of my eyes," she says. "The words and music move through me and take me back to Ukraine."
Maybe it's a piece of traditional clothing gifted by a parent. Or a bronze bowl used for religious ceremonies. Or a family recipe for a favorite dish.
These are all mere objects — but they aren't just objects. A cherished keepsake can serve as a connection to your family, your roots, your sense of identity.
This kind of memento takes on new importance if you have to leave your homeland and set off for a new country and an uncertain new life.
Clockwise from left: Ọbáṣọlá Bámigbólá, Yolanda Escobar Jiménez, Smita Sharma / for NPR
/
for NPR
Clockwise from left: A Liberian woman's passport; incense stones from Yemen; a ceremonial cup and plate from an Indian village.
At this time of unprecedented numbers of refugees — a record 27.1 million in 2021 — we wanted to know: What precious possessions are refugees taking with them? The photojournalists of The Everyday Projects interviewed and photographed eight refugees from around the globe. Here are the objects they said give them comfort, solace and joy.
Editor's note: If you have a personal tale about a special possession from your own experience or your family's experience, send an email with the subject line "Precious objects" to goatsandsoda@npr.orgwith your anecdote and your contact information. We may include your anecdote in a future post.
For more details on the lives of the 8 refugees profiled below, read this story.
/ Nilofar Niekpor Zamani for NPR
/
Nilofar Niekpor Zamani for NPR
Nilofar Niekpor Zamani, who fled her homeland of Afghanistan and now lives in the Netherlands, made room in her crammed suitcase for a dress her mother gave her as a wedding gift: "I understand today that I couldn't leave the dress and the memory of my mother. I didn't know if I would see her again. I couldn't leave this symbol of my ancestors that never lets me forget where I belong."
/ Danielle Villasana for NPR
/
Danielle Villasana for NPR
Of all her belongings, this diary is the most important, says Kataleya Nativi Baca, a transgender woman who says she fled Honduras because of fears for her safety and now lives in Virginia. The diary includes a letter to her mom about living a few steps away from the U.S. in Tijuana and lyrics to a song that begin "It was a long journey, but I've finally arrived."
/ Smita Sharma for NPR
/
Smita Sharma for NPR
As cyclones grew more intense because of climate change, Pramila Giri left her village in India for a growing metropolis. Considered a climate refugee, she works hard as a cook, sending money home to her family. She brought with her a ceremonial bowl and plate made of bronze, putting rice pudding in the bowl and a salty lentil porridge on the plate for special occasions and festival offerings.
/ James Rodríguez for NPR
/
James Rodríguez for NPR
Rosa Gonzalez, born in Guatemala, holds a sign with the word "Xib'nel" from the K'iche' Mayan language she grew up speaking — loosely translated as "the fright, the terror." Gonzalez says this word sums up how she felt during the war in her country. She has no physical keepsakes to remind her of her childhood home but proudly speaks her language of K'iche': It is "fundamental to who we are."
/ Yolanda Escobar Jiménez for NPR
/
Yolanda Escobar Jiménez for NPR
Across the Arabian peninsula, people light scented stones like incense. "You light them on fire for a good smell," says Nader Alareqi, who left Yemen because of the civil war and now lives in Ecuador. When packing to leave in 2015 he brought incense stones made by his grandmother with a mixture of perfumes and scented leaves: "These are very special stones made with love."
/ Showkat Nanda for NPR
/
Showkat Nanda for NPR
Momos are steamed or fried dumplings stuffed with minced meat or vegetables — a popular dish in Abdul Kareem Bhat's native Tibet. He fled after the failed uprising against China in 1959. Now living in Kashmir, Bhat says that serving the dish at his restaurant not only connects him to his roots but has "brought us closer to our Kashmiri brothers."
/ Ọbáṣọlá Bámigbólá for NPR
/
Ọbáṣọlá Bámigbólá for NPR
"This passport reminds me of my past life, traveling across West Africa," says Rebecca Maneh Nagbe, known as Mama Sckadee. She fled Liberia's civil war in 2003 and came to a refugee camp in Nigeria but has been unable to obtain legal status to leave. In the camp, she has raised her granddaughter, whose mother left the country: "Angel has been my companion for 14 years. She is all I have."
Additional credits
Visuals edited by Ben de la Cruz, Pierre Kattar and Maxwell Posner. Text edited by Julia Simon and Marc Silver. Copy editing by Pam Webster.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is boosting safety and convenience along I-75 with upcoming installations. A pre-construction information session covering new interchange construction at I-75 at Toledo Blade Boulevard and Sumter Boulevard in Sarasota County will be held on Tuesday, Jan 6.
Animals in south Florida don’t have to worry much about winter cold – and indeed many migrants from areas farther north find suitable living conditions here. But, a trip to the beach or on a rare blustery day sometimes makes one wonder. How do ducks, herons, egrets, and other birds tolerate wading or swimming in cold weather? Aquatic birds, for example, have bare skinny legs with leg muscles placed among insulating feathers.Blood vessels going to and from the very few muscles in the legs and feet lie right next to one another, and cold blood going back into the body is warmed by warmer blood coming from the body – and is nearly the same temperature as the blood circulating in the well-insulated body.
Site work is underway on FGCU’s workforce housing project behind Gulf Coast Town Center. The housing site is adjacent to West Lake Village and Gulf Coast Town Center and will include 74 cottage-style homes and townhomes.
A strong cold front will bring an abrupt end to the warm Christmas weather across parts of the Sunshine State, sending temperatures 20 degrees below average during the week.
It's nearly a certainty that E26 will be an only eaglet. The second egg is days past the 40-day benchmark for a successful hatch and the hope for a "Christmas Miracle" has come and gone like so much holiday gift wrapping. Breeding pair F23 and M15 can be seen on the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam as they continue to dutifully roll the egg. But it's probable that their ministrations will be for naught. They are also dutiful in their care and feeding of E26 with the fuzzy little chick continuing to thrive and grow.
More than a thousand flights were canceled or delayed across the Northeast and Great Lakes as a winter storm disrupted one of the busiest travel weekends of the year between Christmas and New Year's. As of Saturday morning, New York City had received around four inches of snow, under what some forecasts predicted, but at least 1,500 flights were canceled from Friday night into Saturday, according to FlightAware. Major New York–area airports warned of disruptions, while the National Weather Service cautioned about hazardous travel conditions, possible power outages and tree damage. States of emergency were declared for New Jersey and parts of New York.
