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Norma Seale-McConnie

I left Barbados in 1958 on the Surriento, an Italian migrant passenger liner. As I was boarding the ship, my grandmother gave me an embroidered handkerchief with something wrapped inside. She told me not to open it until I arrived in the mother country. I opened the little bundle on the train to Victoria and found this penny inside. I laughed because she had said to me that I would always have money! I’ve kept it in my purse ever since then, and this is the first time it’s left my hands in fifty-eight years.

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Omer

I use prayer beads every day, all the time when I can and when I feel like it. Not only in the mosque but also on the bus, at home and at work. These actually belong to my brother but we share everything as what belongs to him belongs to me. We are family.

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Rosa Torres

I bought these in Chincheros in Cuzco, Peru. They are made by Incan women from remote communities who sell them to help raise their families. I bought this little pottery bowl when I was a child living in Independencia in Peru and it came with me to England because it reminds me of my origins.

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Samira

My sister who lives in Germany bought this dress for my daughter Ginda when she was seven months old. It was perfect for her because she likes to be a princess. My family comes from Aleppo in Syria. We are a big family; I have six brothers and five sisters and we all live in different countries. In my heart I feel that I will never be able to return to Syria.

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