Running head: PERSONAL CULTURAL AWARENESS ESSAY

Personal Cultural Awareness Essay

Liridona Ravmani
University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire

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BACKGROUND
My understanding of cultural awareness is a process of learning about your own cultural
values such as religion and traditions in a contextual sense. To obtain these personal values and
beliefs we must first know the cultural background we belong to and adapt and take on the
values to the culture we belong. Values are an important component of culture because they help
us explain and give an interpretation in the world. Thus, as a future social worker it will be my
duty to assist and advocate for my clients. In order to do so, I will have to form a cultural identity
for myself, so I can value differences, so I can be more open to other diverse groups, and
ultimately gain cultural competence.
Thus, to begin this personal awareness essay I will briefly describe my background. I am
23 years old, born in a small town called Kichevo, Macedonia. My ethnic origin is Albanian
decent and my race is white. My birth town is located on the west side of Macedonia, which used
to be part of Albania before the Republic of Macedonia was formed. I grew up in a family of
four, with many extended family living very close by. My father was the bread winner; thus he
was the only one working to provide for my family. The social class that I grew up with, was the
lower middle class. The lower-middle class in my country refers to households and individuals
who are somewhat educated and usually stably employed, but who have not attained the
education, or income of the upper-middle class. Which was the case with my family no college
education, but stably employed outside of country in order to provide for the family.
From the personal interview conducted from my mother, she stated that my father
migrated in the United States in the late 1986 and early 1987, from Macedonia, through
Switzerland and first came to the state of Illinois. My father was only 21 years old at the time
when he came with a group of friends who were much older than him. The main reason that he

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migrated to the United States, was for a better life and better job opportunities, and with the idea
to return to his home country. Since he could not make enough in Switzerland, he decided to
move even further away from home just to provide for his family. His decision to come here was
voluntary, however the circumstances at the time he was growing up were very poor, since he
comes from a large family of ten. He has seven siblings and his father was the only bread winner
in the family, thus he decided to go abroad and help his father in providing economic support for
the rest of the family (J. Ravmani, personal communication, April 6, 2016).
The type of work that my father got into when he first came to the U.S. was the restaurant
industry. He started working at a Greek Restaurant in Illinois, with his friends and from there he
learned soon enough to where he moved up to work as a cook in the kitchen. He worked as a
cook for many years, until he decided to own a restaurant of his own one day with two of his
friends. That is when my family and I, first came to the U.S. when my father was stable enough
to support us here. It was the year 2000, when my brother, my mother and I came to the U.S. in a
small town in Illinois, called Clinton. We only stayed about a year because it was too big of a
change for us, we did not know the language, no family close-by and it was a culture shock for
us, to the point where my mother was hospitalized for depression. For that reason, we decided it
is best for us to move back to our hometown until we were ready to come back. After nine years,
we came back and reunited with my father. Not only that, but my parents wanted that we pursue
a higher education here in the U.S. so we can find better jobs and not work as hard as they have.
It was only ten months that we had come to Eau Claire, WI when my father suffered a sudden
heart attack and passed away, leaving us alone with no one nearby to support us. Long story
short, we could make it through the tough times that every immigrant faces when they re-locate
from their home country (J. Ravmani, personal communication, April 6, 2016).

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As far as discrimination, it is explained that my group faced religious discrimination.

When my father owned his first restaurant, he never said his true religion because he knew that
people did not like Muslims, therefore we were not allowed to say that we identity our selfs as
Muslims (J. Ravmani, personal communication, April 6, 2016). My family interacted normally
with other racial groups if religion was not mentioned. Thus, at times when asked we were
supposed to tell a lie, so that our identity does not trigger any negative thoughts or feelings about
my family. Macedonia is primarily a patriarchal society based on male predominance. The role
of women growing up was very traditional, those of subordinate roles were allowed for women.
Such roles included a stay at home mom, women were expected to do the house chores such as
cooking, cleaning, feeding and raising the children. While men were outside the home working
to support the family financially. Only a few women obtained a college degree, since women
faced gender discrimination in the workforce. Women often were stereotyped as housewives and
illiterate. The misconception about women being illiterate came about that some women did not
even get to graduate middle school. As my grandmother tells me she was only allowed to attend
fourth grade and she had to stay home and help with the farming (Z. Shefkiu, personal
communication, April 6, 2016). Thus, she did end up illiterate and so did many other women
during her generation because their family could not afford for their education. Although, after
that women were able to graduate from high school but still unable to attend college. On the
other hand, many women had jobs outside of home. Such jobs include teachers, nurses, doctors,
psychiatrists, school counselors, retail associates, and secretaries.
The community I was raised in was a rural town called Zhubrino a small village of 200
people. The city where I went to high school is called Kichevo, which is roughly eight miles
from my village. The diversity in my country is very noticeable, because it is a multiethnic state.

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The population of Macedonia according to ethnic groups there are twelve ethnic groups that livein Macedonia. Those ethnic groups include the majority Macedonians, Albanians, Turkish, Roma
people, Serbians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Yugoslavs, Armenians, Montenegrins, and anyone who
identifies as Muslims (U.S. Census, 2002).
I come from a very traditional family. For me tradition is the culture, religion, the values
and norms that I am taught growing up. Thus, I grew up in a household where my mother was
my primary caregiver, since my father was always abroad working to provide for our family. I
grew up with the values that family, education, religion, and morals are part of life and in order
to be successful in life, that is what I need to always have with me. As a young teenager through
late middle school and through high school I followed my religion very closely. I was praying
five times a day, reading the Quran and attending private classes from a female imam teaching
us how to pray and read in Arabic (the language the Quran was written).
I was not taught about race or ethnicity until I came to the U.S. which was in my senior
year of high school. I grew up in a state with many other ethnic groups. Hence, we always had
fights and arguments and we did not get along with Macedonians. That is because, they claimed
that we are in their country, and vise-versa. There was always misrepresentation of Albanians, as
I was growing up. Just recently an Albanian mayor was elected in Kichevo, after many years of
political battles in the parliament. Growing up, I did not learn anything about racism, or
oppression on ethnic groups, even though I had experienced it.
As mentioned above, my family was very traditional, but my parents were very liberal
and they always wanted that my brother and I do more with our lives. Therefore, I was one of
few of my friends to go to any school trips or seminars. I was also very active in high school, by
participating in an all-girls camp during summer time. The camp was an all English camp,

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meaning only those that spoke fluent English could attend the camp. Peace-corps volunteers
from different parts of the U.S. attended the camp, as well as many girls from 80 different cities
in Macedonia. The camp was about educating young girls in Macedonia how to be powerful and
live peacefully with the other ethnic groups in the state. The camp changed my life, because it
made me realize that not only my ethnic group was going through tough times and feeling
oppressed, but so was the majority. Because of that trip, I became an advocate and ally for many
Macedonians, because I could educate all of my friends and family members on what I learned
about Macedonians, and that we need to be civil because we all share a county. In addition, I
learned that even though we identified as the minority group in the country, we were not the only
ones feeling as the oppressed ethnic group. There were many more minority groups that
struggled even more with the same issues. That experience has helped me become more
accepting of other ethnic groups no matter their national origin, their skin color, gender identity
or their religion.
Marriage is another tradition that it is much embraced in my culture. My mother and
grandmothers got married by an arranged marriage by their parents. However, in my generation
that has shifted to where the youngsters can pick their own partner. Although, same-sex marriage
is still not permitted or accepted. From me it is expected that I marry within the same religion
and nationality. Since we moved to the U.S. my parents were afraid my brother and I would
marry outside of our culture, thus my mother wanted me to get engaged as soon as I met
someone from my culture. Thankfully I met someone that was from the same hometown as I
grew up in. After a few months of dating our families wanted us to get engaged, which here it is
getting legally married. We got married at a court house and we are getting officially married this

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summer. Marriage was a huge commitment for me, but that is part of being bicultural, following
both cultures is very difficult and at times it makes you want to do things out of will.

CONCLUSION
I learned a lot about my cultural identity through this class as well as attending many
guest speakers. I learned that culture is knowledge, beliefs, morals, rules, and behaviors of a
society. Cultural values differ for different people, depending on the environment. Culture is
shared. People in the same society share common behaviors and ways of thinking through
culture. Culture can also be learned and is socially inherited. A person must learn culture from
other people in a society. I identify myself with the bicultural individuals. As stated in Lums
Cultural Awareness chapter, bicultural individuals tend to have a dual commitment to their old
culture and practices and a commitment to the dominant society (Lum, 2011). I fall into this
category, because I still follow many of my traditions, values and speak my native language at
home, but I also have fully adopted to the dominant culture.
As social workers, it is important that we learn about our clients culture, even though if
someone identifies with the same culture as you. It is also important that we educate and
advocate our peers, family, and clients about other important aspects in life. Many people may
have similar cultural background, however not everyones experience, beliefs and values are the
same. As I mentioned above, as I was growing up I was very religious and I was more
conservative in my way of thinking and dressing. However, I have gained more knowledge and a
better understanding in the way I interpret things. It is much more different from when I was
younger. College education has made me become more aware of myself and about my culture.

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References
Lum, D. (2011). Cultural Awareness. In Culturally Competent Practice: A framework for
understanding diverse groups and justice issues (4th ed.) Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Print.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2002). The population of Macedonia according to ethnic groups. Retrieved
from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Republic_of_Macedonia#Nationalit
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