The farthest I had ever traveled for school was 8 miles. To me, that felt like forever. I laugh when I think about the naps I used to take in the car on the way to school because “I had so much time.” Now, the distance going home from school is 9,682 miles — that’s a really long nap.
Moving from Kenya to California didn’t just change my travel time, but it also heightened my awareness of my culture and what I had grown up to know.Â
Leaving home was one of the hardest experiences because I realized how much of my culture I truly missed. For much of my life, I grew up in Kenya, where I learned so much about the culture, food, and traditions that are now deeply ingrained in my brain. I am proudly Ethiopian; my house was filled with rich Ethiopian spices, my closet was full of traditional dresses, and my dad never let the house go silent, with his childhood music always playing in the background.
I try so hard to emulate that life here in LA, but I’ve realized how expensive it can be to feel connected to my roots. From food to clothes to travel itself, nothing has come cheap.
Coming to LA, I instantly realized how much I craved Ethiopian food. From Doro Wot to Sambusas, I needed it immediately. This need for cuisine led me to discover Little Ethiopia in LA. I felt like I had struck gold, but I quickly realized how expensive everything was. Ethiopian food in the U.S. has become highly popular, and with the time and effort involved in cooking the food, shipping ingredients from Ethiopia, and the LA tax, prices were unbearable.
As someone who has always had these dishes easily accessible to me, this was definitely a shock. My heart wants me to buy the food, but my brain reminds me that I am a college student — I realistically knew this was a luxury I had to give up from time to time.Â
As someone who doesn’t have a car and doesn’t plan to drive in California, one of my biggest expenses has been getting to different places. There are always cool events featuring different East African musicians, pop-ups, and even places to shop for traditional dresses or food. The biggest issue is that many of these places are in the outer area of LA, so it can take a good 40 minutes to get Kenyan food or an entire hour to see an East African artist perform. As much as I want to do it all, I simply don’t have enough money for Uber rides to everything.
Although LA has made accessing my culture more difficult and expensive, it has also taught me to find culture in the community around me. Joining UCLA’s East African Association helped me blend my two worlds into one. I was able to perform at a cultural show, bond with people from a similar background, and feel like a part of a community that was so similar to that of my upbringing.
Even though I still can’t afford to get Ethiopian food all the time, I was able to find my culture in the small pockets of community around me.Â