Recently, I had the opportunity to be a guest on Lucie’s Inspiring Stories, where we talked about my journey from India to the UK and eventually to Canada, identity, belonging, and the story behind Voices Across Borders: Becoming Here. After the conversation, I found myself thinking about one particular phrase. Becoming here. I like those two words because they describe something that arriving never quite captures. You can arrive in a country on a particular day, but becoming part of that place takes much longer. For me, it happened through all the small, everyday experiences that followed. It was learning how things worked in a new country, building friendships, navigating work and family life, figuring out where I fit, and gradually becoming comfortable with a life that was very different from the one I had known before. There was never one moment when I suddenly thought, “I belong here.” It happened slowly. Becoming here does not mean leaving everything behind One thing I have come to understand over the years is that moving to another country does not mean we have to leave our old identity behind. I can be connected to India and still feel at home in Canada. I can celebrate the festivals I grew up with, cook the food I know from childhood, share stories and traditions with my children, and still embrace the life we have created here. I do not have to choose one over the other. In fact, I don’t think identity works that way. When we move, we don’t become an entirely different person. We bring our experiences, memories, habits, values and traditions with us. Then, as life unfolds, we add new experiences, relationships and perspectives. We keep adding to who we are. That idea has become very meaningful to me. I see it in my children too As a mother, I have become even more aware of what it means to carry culture forward. I want my children to know where their traditions come from. I want them to understand the stories, celebrations and values that were part of my childhood. At the same time, I don’t expect them to experience those things exactly as I did. They are growing up in a different place and a different time. So we find our own way of bringing those traditions into our lives. Sometimes it is through food. Sometimes it is through festivals. Sometimes it is through stories. For me, preserving culture isn’t about keeping children in the past. It is about giving them the opportunity to know their roots while allowing them to grow into their own identity. Perhaps that is another form of becoming here. Why immigrant stories matter to me This is also why Voices Across Borders became more than just an anthology idea for me. When we talk about immigration, we often hear about numbers. How many people arrived? Where did they come from? How many applications were submitted? What contribution do immigrants make to the economy? Those conversations are important, but they leave out so much of the human experience. They don’t tell us what it feels like to start again. They don’t tell us about leaving behind family and familiar surroundings. They don’t tell us about finding your first job, building new friendships, raising children between cultures, learning new ways of doing things, or figuring out where home now fits into your understanding of yourself. Most importantly, they don’t tell us how people actually feel as they navigate all of this. That is where stories come in. Stories give us the human part of immigration. They give us the uncertainty, the excitement, the loneliness, the resilience, the humour, the sacrifices and the unexpected moments of joy. They remind us that behind every statistic is a person. Fifteen women, fifteen different journeys When I decided to create Voices Across Borders: Becoming Here, I did not want to create a book that presented one definition of the immigrant experience. There isn’t one. The women whose stories are part of this anthology have different backgrounds, different reasons for moving, different experiences and very different paths to belonging. Some found their footing quickly. For others, it took much longer. Some felt caught between cultures. Some discovered that they could comfortably carry more than one culture with them. Some journeys were shaped by opportunity. Others involved sacrifice, uncertainty or circumstances they never expected. But as different as these stories are, there are common threads running through them. There is the desire to belong. There is the challenge of building something new while carrying pieces of the past. There is the question of identity and how it changes over time. There is the quiet work of creating a home. And there is resilience. Not always the dramatic kind that makes headlines, but the everyday resilience that allows someone to keep moving forward when everything around them is unfamiliar. Now the stories are moving beyond the book This week also marks the beginning of another part of the Voices Across Borders journey. The Voices Across Borders Podcast has launched, and I will be having conversations with the women featured in the anthology over the coming months. I want readers to have the opportunity to hear not just what these women wrote, but who they are, what shaped them and what they have learned along the way. The first episode has already gone live, and there will be 14 conversations, one with each contributor. This conversation with Lucy was a little different because, this time, I was the one being interviewed. Usually, I am the person asking the questions. This time, I had the opportunity to step back and talk about my own journey and why this project matters so much to me. It was a useful reminder that I am not separate from the stories I am curating. I have my own story of becoming here too. Maybe belonging is not about choosing The older I get, the less I think belonging is about choosing one place, culture or identity over another. Perhaps belonging is about becoming comfortable with all the different pieces of ourselves. Some parts come from where we were born. Some come from where we live now. Some come from the people we meet. Some come from the experiences that change us. And some come from the choices we make about what we want to carry forward. We don’t have to erase one part to make room for another. We can keep adding. That is what becoming here means to me. And that is what I hope Voices Across Borders will continue to explore through the stories of the women who have trusted me with their experiences. Help us keep these stories moving Thank you so much for supporting this project. It truly means a lot to me. Voices Across Borders is a passion project, and I am committed to making sure contributors never have to pay to share their stories. There are, however, many behind-the-scenes costs involved in editing, publishing, marketing and producing the podcast and other content that helps us give these stories a wider platform. There are several ways you can support the project: Donate:https://gofund.me/67b7d0691 Purchase the book:https://www.amazon.com/Voices-Across-Borders-Becoming-Here-ebook/dp/B0HHJYLP1F Become an early reader:https://forms.gle/YyRvinsrNNkopd567 Every donation, purchase and share genuinely helps. Thank you for believing in these stories, supporting the women behind them, and helping us bring their voices across borders. ❤️ Watch the conversation I have also shared the full conversation with Lucy as a special Voices Across Borders episode. This time, instead of interviewing one of the contributors, I am sharing the story behind the anthology and a little more of my own journey of becoming here. Get full access to The Wonder Story Room at thewonderstoryroom.substack.com/subscribe
