A Dopa at the Hardware Store

My parents were doing some upgrades around the house asked if I wanted to tag along to the hardware store to look at toilets.  Doesn’t sound like the most exciting outing, but it was.  There standing by the door of Lowes was an older man wearing a dopa, a traditional hand embroidered hat worn by men from my area.  I quickly approached him and his son, with my hand over my heart and a small nod of my head in respect I greeted them in their own language.  Dad said that based on just watching their faces from a distance you could tell they were shocked by the encounter.  They had just come from making holiday visits, hence the formal hat at the hardware store. We chatted for a few minutes although since they were two men it wasn’t appropriate to talk for too long, thankfully I was able to get the phone number of the younger man’s wife before taking my leave. 

A few minutes later my mom mentioned that in another part of the huge warehouse store she had seen a woman wearing one of the traditional dresses, splashed with bright colours.  I headed back that direction, searching each aisle as I went, half way through the store I met the young man from before, who was also searching aisle by aisle for me.  After I had left he had posted a message on social media telling others in the community that he had met a white girl who spoke their language.  One of the others remembered me from years ago at their restaurant.  They encouraged the couple to invite me to a picnic they were planning over the weekend to celebrate the holiday.  This was such an answer to prayer for me to finally be introduced to the diaspora community living right here in my own hometown.