An unlikely trio..

As I went into the little shop under the train tracks in Croissy to get lunch, I sat down and began to talk with the Tunisian woman working named Chédia and the only other customer, a man from Cameroon named Dominique. Chédia took her lunch break and sat down with us to eat. We laughed as we realized that we were quite an unlikely trio: A Muslim Tunisian, a Catholic Cameroonian, and a Mormon American; eating and joking together. Three very different accents, backgrounds, and situations, I think we all enjoyed the perspective. Neither of them had ever heard of a Mormon, much less met one. Chédia told us of the struggle it is to be a practicing Muslim, which she technically isn’t fully or she’d not be allowed to work and would be veiled. She lives with her uncle and is not allowed to date or wear make up, and she said she’s told she’s lucky: most Muslim girls our age go straight from their parents’ home into their spouse’s home without ever having a say in the matter or any life experiences first. Dominique was set up in an arranged marriage with a second cousin, but neither loved the other, so they are married in writing, but live separately as friends. For all three of us French is our second language. Arabic, a tribal dialect, and English being respectively our first. Experiences like this open my eyes wider each time to how diverse the human race is.