I strongly recommend this [World Hijab day] experience.  It truly is humbling. One of the greatest experiences I have had is a hijab last February. I wore it to see how my friend Salma Rah and all the other women feel when they wear their hijab. At first, I was nervous about it. What will it feel like? What happens if I get laughed at? But what I did not expect to get was the anger my mother expressed at my appearance. That single emotion proved the experiment worthwhile. “Why would you wear that? You are Christian?” I told my friend had asked me to wear a hijab to support the women who wear it and are getting abused because they do.

Wearing a Hijab is the easy part, being out in the world and seeing the reaction is the hard part. Honestly, I almost took it off when classmates laughed at me. But I persevered and told them I was supporting my friend and women who wear a hijab on a daily basis that suffer abuse from people who don’t understand. It is a great way to walk in my friend’s shoes.

Thank you for asking me to understand.

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