I’m a boy who is from Bangladesh. When my father was 5 years old my grandfather bought dad a topi for the first time in his life. Topi is something Muslim men wear during prayer time just to cover the hair. Topi is also known as Taqiyah. My dad got really happy and excited to see himself wearing the topi. And as soon as my grandfather gave them the topi my grandfather told my dad to promise him something and which was to pray five times a day every day in a week. After 2 years, one day he went to play with his friends, and his prayer dad missed, and my grandfather found out later at night, and he kept him outside of the house, and my grandfather didn’t let him get into the house the whole night. He was 7 years old when he learned his life lesson and from that day his praying journey started. My dad takes that topi as a blessing from God, and he wears it to pray when something extraordinary happens to his life. In 2017 when we were coming to the United States we told my dad to leave the topi in my country, but you never agree with us. In the United States, the topi is something that we have in our house that is meaningful to us. It’s really important because it has memories of my grandfather and whenever I saw the topi in our closet, I told myself to pray.

– K.M.U

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant