While on my way to work, I happened to find myself a nice spot to park my SUV at Shubie Park trail head in Port Wallis, Dartmouth Nova Scotia.
I noticed a family pulled up in an SUV and prepare a BBQ in the ones provided by the municipality. With a fire ban currently on best to use them.
The father was going around through the tree line gathering up wood on the ground to burn. I got out and told him that seemed to be a good idea. He replied that he didn't speak English well.
So I took out my phone and Google translated into Arabic asking if they were Syrian. To my surprise, they responded that they were Afgans, to which I switched to the only Pashtun I knew asking if they were Urdu or Pashtun, they replied Dari, which I remembered was another group, to which I quickly researched were Persians.
I was wearing my Luftwaffen cap and a camoflauged sweater so I explained that I wasn't a soldier but my father was via the translation app. They asked where my father served which I said Canada, but I replied that my friends had served in Afganistan.
So I wished them well and went back to my book. A while later, the teenaged son came over with a plate of food. Dari styled chicken in a pita with tomatoes and an orange juice. I went into my kit and brought them some tea which the daughter and mother understood.
So I've seen first hand how those who served in that conflict has made such an impression that they chose to come here and that a sense of kindness and genuine warmth.
To those who read this and have served there know that what you did there made a difference and that at least one family was able to have a BBQ in a peaceful city park in Canada
