Syrian refugee saves the day
Newly arrived master tailor averts disaster for Guelph bride by fixing her dress
Just four days after arriving in Canada, a Syrian refugee found himself saving the day for one Ontario bride.
Jo Du was getting ready for her wedding in Guelph when the zipper of her dress broke. Of course there was a tiny bit of panic, but photographer Lindsay Coulter says the women were surprisingly calm.
Du and her now-husband, Earl Lee, had decided to rent a home to house their friends and family visiting from China, where the couple is originally from. No one knew what to do or where to go.
The group began calling dress shops to see what they could do to get it fixed.
“Everyone was speaking Mandarin but I could feel the tension,” Coulter said.
Coulter sent a bridesmaid to a nearby neighbour to see if someone could supply pliers to help fix the snagged zipper tooth. But they did better.
“A very nicely dressed woman in a bridesmaid dress came running up the street, asking for our help,” David Hobson recalled to CTV News.
Hobson, who had just welcomed a family of Syrian refugees from Turkey into his home, knew there was someone who could help.
Ibrahim Halil Dudu happened to have been a master tailor for 28 years in Syria. He arrived with a sewing kit in hand after the group’s attempts failed.
There were two ways to deal with the broken zipper, said Coulter: replace it completely, which there was scant time for, or — “He basically sewed her right into the dress,” she said. “It was like a sigh of relief that, yes, someone is going to fix this.”
There was a lot of gratitude in the room. The bridesmaids and families all bowed to Halil Dudu in thanks.
Du went back to Hobson’s home the next day to thank Halil Dudu once again.
As for Halil Dudu, he was happy to lend a hand.
“I was so excited and so happy (to) help Canadian people, like other people helped (me),” he told CTV through a translator.
Coulter posted photos of the event on her Facebook page and shared her own thoughts on the experience.
“Every weekend I take photos of people on the happiest days of their lives, and today one man who has seen some of the worst things our world has to offer came to the rescue,” she wrote.
“I am so proud to live in Canada, a country that has opened our doors to refugees countless times . . . I’m inspired by the resilience of the Syrian people. We are truly blessed.”