My Mask: The Houston Woman Who Bought Two Camel Masks

Texas Standard is collecting stories from Texans about their masks. Help us keep track of this moment in history by sharing your experiences. Find us on social media or send us a note.

By Laura RiceAugust 10, 2020 1:24 pm, ,

Houstonian Thora Qaddumi has a camel collection — actually an award-winning camel collection. So when it came time to picking a face covering during the COVID-19 pandemic, she knew what she wanted.

“So I Googled camel masks. Well, the first thing that I found were these giant head of camel mask that you could wear for Halloween. But I decided that isn’t exactly what I wanted to wear.”

So I chose the one that I thought was cute, reasonably priced, and it had free shipping. And best of all, there was a really lovely little camel on each side of the stitching. But, unfortunately, the very day that I got my mask, I wore it out and I lost it… But, you know, I said, I’m not going to give up. I’ll just order another one. Well. It was not quite as good as the mask that I had originally got. The seam in the middle of the mask, you know, had a camel each side. But one of the camels had no nose. The nose was cut off and it was floating lower on the other side of the mask. But you know what? I love the camel mask anyway.

photo of Qaddumi's new mask

I’m a person who often just makes a little comment to somebody when I’m shopping or something. And you don’t really feel like doing that when you’re wearing a mask because they can’t really see you.”

I don’t think I will wear it when this is over, but it’ll go with my collection.”

 

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