The Kids of Malaysia

The Kids of Malaysia

In over regulated Queensland where we live, you can get into trouble with the law if you take pictures of kids other than your own. It is absurd to the point where parents are not allowed to take pictures of their kids participating in sporting events or school concerts because in the process they will be taking pictures of other kids as well and they do not have the consent of the parents of these other kids. Australia is a relatively free, relaxed secular country so if this is the situation at home, I decided that I will not even dare pointing a camera at a kid in a Moslem country.

Well, on day one in Kuala Lumpur, the kids turned that around by approaching us - they wanted to have their pictures taken with us! We agreed and for the next few minutes whith cameras clicking away, we posed alongside exuberant young smiling faces while making peace signs and "L" for "Love" signs. That offered me the opportunity to also take pictures of them.

These two chaps were some distance away, saw what what was happening, came running over and said "me too please".

Within that single day, this repeated over and over again! These kids were much friendlier and open than the stiff upper lips here in Queensland. They changed my mind about Moslems!

Same thing happened at the puter factory:

How could you not love them or harm them?

In Melaka, Ellie and I split up by no more than 100 meters and were independently approached by university students doing a survey. Hearing that Ellie taught foreign students at university, there was an immediate rapport between them.

I thought the group talking to me must be doing a course in Marketing but they said they were doing a degree in IT. Another match! They were happy to hear I was a computer programmer and I told them what sort of things we do in my business. They happily nodded their heads in confirmation that these were the sort of things they were learning at university.