I'd be writing about the big change that i've mentioned but something more interesting happened today and i'll blog about that instead.
Today i went to Malaysia High Commission here at Wellington to report and process the lost of my passport. The appointment was at 10:15am and we reached there at around 9:30am (my mom went with me). The process was smooth and the officer was actually very friendly and helpful. She told me that i should follow up with Putrajaya after three months and this would expedite the processing of my replacement passport.
What i wanna relate today isn't about the process of replacing my lost passport but my encounter at the High Commission.
There was no security guard at the gate to the High Comment building. To enter the High Comm, we just needed to press the buzzer and the receptionist in the High Comm (whom we could not see from outside) would just open the auto-gate for us (without even asking who we were and the purpose of visit). I was quite surprised at how lax the security is for an embassy.
We walked into the High Comm building and was greeted by the receptionist. I told her about my appointment and purpose of visit. She then handed a 40-page form to me and told me to fill it out in the waiting lounge.
After we went into the waiting lounge, we saw a young guy there filling out a form as well. Seeing that he is also fellow Malaysian, I greeted him and we started chatting about why we were there. It turned out that he had also lost all his identification and his appointment was just 15 minutes after mine.
This guy's experience was actually even more unfortunate than mine. He is back-packing in New Zealand on a working holiday visa and has been in the country for about 8 months. His visa will expire on 12-Jan and he will be leaving NZ for Australia to continue his holiday in another country. He has almost toured the entire NZ and worked in various odd jobs such as picking berries, working at construction sites, etc. He would hitch-hike from a place to another and had gotten to know a lot of new friends of different nationalities.
Then a few days ago, he was hitch-hiking again and was picked up by a Maori guy. After he arrived at the destination, he got down from the passenger seat and was about to get his backpack from the car boot, the driver just drove off with his backpack and left him stranded by the road side. All his stuff, including his passport, wallet, laptop and DSLR (with all the photos of his entire trip) were in the backpack.
The car behind, whose driver was also a Maori guy, saw what happened and stopped to help him. He called the police and waited for about 20 minutes for the police to arrive. The police took his report and also arranged him to stay at a police staff's place because he had lost all his cash as well. Fortunately he still has some money in the bank but he has lost his bank card and would have to withdraw money from the bank in person. He could only do that tomorrow because 1st and 2nd January are public holidays here. The police staff was very kind and gave him some money to travel to the Malaysia High Comm at Wellington (by bus) today. They also gave him some clothes since he lost EVERYTHING.
While we were chatting with this guy, a young couple came in to the waiting lounge and greeted us as well. These young couple graduated from the universities in Auckland and had come to the High Comm to apply for the certificate of good conduct for work visa application. We again told the stories and agreed that it was a very rare chance that a few Malaysians would meet at this foreign land and hence we should all have lunch together and also exchange contacts to keep in touch with each other.
Since i was the only one with a car, i drove everyone back to downtown and had lunch together. After that, the young couple wanna get back to the airport to check if they could change their flight to an earlier one since they already got the documents they needed. As for the backpacking guy, he would have to return to the High Comm to get a temporary single-trip travel document that would allow him to return to Malaysia. I sent all of them to respective places after lunch.
The backpacking guy was staying at a shabby backpacker's inn and is running short on his fund. He had made friends with the young couple and will be visiting and staying at their place in Auckland until he leaves NZ. He would be staying in Wellington for another day or two to settle the rest of the processing, such as visiting Immigration NZ to report his loss of work visa (which is something i'd have to do tomorrow as well).
Seeing that he was in a rather difficult state, i offered him to stay over at my place but he would have to sleep in the living room of my small studio apartment. I do not have extra mattress or sleeping bag and so he could either sleep on the sofa or on the carpeted floor. However, he said that is actually a lot better than staying at that dirty and smelly backpacker's inn.
So for the first time in my life, i did something that was very unusual for my cold personality - I actually allowed a person whom i've only known for a short while to put up at my place in his time of need.
Ironically, before i left for NZ, our group of friends had a gathering and we talked about how LF would arrange her backpacking friend to stay over at her other friends' places when her backpacking friend was visiting the different states in Malaysia. I said that i doubt i would do the same arrangement for my backpacking friend because i am the kind of person who does not like to trouble other people (i.e. the other friends who need to provide accommodation for someone they do not know) and also do not like to be imposed on as well.
Yet, this time, i did something that is so out of the ordinary, and it is just the second day of a brand new year! And this year's theme isn't even about change!
When the guy said he is really grateful for my help, I told him that all I want from him is to do the same in future for another person who is in similar trouble like him. And really, I seriously meant every word I said. I put myself in his shoe and thought that how awful I would have felt and how much I would have hoped for assistance from other people (just like when I lost my stuff and felt helpless at that point of time). I also remember all the kind gestures from all the people around me such as my bosses, and know that we are to pass the blessings on to others.
I hope all of us will always remember this and put it into action.
"Do to others as you would have them do to you." ~ Luke 6:31
(In case you are wondering, I would of course not invite a stranger to stay at my place if my mom isn't here and I'm all alone. I'd probably help the person by lending some cash or ask if my colleagues can let him stay over.
And also in case you are having funny thoughts, this guy is 12 years younger than me and I do not have any fancy thoughts in helping him. )
Labels: life
