Memories of a working traveller

Keywords: dad’s life story, travel, work

Browsing through my picture gallery on my PC, I stumble upon some scanned photograph of my dad’s early days. I scanned the photo last year, trying to restore its original quality.

Epic grass field photo, Polaroid maybe?

My dad went to Iraq in 1980, mum once told me that he enters the country with student’s visa but end up working in various places. Luckily he was out of Iraq just before the Gulf War. From there he continued working as an underwater welder for a few years in Singapore, before going to Brunei Darussalam,;then he met my mum, and got married in 1985.

Iraq times

The back of my dad’s photo

The message says:

“kapada ibu ku, ini lah anak mu yang jauh dirantau orang”
“yang jauh, Benny Bon 18/5/80 IRAQ”

There are a whole lot of vintage photo we put in a small suitcase, containing memories of my dad, my mum and our early years in Brunei. All of dad’s life stories are recorded in a medium called photograph, the joy, the hardship and the meaning of life itself captured on every photo of him.

Dad still hold the title of “Awesome Life Stories” and I’m proud to have a dad like him.

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it ~ Greg Anderson