Malaysian Netizens Reunite Couple With Precious Photos

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Meigo Märk, a self-described “traveller of the world” from Estonia, made headlines in Malaysia back in 2017, when he walked 2,408km around the entire peninsula on foot. 
What wasn’t publicised at the time was a small find he made on his travels, that has recently developed into a heart-warming tale of Malaysians’ willingness to help others, and hands across the sea.
It began when Meigo was on one of his favourite parts of the journey - walking through a dense and beautiful forest in a remote area of the Perhentian Islands.
“It was a very thick forest without a road and many bushes. I just looked at the GPS map and wanted to make a shortcut through the forest,” Meigo said, adding that he was therefore very surprised to find a camera nestled in the undergrowth.
“The camera had a lot of water damage inside, but after drying it in the sun for many hours, it suddenly started to operate for a bit. I could see that the menu was set to French, so I suspected it might have belonged to some French tourists.”
Miraculously, Meigo was able to view some of the photos on the camera and checked with a nearby hotel that he had recognised from one shot.

Meigo Mark

Unfortunately, no one at the hotel could identify the tourists. Other enquiries in the locality also drew blanks.
Following his epic walk, Meigo took the camera to a Sony Centre to see if it could be salvaged.
The camera itself was beyond repair, but the SD card was still functioning, and it was from there that Meigo was able to download and save the 1,912 photos of a young couple’s Malaysian holiday.
After that, Meigo almost forgot about the camera and its contents. However, a few days ago, it occurred to him that it might be possible to trace the couple using social media. He hoped the dates on the photographs would help to give clues.
“Every now and then I would think about how that couple had lost their irreplaceable mementoes. For me, as a traveller who has precious memories of so many people and places, I would rather lose all my money than my photos. Cameras can be replaced, but the pictures have a sentimental value that is priceless.”
Meigo’s feelings were understood by many. He posted some of the photos on Facebook, asking people to share them with any French-speaking friends they knew.
The response was instantaneous. Messages flooded in from all over Malaysia as hundreds shared the post, rallying to locate the couple by tagging their friends and international contacts.
They also suggested methods to find the couple, such as contacting Sony France about the camera’s warranty and checking if the couple went to China, where advanced facial recognition technology might have identified them.
Others offered to revisit the Perhentian hotels and spread the word around the islands.
After only 10 hours, the posting had about 1,000 shares, and the pieces of the puzzle started falling into place. A Penangite had noticed the aprons the couple wore in one of their pictures and brought them to Meigo’s attention.






Nazlina Hussin

The aprons were from Nazlina Spice Station, where Nazlina Hussin gave her speciality Malaysian cooking classes in Penang. Although Nazlina has had to stop her classes during the pandemic, she still gives lessons online. Therefore, Meigo was able to message Nazlina via her Facebook page, and she was delighted to help.
“When I got Meigo’s message, I immediately looked up my records from 2017. I keep all my students’ email addresses, as I send them recipes. Checking under the photo’s date, I saw I had six students that day. One of them had a French email address, so I gave it to Meigo with his name, ‘Anthony’,” she said.
Nazlina even remembered the couple herself.
“I recall they had travelled a long way and were quite tired after my class. They were giving each other shiatsu massages. I was so happy to help reunite them with their photos. A few times I have lost things, such as my laptop and my ID card, and kind people have returned them to me. This time, I could pay it forward.”

Anthony and Julie

Meigo immediately wrote to Anthony, asking if he had lost a camera in Malaysia in 2017.
“Anthony was extremely happy. He and his partner Julie thought they would never see their photos after all these years. I uploaded them onto Google Photo in high quality. It felt super-good to find them and return their pictures, and it’s been really cool how people in Malaysia and internationally responded to make this happen.”
Certainly, in these times where we all seem so far apart, it is encouraging to know that someone can reach out for help, and complete strangers will readily respond to bring people together, and create new friendships, internationally. - Mkini

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