Meet the Larmours. A British-Irish family consisting of Kirsty, her husband Tommy and their two daughters, Saffy and Indy. Kirsty and her family have lived all around the world for many years and for the past 10 years, they’ve lived in the Middle East. Having visited countries in the Middle East like Syria, Iran and the UAE and experiencing first-hand the true essence of the Middle East and Islam, Kirsty felt the need to share her experiences and photos of the countries targeted by Trump’s travel ban.
A day after President Trump signed the executive order, banning citizens of 6 Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, Kirsty shared a picture of her young daughter with a caption that read, “Here’s my daughter in Syria – does she look terrified??” In an interview published on AJ+ news, Kirsty explained that Syria was one of the first trips her family has taken since they moved to the Middle East. She continued by saying, “I did not encounter a single person there who struck me as evil. All I encountered was people that picked up my baby, bounced her around and sang to her.”
Kirsty expressed that she “felt compelled to share some stories of kindness” given that President Trump is acting like a “big bully” to a certain group of people. She also believes the best way to learn about other cultures is through travel. By seeing the different ways people live allows us to realize “we’re all just the same.” In many of her posts on their family’s Facebook page or personal blog, Kirsty points out that despite the existence of a massive language barrier in most of her encounters with locals from each country, a kind and universal form of communication was always present. In an interview with Huffington Post Kirsty said, “I told of finding ways to communicate when there was no shared language, of grannies kissing my babies, of how the sharing of food symbolizes so much that is similar about humanity, of how a simple hand on a shoulder shows someone cares and of the curiosity of children. I feel that if I don’t share the stories of these people then I am wasting the privilege of having been able to travel and meet them.”
As a young Muslim woman who is from and lives in the Middle East, I understand that so much as the mere mention of “Middle East” or “Islam” may be synonymous to the feelings of discomfort, anxiety and maybe even fear. So seeing someone like Kirsty Larmour, a non-Muslim foreign woman standing up like this for us and sharing her photography and experiences, truly does make me believe in the pure humanity of some people. Sometimes words may not be enough to truly express one’s thoughts but images may be able to do so. So, with that being said, here are some of the beautiful images that the Larmour family decided to share with the world through their Facebook page:
