The youngest participant was 10. The oldest was 67.
Over two days, they joined 19 others at Tropical Inn in Johor Bahru to learn how to make videos—a skill that can help people document their experiences, communicate ideas and tell stories in their own voices.
The course was conducted by Dinesh Kumar, founder of Clipshot Nesh Production, and organised by the Johor Indian Business Association (JIBA). It was open to both JIBA members and non-members.
The participants arrived with different levels of experience. Among them was a wheelchair user who had already begun exploring graphic design and videography.
For JIBA president P. Sivakumar, the broad age range carried a simple message.
“Learning should not be limited by age. Knowledge is power,” he said.
With much of the programme subsidised by JIBA, participants paid only a nominal fee to attend. Community activist Michael Tay sponsored the seats of 10 orphans, enabling them to join the course at no cost.
Tay later shared with me he wanted to support children who may not have the parental guidance that others take for granted.
“When you have friends or parents, even if they criticise you, you feel that somebody cares for you,” he said.
Without that support, young people may have greater freedom to make their own choices, but they may also be more vulnerable to taking the wrong path, he added.
Tay said children growing up without close parental guidance had to be especially strong as they moved forward in life. He hoped the course would remind them of their abilities and give them an opportunity to acquire a useful skill.
Sivakumar thanked Tay for making it possible for the 10 children to participate.
As Malaysia prepared to celebrate its 69th Merdeka, Sivakumar said the occasion should also remind Malaysians of the need for stronger unity among people of all races.
At the close of the course, participants and guests gathered with the Jalur Gemilang for a group photograph. The scene brought together children, working adults and senior participants who had spent two days learning through the same medium.
The event ended with the presentation of a token of appreciation attended by Dinesh, Tay, Sivakumar, JIBA vice-president K. Velammal, event coordinator Mary Victoria Dass and JIBA treasurer A. Segar.
Sivakumar said JIBA was already planning its next learning initiative: a course on podcasting.
The video course may have lasted only two days, but its larger lesson was fitting for Merdeka. Opportunity should not be determined by a person’s age or circumstances, and learning need not stop at any particular stage of life.
From 10 to 67, everyone had something new to learn—and potentially, a story of their own to tell.
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