Tim Carr stood in the back of the events room and watched Batool, a young Indian cancer survivor, give advice to a room full of 50 women in the same battle. The abaya-clad audience was completely entranced in every word she said, as she empowered them to face the tough roads ahead. After the talk, he sat with her a bit to talk about her path. Days later her photo was on Tim’s Facebook page, Kuwait in a 1000 Words, with this quote:

“The thing you need to know about fighting cancer is that as long as you believe you can do it, there will be a day that it will go away. You have to visualize that day every day of your life. Motivate yourself to get there. Do that and it WILL happen.”

The page was started to showcase people like Batool and others in Kuwait to the world. Tim finds interesting characters when he’s at work, during events or even when just walking down the street. The idea came to him when he went home to the United States and realized that despite the rise in globalization, many of his friends still believed the Hollywood image of Arabs living in tents and riding camels. Despite his work in video production for many big names in the Kuwait urban music culture, the image persisted.

“I figured I kept running into all these cool people,” he told bazaar. “So I said screw this I’m going to make a thing that can show everybody I am working with. Then I figured why just show them? Let me show them to everyone. Not just to the people back in the states but I figured everybody else, GCC or whatever.”

The process starts when someone catches Tim’s eye. He’ll approach them and tell them about the project, often times he’s rejected and it takes convincing. One out of ten times people are receptive to the request. Then he’ll throw them off by asking them to tell him something they would never tell another stranger. Usually they balk at the question, but soon warm up to him and tell him intimate stories he never expected. One young girl told him how she felt regret after her father passed away.

“Two days later, my dad died,” said Tim. “I was just like wow. I wasn’t exactly close to my dad, but I thought about what she said and I was like, that makes a lot more sense.”

Each of the people Tim talks to touches him in a special way. So, for this feature article we have turned the tables, to give you his perspective on some of the most compelling people he has met on this incredible journey to show the world Kuwait in a 1000 words.

Tim on Assam Mahammad: “I just wanted to go watch them making the net. So I went and watched them make the net, then I went and got my camera. So the guy’s English was minimal, and I’m still learning Arabic. So it was the most difficult interview I have had. For like such a short answer, but finally we started communicating OK. “

Tim on Batul: “She’s probably the most interesting. Not just because she survived cancer. Not only did she do that, but now she is reaching out and doing programs and helping. So even though she is this little tiny pretty Indian ladies, she’s teaching rich affluent Kuwaitis on how to deal with cancer. They are listening to everything she says.“

Tim on Krishna: “One day I saw this cleaner guy who is really friendly, and I was like I want to hit him up and see what he says. He was open to it. I tend to be easy to talk to I guess. I asked him some questions and he ended up telling me about his family and he was crying and all this stuff. I didn’t want to exploit him, so i waited until he stopped crying to take the picture, but you could see his eyes were red.”

Tim on Mahdi : “You know free runners, the guys who jump buildings. So I knew right away that’s what they were. And I asked them are you guys free runners and they asked how do you know, and I said how do you not know? Only you guys dress like that: sneakers, jogging pants, backpack. Always the same. Even when they are going somewhere nice. They always wear the same outfits.“

Tim on Mohammad: “The Syrian ice cream guy. He was riding 20 kilo a day back and forth and sitting out there in the hot sun in Khiran. They pay rent on the cart, so who knows how much they are making. Sometimes I ask sometimes I don’t.“

Tim on Parwindar: “I have these typical fashionista people, but then i have the garbage man, or the fisherman or whatever. So it’s not like i am doing one type of person. I have people complain that I do too many Kuwaitis. I’ve had people say you don’t do enough Kuwaitis. There is an old saying gin the military, leadership not likership. You are not going to make everyone happy.”

Follow Kuwait in a 1000 Words on Facebook.com/Kuwaitina1000words. For more of Tim’s work follow his YouTube channel or on Instagram @tjcfilms2011 or on Instagram