It’s true— I’m scared of kids. The last time I had to deal with kids was when I was in Sydney working as an English teacher. On my first day with the new class, I walked into a classroom of silent and perfectly behaved Korean children. The next, they were jumping on the tables screaming like wild animals.

When I signed myself up to do a photo project working with kids in Athens, I slapped myself in disbelief. What the hell am I doing? Still, having made a brief visit to City Plaza, I decided to bite the bullet. There was a unique energy inside the hotel which I wanted to experience more of. The residents of Plaza smiled and looked me in the eye. There were old Afghan men sitting next to young European women in the hotel bar. I could hear laughter drifting down the corridors, as well as a smattering of different languages.

I’d heard about refugees in Australia, where I grew up. I saw horrific images of people in rickety boats hundreds of miles off the shores of the country. Later I would see images of people fleeing from the war in Syria, on small boats headed to Lesvos. It’s easy to stop identifying with people who seem to be overwhelmed by suffering. What we don’t see when we look at an image of large group of people in a miserable state, is that they are actually just like us in many ways.

The people I met at Plaza were not just refugees. They were all individuals, with their own stories, distinct senses of humour and ways of being. Although we couldn’t always communicate through a common language, there was always sign language and drawings.

The kids especially turned out to be some of the coolest and most resourceful and intelligent people I’ve ever met. They were hungry to learn, and picked up everything we taught them fast.

In the end, they also taught me something about photography. Blessed with the “beginners eye” and totally unbounded by the conventions of composition or technique that seem to effect most adults, they took some amazing photos (many of them beautiful accidents). They inspired me to take more photos and to try and look at the world with fresh eyes. And they taught me that kids aren’t really that scary at the end of the day. They’re just smart and don’t like to listen to bullshit. It’s for these things that I will be eternally thankful.