Ayesha writes "When the Ingham twins stepped off the plane on a flight from their home in Muar, Malaysia, the first thing they asked for was a drink. Four years ago the order might have been for a couple of glasses of alcohol. Today the twins, Sarha and Joanne are hanging out for a glass of Kiwi milk.The change in preferred drinks is not the only thing that’s different about them. Sarha has a gorgeous five month old son Muhammad, Joanne also has a precious 21 month old son called Muhammad.

Sarha and Joanne were excited at coming home to visit their parents but tense about returning to a country that knows them only as the infamous Inghams.“We don’t feel good about the things we did and the trouble we got into, but we’ve grown up a lot and we’re different people now,� said Sarha.The two gained international notoriety as 18 year olds after stowing away on a Malaysian container ship in Nelson after Sarha fell in love with crewman Ja’afar Bin Mohd Zan.They jumped off the ship off the coast of Queensland in February 1997 to survive 18 hours in shark and crocodile infested waters, only to be returned to New Zealand.Sarha and Ja’afar kept in contact. In 1998 both sisters decided to move to Malaysia. A year later Sarha and Ja’afar, and Joanne who had found love with Hanafi Salleh were married on the same day – 9 June 1999.

The twins are still married, and have embraced the Muslim faith with it’s accompanying rule of abstanting from alchol……. The fact that the Inghams fell in love with Muslim men was probably their saving grace. Most of Sarha and Joanne’s problems stemmed from their misuse of alcohol, a fact they openly acknowledge. Both decided to stop drinking for their own good as well as for their adopted religion. They gave up smoking at the same time. “ I won’t ever drink again, I don’t ever want to be like we were. Most of our crimes were done while drinking� said Joanne…..The girls’ parents are also elated that the girls are leading settled and happy lives. “We’re really rapt with the way the girls have turned their lives around.� Says proud dad Bernard..…..“We did some bad things in the past… I think it was good for us to get away from New Zealand for a while and stay in Malaysia…. We’re sorry for the people we have offended in the past and we’d like to tell them so. We hope people will see how much we have changed� said Sarha."