“My daughter and her Yale schoolmates went to an orphanage as volunteers. The first two days were great. On the third day the police came and said they could not work there. My daughter and her schoolmates said, ‘No, we are not working here. We are volunteers. No one gives us money.’ For three days the police were there. Some started chatting with the volunteers and said you should register you know. The volunteers were happy and said, ‘Great! We could do that’. But the police then said ‘No, no, no, you can’t register.’ Any way the volunteers had to leave in three days.”
The explanation here is that we need to know whether the policeman expressed his personal opinion or an authoritative request. It’s pretty clear that the policeman said “you should register”at a moment of empathy. It is always wise to comply with the authority.
What the policeman suggested was also about right procedure and timing. He was saying that It was wrong for these students to come without any prior approval from the government. Now it was too late.
How long would have the government approved if they had registered beforehand? Not very long I think. Maybe it was just 5 days.