The End of a Chapter...Tom Gara has left the House...
Was at the airport this morning with Aly and Soad to see someone off...
This someone was Tom Gara... our NCP...
For the first time ever did I have tears welling up in my eyes for someone traveling away...I looked at Aly and could see his tears as well...
Why did we have tears for Tom leaving?
Well, because we had what we may call some of of the best days ever because of Tom...we had the good days of fun and the bad days when we stood together to make sure that even if shit happened that AIESEC in Egypt would go on being strong and sustainable...
Some moments I will never forget, will probably mean nothing to you but they definitely mean loads to us:
At the airport again...Tom walks out to be greeted by a couple of AAST Cairo guys who start fighting infront of him scaring his wits out...Tom was shaking so they stopped and told him that they were playing a prank on him...but then again the big white guy did not stop shaking and asked for a cigarette...Too intense for his first Middle Eastern experience...
Tom running after Sanaa trying to touch her and take away her "Arab female innocence" (note: sarcasm)...she swearing in her Moroccan English accent "Fuck you...Tawm"...
NLDS when we had our first conference as a team of 3 people, a team that only had a few days to put together the biggest national conference of the year...a conference that in the end turned to be one of the best ever...Once the conference was announced closed by the chair...we hugged all three of us...a hug I will never forget...a hug of friendship, trust, respect and shared reality...
Numerous phone calls with Tom calling and asking me to talk to the random guy who knocked on the office door and who does not speak a word on English (Tom did not manage to learn that much of the Arabic language either)...will never forget when he called me to tell me to talk to, in his words, "the peasant in the suit"...
Our numerous calls to arrange for a lunch date at Maroosh for a shawerma and a shisha...or the nights out in Limousine...The High school Banddar in the very beginning of the term, we decided that we will not go there as often coz we cant stand the CAC kids infesting the place...our first experience in seeing a shisha getting broken at Le Café... Or him taking us to Tornado's to try out this kick ass shisha that he discovered with Trent, and then we would start pointing out who was a Gulf Arab and who was obviously a prostitute...
IPM, MIS, NATCO, MENA meeting, Ballah, Sharm, NPM, Chili's, Khan Khalili, Maadi, Java....All places that remind us of the great guy who was our boss...
Tom wasnt just someone we had fun time with but he was someone we learned out of...he was someone who always made us feel like we can do anything and everything...he always believed in us...in me...if not for him, I wouldnt have been where I am now..leading AIESEC in Egypt and so many initiatives...
An important and beautiful chapter in our lives and in the history of AIESEC Egypt has ended...Tom Gara has left the Egyptian House...he heads to the International one...representing Australia, Ireland and definitely us in Egypt...
Tom Gara... Thank you...you have changed our lives!!! The void you leave behind will definitely not be filled by anyone else...its too big of a void physically ;) and in every other way...
I dont think I am that good on being emotional using words so simply...
Tom... You have left the house but not the hearts...
Tom...
Shokran...
(P.S. As usual Tom was about to lose his phone when he left it at the metal detectors and walked away...we all just cracked up...If he makes you cry and laugh at the same time then he is Tom Gara...)
This someone was Tom Gara... our NCP...
For the first time ever did I have tears welling up in my eyes for someone traveling away...I looked at Aly and could see his tears as well...
Why did we have tears for Tom leaving?
Well, because we had what we may call some of of the best days ever because of Tom...we had the good days of fun and the bad days when we stood together to make sure that even if shit happened that AIESEC in Egypt would go on being strong and sustainable...
Some moments I will never forget, will probably mean nothing to you but they definitely mean loads to us:
At the airport again...Tom walks out to be greeted by a couple of AAST Cairo guys who start fighting infront of him scaring his wits out...Tom was shaking so they stopped and told him that they were playing a prank on him...but then again the big white guy did not stop shaking and asked for a cigarette...Too intense for his first Middle Eastern experience...
Tom running after Sanaa trying to touch her and take away her "Arab female innocence" (note: sarcasm)...she swearing in her Moroccan English accent "Fuck you...Tawm"...
NLDS when we had our first conference as a team of 3 people, a team that only had a few days to put together the biggest national conference of the year...a conference that in the end turned to be one of the best ever...Once the conference was announced closed by the chair...we hugged all three of us...a hug I will never forget...a hug of friendship, trust, respect and shared reality...
Numerous phone calls with Tom calling and asking me to talk to the random guy who knocked on the office door and who does not speak a word on English (Tom did not manage to learn that much of the Arabic language either)...will never forget when he called me to tell me to talk to, in his words, "the peasant in the suit"...
Our numerous calls to arrange for a lunch date at Maroosh for a shawerma and a shisha...or the nights out in Limousine...The High school Banddar in the very beginning of the term, we decided that we will not go there as often coz we cant stand the CAC kids infesting the place...our first experience in seeing a shisha getting broken at Le Café... Or him taking us to Tornado's to try out this kick ass shisha that he discovered with Trent, and then we would start pointing out who was a Gulf Arab and who was obviously a prostitute...
IPM, MIS, NATCO, MENA meeting, Ballah, Sharm, NPM, Chili's, Khan Khalili, Maadi, Java....All places that remind us of the great guy who was our boss...
Tom wasnt just someone we had fun time with but he was someone we learned out of...he was someone who always made us feel like we can do anything and everything...he always believed in us...in me...if not for him, I wouldnt have been where I am now..leading AIESEC in Egypt and so many initiatives...
An important and beautiful chapter in our lives and in the history of AIESEC Egypt has ended...Tom Gara has left the Egyptian House...he heads to the International one...representing Australia, Ireland and definitely us in Egypt...
Tom Gara... Thank you...you have changed our lives!!! The void you leave behind will definitely not be filled by anyone else...its too big of a void physically ;) and in every other way...
I dont think I am that good on being emotional using words so simply...
Tom... You have left the house but not the hearts...
Tom...
Shokran...
(P.S. As usual Tom was about to lose his phone when he left it at the metal detectors and walked away...we all just cracked up...If he makes you cry and laugh at the same time then he is Tom Gara...)
posted by Tamer at
4:03 PM
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