Over the Edge: November 2011

“Mummm…, Hurry up it’s your turn”, he shouted, storming into the kitchen and scaring me to death.
How come it’s my turn? Have I been daydreaming for that long?
Hell yes. It’s 10.30 already. But who cares; I’m the happiest person on earth today seeing my little kid turn one year old.
Yes only one year old and look at him: already walking and talking, being listened to and claimed to be inspiring, having loads and loads of friends and fans- as young as 6 and as old and 60- whose lives have been deeply touched and drastically changed by him,
a celebrity whose name has been on the news and TV channels and most of all; the turning point that made me find my purpose in life, find my real self and get to know the true me on top of brining me closer to the most amazing people alive!!
“Alrighty .. Here I come”!!!
I grabbed his hands and walked towards the garden where everyone has been sitting in extreme excitement listening to all those inspiring speeches.
Wowww, I thought. I wish I had a couple more minutes to recall the story right from the start, from the moment I decided to follow my intuition and up till today. But it’s ok: I still have all the time in the world to do that!!
He handed me the microphone and moved away, but I pulled him back; asked him to keep his hands in mine till I finish what I had to say:

Dear All;

“I’d first like to warn you from getting all emotional seeing my tears coz they are on their way here. Yes, believe it or not: for the first time in my entire life I’ll be crying in public. If you are one of those people who think I am tough, strong, and logical; you’ll have to think twice. Being around children has deeply touched me.
Now let me hand out my little Thank you notes to those who have been there for me at the beginning but I never got to show how much I appreciate that till now:

My Kid
I can’t quite express how proud and grateful I am to you. You came to end my life as I know it and begin a new chapter that’s all about passion and inspiration, turning everything upside down and transforming me into a completely different person from who I’ve been one year back: and I mean it: COMPLETELY.
I’ve become more of the person I was born to be than the one that has been shaped according to the surroundings: and guess what; I haven’t been happier in my entire life.
It’s funny how I thought you were the arm to helping and enabling others, but the truth was that you were the hand that god handed me to lift me up to the top of the world and I can’t ever be more grateful. I’ve always read this quote that said:” The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”, yet thought it was a bit overrated. But for a couple of months now, it hasn’t left my bedroom: always written on my whiteboard to remind me of my personal mission.
Before you came to life I was a hybrid Tele-Medical Engineer, an injury-prone yet not so bad Basketball Player, a travel freak with constantly itchy feet and a cold-hearted person who loved keeping no strings attached and whose ultimate dream was to travel the world SOLO.
But guess what now: you have no idea how much you’ve changed me. Apart from the obvious “ which is quitting my job”, I became really emotional and probably a bit more human “given that my brother used to call me a ROBOT”, simply because every baby step you took meant the world to me and made me cry. You even helped me get over my commitment freaky issues and look forward to being a real mum someday. Besides, I’ve become more attached to my country and my travel plans have been put on hold: and for me that’s HUGE.
You were the reason I got close to the most amazing and like-minded people on the planet, who believed in you and saw your potential way before I did, before you even had a name and who had an amazing impact on my life.
I Love You.. You are the best thing that ever happened to me!!!

Maria Papaconstantinou
You were the first person I shared my experience with a couple of hours after I got the idea, and I’m so happy I still have this message.
You were amazingly positive and supportive even though you were continents away and had only met me a few times.
I always remember that day we were having dinner and speaking about “3 cups of tea”; dreaming about that day we will build a school in Egypt. And tell you what: I think it will happen way sooner than we thought.
Can’t wait till you join us here and get to see everything yourself.

Patrick Whelan, Fatma El Sanhoury, Eman El Gammal
You guys joined me on my very first visits, which had no specific purpose. Agreed to wake up early over weekends, go to crappy and stinky places just because you believed in what I was planning to do, before I had even done it, were constantly supporting and encouraging me and that has really meant a lot.

Susan Jamus
You probably had the most interesting contribution: joined me on my very first visit, got people on board before there was anything concrete and most of all: gave me the key to start this out in an area that needed it.
The day you called to give me that woman’s phone number end of August then my visit to her were the real start of Educate-ME.
Can’t wait till you come and see everything yourself.

Mohamed El-Haw
“It’s about time you start thinking BIG and I’m there to help you. I already see that day when the kids will be in the Opera House performing on Stage!!”
Even though I though you were overreacting, yet believe it or not: that was IT… I still remember how much I was resisting your idea of this thing getting all so big and involving more entities, until that day in Alcatel-Lucent that changed the course of my life, after your amazing effort to involve the employees with fundraising for the project and seeing the impact it had on them.
That’s the moment I’ll always remember and now I’m sure the Opera day is very close. Hope you know how much this project owes you.

Amr El Salanekly
I’m probably too lucky I got to know you more because of Educate-Me. You offered to help me with a PLAN OF ATTACK “ which you haven’t finished till now :P” while hardly knowing anything about the project. Every time you would pitch it in anywhere it truly made a difference to me. Plus, your Ashoka chance put us on track before we even knew it.

Mohamed Raef
Like I always say; you are an amazing artist but you probably don’t know it yet. You’ve always had this deep and unique contribution that’s totally heartfelt and impactful. When something touches you and you reflect on it with your poetry it gives you an opportunity to change the world, and I mean it. Your poetry is your magic stick that can change lives.
Besides, you have no idea how powerful your spontaneous, hilarious and childish attitude is so keep that up!!

My Family
I’ve been probably not making any sense to you from the day I was born; always taking the road less travelled and doing things my way: yet you’ve always supported me and never tried to prove me wrong even if I was.
You never thought that Basketball is a waste of time, Travelling is unethical, Engineering is heaven and Community Service is Money. Stood next to me against the whole world when I took my decision to quit my job and that made all the difference in my life.
It feels so great when I’m coming back home all worn out and tired, sometimes down and demotivated then you told me how proud you are of what I’m doing.

Finally, a Big THANK YOU to every single person who took part in that no matter how small his contribution was: You never know how much impact you had on my life!!

Thank You :) ”