Q&A with Foad Takiedine, Head of Security The Spirit of Community: A Story and Testimony from an IC Mother,

Updates

Rafic Kazan fondly remembers Mr. Dumont Directeur, Mr Anavi Physique, Mr Doubine Philosophie; all wonderful educators from his time at IC.

Spiro Araman: After leaving IC Section Secondaire, in the fall of 1960, Spiro Araman went to AST Perth Scotland to study Aircraft Maintenance and returned in February 1963 to start his professional life at MEA where he stayed till 1976, working respectively in Aircraft Overhaul, Inspection, Systems and Performance and Technical Supplies. In May 1976, he emigrated to Brazil where he had to learn Portuguese. The knowledge of French helped him a lot. Then in early 1977, he started working with Embraer at their Customer Support Dept. He was supporting their aircrafts around the world. This went on till 1982, when he joined Pratt and Whitney Customer Support and later migrated to support their PW Canadian products. This involved a lot of traveling. From 1992 onwards as PWC Regional Manager based in Brazil, he managed their Support Network in South America, and Caribbean till retirement in 2000. Today at 81 years of age, he currently lives in S.J. dos Campos and remembers the good days spent at IC. He shared with us a picture of him and his wife, Tania, who has been his inséparable since 1971.

Antoine Sacy: After 50 years of professional career, Antoin Sacy has decided to devote his time to humanitarian activities. He has done so mainly through a sponsorship of the Lycee Saint Nicolas in Ain El Mir in South Lebanon which has received 250 students, and is now considered as the school of Excellence in the Saida/ Jezzine area. Also included is a social office for the help of people in need that was opened in the school. He has been working on these projects through the SACY Foundation, which he presides in. At the personal level, rehabilitation of Khan SACY in the old city of Saida, which goes back to the period of the Crusaders and the Mamaleek and is now open to the public seven days a week from 9.00 AM to 18H00, with guides available for the visit. Also a lot of time is devoted to the restoration of Kasr SACY above the Khan which has been in the Family since 1796. A visit to the old city of Saida is a must.

‘74

Majd Patou Fathallah has been living and working in Italy as a sculptor for the past 14 years.

This is his website: www.majdsculpture.com

Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is a Kuwaiti diplomat and was recently appointed as the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait. He previously served as ambassador of Kuwait to the United States of America from June 2001 until May 2022. He is married to Lebaneseborn former journalist Sheikha Rima al-Sabah, whom he met in 1983 when both were students in Beirut. They married in 1988 and have four sons.

‘80

Hani Riman has left his work at Najjar for agriculture at the beginning of 2021. Now he is helping his son in his agriculture company, The Green Ranches. They have all kinds of plants plus all kinds of agricultural equipment, fertilizers and pesticides. A 10 percent discount is given to all AUB and IC graduates. As he stated earlier, his daughter has a wedding planner company, The Blue Roses. He says he is missing all our old friends and is ready for any advice on his number, 03706254.

‘84

Khalil Shalabi lives in Austin Texas, and is looking forward to a Christmas visit from his brother Hani, who lives and works in Hong Kong and is an IC class of ’90.

‘98 Updates

growth, corporate success, strategic thinking as well as building a personal brand (through thought leadership and conference presentations) – all of which were achieved by working for great companies and with great talents.

Over the past few years, Hussein has worked with the likes of WPP and Publicis overseeing some of their largest regional clients (such as STC, Vodafone, Nokia, Visa and HSBC) and was fortunate enough to be recognized as a high potential leader by WPP being awarded the renowned ‘WPP Young High Potential Leaders’ Award from Sir Martin Sorrell himself, as well as receiving regional awards from the likes of Gulf Marketing Review, which identified him as one of the 40 top marketing professionals in the region, being voted by the Huffington Post as among the 10 people changing the marcomm landscape in the MENA region, voted as being among the top 200 CX leaders globally to watch in 2021 & 2022, BTX Top Executive Award 2021, BIZZNXT AWARDS 2022, & lately CX Professional of the year 2022.

Hussein also sits on the Advisory Board of CMO Council Middle East, CXPA Middle East Regional Leadership Council, and was an Advisory Director with The Customer Institute for 3 years in a row.

Since working on the agency side, Hussein has transitioned to client side & worked with some fantastic brands, that are crossing the digital and experience divide, in senior leadership roles.

Hussein’s core expertise lies in the Digital Marketing and Tech space, evolving over the years from a pure player marketeer. Starting his career with some of the worlds’ greatest communication companies, prior to joining Deloitte Digital as a Partner for the Advertising, Marketing, CX, & Commerce market offering, Hussein was the GM for Digital & CX Transformation with Nissan Motor Co. for Africa, Middle East, India, Turkey, and Oceania overseeing some of the most dramatic customer transformations the company has had to go through in recent times. His contribution to the organization was recognized by senior leadership and lead him to winning the AMIEO Chairperson Nissan Way Award in July 2021.

Hussein currently resides with his lovely wife in Dubai and will be immigrating to Canada (Toronto) in 2023.

‘11

Lynn Khalife is so thrilled to share that she has finally launched her dream business “A Partir de Soie” which is an online clothing store. It is located in the UAE. However, she provides international shipping, online payments through the website, cash on delivery, return/exchange policy and more! She has been working on this for about 2 years and was finally able to launch in March 2022. The name of the business has a lot of meaning to her, as it actually holds a double meaning. She has attached the “About Us” to give you a little brief! She has already started dealing with many influencers and havehas other big plans ahead! Please feel to check herpage on Instagram : @apartirdesoie

Website: www.apartirdesoieshop.com

She says “thank you for everything IC!”

‘20

Tiffany Saade was featured in last year’s newsletter for her passionate speech at Stanford University on the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. Since then, she has been doing outstanding work and becoming a young leader today. She has been confirmed as a Global Shaper under the World Economic Forum. In her Instagram post announcing the news, she shares that she is so honored to represent Lebanon in this incredible international community of young leaders.

Letters to the Editor

Samir I Toubassy ’58 BBA AUB, MBA, Senior Fellow 2009 & 2010 Harvard University.

Samir had a long career in business. Worked for The Ford Foundation, American University of Beirut( budget and planning director 1967-1976), The Olayan Group 1979- until retirement. Samir published his memoir in 2019. The book Received praise and good reviews.

He shares with us an excerpt from his book:

My Nakba, by Samir Toubassy. Olive Branch Press, 2019. Reviewed by Hannah Sterenberg on January 4, 2022

“On the morning of April 14, 1948, we became a family of refugees, and together as a family we fled to many places, but never back to Jaffa.”

Centering around al-Nakba (the Disaster), as Palestinians call their 1948 displacement from their homeland, Toubassy’s engaging memoir explains how al-Nakba impacted his life. Filled with nostalgia for the Jaffa neighborhood of his childhood, My Nakba serves as a love letter to Middle Eastern culture, testifying to the strong bonds between family and the strength of connection forged by tragedy. The novel follows Toubassy’s life and his successful careers in nonprofit work and global business, intimately detailing his journey from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia, the UK and finally the US. Toubassy seeks faith and meaning after leaving his homeland. Heartfelt details and sincere love for family, friends and country fill the memoir and give glimpses into the life of a refugee trying to make sense of a world marked by suffering. Recommended for anyone interested in learning more about Palestinian history from individual experiences.

Mohammad Tassabehji ’04, PE

When I think back of my time at IC, I can’t separate it from the environment that surrounded us and the campus including the restaurants and stores. I was chatting with Omar Kreideh (2005) during an evening dinner in Boston. He was telling me how excited he was when he stumbled upon a Hardees and how he ordered a Mushroom N’Swiss burger, but that it was not the same as back home. Our friends who were listening in to our conversation were very confused to hear us get excited about an obscure fast food chain. However for us Hardees was where we would go to grab burgers on Friday after school at IC.

I have fond memories of Bliss street on my walk to and from school. This one in particular when my mom asked me to grab some food for guests on my way home. Leaving school my first stop was Snack Faysal, my favorite anytime of the day. It’s started raining in Beirut so the clean crisp air carries the smell of dough, cheese and zaatar superbly. I always took Faysal for granted, I never stopped to look at how unusual their store is, the building they are in is very small, very old and looks like the rest of it is not occupied. The most peculiar thing is an old neon sign for a pizza or Chinese restaurant at the top of the building. But don’t let the outside looks fool you, their man2oushe is second to none in my books. The store is dominated by a counter where the food is garnished and wrapped. This work is obscured by a big glass window behind which are stacked veggies, meat pies, spinach pies and cheese pies. Behind the counter are two bakers busy with the oven. And through a small window you can see a back room where the dough is prepared. I ordered seven cheese pies and seven zaatar pies. I take my receipt from the cashier and hand it to the baker behind the counter. He sticks the receipt on a metal ruler stuck to one of the shelf on the counter. The receipt sits in a line behind a bunch of other orders before mine. As I wait I watch the baker add cucumbers, olives and pickles to the orders before me, he then folds them in half and wraps them several times in parchment paper. While watching the baker he pulls out a pastry I have never seen before. It is a dome shaped pastry filled with cheese and coated in sesame seeds. My order is almost complete but before I leave I ask to taste this new pastry and the baker hands me one and says, “it’s called tarboush jebneh, a cheese fez, just like Abu Abeds fez.” Now I have a snack for the trip back home. It’s even sweeter cause he would not accept payment and it’s on the house.

I carry the bag of mne2esh and walk across the street to the sweet shop, Taj El Moulouk. The store smells of rose water and sugar syrup. The is a long L shaped marble counter with a glass screen that protects all the sweets from the nosy hands of kids and adults. Behind the counter there are around two dozen brass trays lined with all different kinds of sweets. Most of them are baklava variations with different nuts and filling. I ordered 10 kenefehs. Kenefeh is a sweet cheese pie that is topped with a chewy sugar infused crust. Each piece is served inside a crunchy round bread that is dusted with sesame seeds. I grab the sweets and make my way home.

And this is the best part of walking home along bliss street that is full of stores with their own unique histories. I go past the small mosque and the famous hardees. Then I cross the street or alley way that leads up to Jean D’Arc, which in my days hosted network cafes, for the guys to play computer games, they would spend hours at the network. I go past what was the old Socrates restaurant, who’s memory still makes me hungry. And speaking of food, while not on bliss, but the same block just one street up is Marouche, whose chicken, garlic and pickle sandwich was unparalleled. I keep walking and then I go past what was Ben and Jerry and then the Kahwa. The next stretch is all food or books. Malek Al Tawak, the old barber, Substation, then tal3et Uncle Sam’s that includes Universal Snack. The next street is most famous because it sits right across the street from the MainGate. Many stores have come and gone in this street but for me it will always be Abu Naji’s (Epi’Dor) and Malik’s bookshop.

Abu Naji was the name of the store owner, his store had everything students needed. The store was packed with goods, piled way up into the ceiling, I always wondered how they would get to some of those things. I saw them once. They have ladders but also long sticks they use to snag that box of kleenex 4 meters at the top of the shelf. Abu Naji’s most famous item was their coffee, which was instant Nescafe coffee with sweetened condensed milk. If you have never had it, please try it next time you’re in Beirut.

Next there is another Malik’s, a Saj Place, then there is a Bank which is housed in the stretch of old sandstone buildings along bliss. I do recall that this was an old bookstores, one of those really cozy bookstores. You walk in and everything was stacked high, piled ontop of each other, and the store smelled of dust and old paper. They had blue doors and blue steel shutters.

Also with a blue store front and a blue Pepsi sign that houses their store name was National Bakeries, and their man2oushe is also superb. Next door was Bliss House, which was a landmark, not just because of their two stores that sold sweet and savory dishes, but for the parking operation right in front of the store. Always busy and always packed, swing by on a Friday or Saturday evening and you will see a semi valet parking arrangement with people ordering from their cars, double parking, and organized chaos. I always miss the fruit cocktails and the merry cream, soft serve ice cream they had.

I am not sure how many of these places are still around or not, but these shops and their quirks and stores will always be associated with my time at IC.