Ms. Anna Halpine arrived to Beirut on Wednesday and we have since been busy meeting with various people and getting ready for our big launching.
Yesterday, our day began when we picked up a jet-lagged Ms. Halpine from what was supposed to be the hotel she stayed in. Cedric found however, that Ms. Halpine was waiting for us at the nearby café, having been awake since 4:00 am, searching in vain for a place that serves real Turkish coffee. Having failed in her mission, we promised Ms. Anna that we would make sure she had her taste of real coffee soon.
A few hours later, after a few bumps with the Lebanese potholes and loud taxi drivers, we made it to the press conference we were holding at the Lebanese Press Syndicate, where Ms. Halpine along with our regional director Cedric Choukeir and our President Mr. Habib Malik spoke about the arrival of the World Youth Alliance to the Middle East, our mission and our upcoming plans.
As luck would have it, right after the conference, we were invited for coffee by the head of the press syndicate at his office. We enjoyed an hour of excellent Turkish (which around here we call “Lebanese”) coffee and stories from Mr. Baalbaki’s youth, circa 1948.
We’re looking forward for the next few days with Ms. Halpine as we go for a tour in the mountains of Lebanon, and hopefully embarrass ourselves attempting to ski.
If you are in Beirut, join us tomorrow, Saturday February 2 at the UNESCO palace, from 9:30 am till 1:00 pm for our official launching celebration where you will get to meet the WYA Middle East team as well as a long guest list of interesting people.
To RSVP, please go here.
Bruna Kesserwani is the Regional Director of Operations at the World Youth Alliance Middle East.
