WATANI International
30 November 2008
As Watani celebrated its Jubilee with great joy, thanksgiving and aplomb, with myself part of this remarkable event, a memory long buried but nevertheless very significant suddenly surfaced.
Some twenty years ago during one school mid-year holiday, I joined my aunt, cousin and sister on a
Today, twenty years on, with two years to my credit as a translator and writer at Watani International, the implication of Grandpa’s demand on that fateful holiday has come alive. Now I understand that he was trying to make a writer out of me, but I was not ready then. Last Monday the full reality of having finally fulfilled his wish and become part of his life-long mission, his paper, dawned on me. I would never be able to tell whether this was how Grandpa envisaged it, if this was the role he had planned for me, but I can definitely tell that I am now part of his mission. I am part of this paper which manages to engulf everyone connected to it with love, warmth and a great family atmosphere. Today it fills me with great pride—and humbleness—to be part of Watani , even though it took me twenty years to get there.
But the greatest moment of all was when, as the celebration came to an end we, the grandchildren of Antoun Sidhom, were recognised not just as members of Watani , but as the extension of Grandpa’s mission and perspective. The new generation that would carry on the labour of love founded by Antoun Sidhom and pursued by Youssef Sidhom was ready for the job.