MELA 2 opens to the buzz of enthusiastic voices in a variety of languages and accents, promising the excitement of new acquaintances, and the support of peers on the path towards personal betterment and leadership excellence.
Mohammad Habib welcomes the workshop participants.
The facilitators are introduced.
MELA Board Member Jim Crupi interviews speaker Sahm Yaghi, Chairman of the Board of Alternatives Inc., on pivotal experiences in his life as an entrepreneurial leader, and how a rare illness steered him towards having greater compassion and a higher sense of life's values.
Dania has more questions for our guest during the refreshment break.
Cinderella and Basel pose for posterity. Mohammed Khalifa, behind them, is more intent on the coffee, after a sleepless night on a bus. Stranded at Cairo Airport by an air traffic controllers' strike, Mohammed is one of MELA's "Bus Heroes" who improvised long road journeys from Cairo to Sharm El Sheikh in order not to miss the workshop (and lost their suitcases on the way).
Take your leadership to the next level. Jim Crupi challenges members of the audience not merely to act like a leader, but to be one. Is what you do reflective of what you believe?
Stretch yourself, mentally and physically, to attain goals that you believed were beyond you. Focus on a point to the left of you...
Now take your arm and show that you can reach it!
Tariq is amused.
Morale is also high in the organizers' corner: Mohammad, Tory and Lama.
The paired introductions during lunch are a chance for participants to discover new and wonderful things about one another -- such as Basma and Rateb's shared love for hand gestures.
Randi shows Mohannad how to play the castanets.
Mustafa and Abdullah Alznytan click easily.
Rita and Mohammed gaze higher, see farther.
The Samer-and-Amer double-act showcases their charm and wit.
In the afternoon, participants face a team challenge. The scenario is cruel; the choices are hard; a wrong decision means death. Adrift in a lifeboat a thousand miles from land, Rany (another MELA Bus Hero) asks himself: Shaving mirror or shark repellent?
MELA Bus Hero Abdullah Riri tabulates by priority his group's equipment choices.
Lacking consensus in his group, Rateb argues the case for having ship's rope in the lifeboat: it is useful to stringing up those who disagree.
Unfazed by the dangers of sharks or ocean storms, MELA Bus Hero Monther is just happy to have survived five hours through the Egyptian desert to get to Sharm El Sheikh.
May MELA be a refuge and safe haven for us all, whenever in need of direction and good fellowship, to people of all stripes and birds of all feathers -- even those that joined us in the restaurant today for lunch.
I loved the blog so much! So many happy faces! Hope to see many of them in Dushanbe soon. Zara
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