Letter of Recognition

This letter was written to pay tribute to trainees of FGF's BBSA/GRP batch 12 who graduated in my class in February 2009. I thought I could share it with more BBSA/GRP graduates whom I had the honour and pleasure to teach.

FGF is the Future Generation Foundation offering Egyptian graduates the powerful training package BBSA (Basic Business Skills Acquisition) and its extension GRP (Graduate Resource Program).

The week I talk about is the last week of the batch during which graduates give their final presentations.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

It was a greatly wonderful week we spent. During that week we shared glorious moments together. Pleasure was the characteristic feature of the week. Success was the title that summarised all the activity that was going on. Unity rose as the evidence of unique achievement.

 

Many a person came to thank me for all I did for them. I must confess that it was a generous gesture of those people to say so. Nonetheless, all I did – assuming that I did anything special – was just in return for everything you initiated into the class. I am not trying to be modest, but this is the simple fact of the matter. You were really proactive and creative people whom I hope to stay among for good.

 

I am not trying to boost your morale – although I always try to be doing so. What I need to communicate is that you have great potentials. The only thing you might be missing is how to underline these potentials and see your achievements. You have been working as a team for almost four months now; is this not an achievement, given the fact that most of us did not attempt group work before? You have managed to produce a report which is a kind of business plan; do you not see that this is quite another achievement? All of you could successfully handle all the stress caused by the rather excessive work load. I do believe that this is one thing most people usually fail to deal with; therefore, no one can do anything but to agree with me that this is just one of your many achievements.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

How would you feel – or rather act – when you find people in the class you are responsible for who are your age or your seniors? That was one of the challenges I had to manage. The challenge was not as simple as this; it was not the age issue. It was how to meet those people's expectations. I must now acknowledge that luck sided with me. Those people whom I thought were going to undermine my efforts were the greatest support I could ever imagine. Those people used to share their input with the classmates in a way that was simply productive.

 

I am not being self-effacing when I say that I learnt a lot from being in your class, both personally and professionally. This is one thing I always try to do; to benefit from people as well as trying to let them feel that they are receiving something worthwhile by listening to me.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Probably I am being reiterative and redundant by repeating all this again, but I am trying to give my words a more durable effect by putting them in black and white so that you can either keep them for frequent reference or get rid of them for good.

 

My last word for now is: I hope we continue to keep in touch for either or both of the following:

 

• linguistic consulting, and
  
• personal communication.
  

 

AYR