Recently I helped to recognize and pay a Toastmaster tribute to Amal Al-Saffar, a member of Excelsior Advanced Toastmasters.

Amal joined our club last fall and quickly captured our hearts. In her late 20s, she is by far the youngest member of our club. Yet, she has a depth of experience as a leader and speaker that inspires us all. She wanted the challenge of participating in our club with its highly experienced leaders and speakers.

 

Accomplishments of Amal Al-Saffar

Amal’s been a gifted speaker and leader since she was young. As a teenager in her home country of Bahrain, she participated in Toastmasters Youth Leadership program. Once she turned 18, she was eager to become a full-fledged Toastmaster. Since then, she’s held leadership roles in Bahrain as well as the one she holds here in Colorado.

Throughout her 20s, she’s participated in a wide range of leadership activities outside of Toastmasters. These have included several exchange programs and conferences for women’s leadership and environment in England, Northern Ireland, Italy, Morocco, and Austria.

Academically, Amal is a Fulbright scholar to the United States. She holds a Master of Public Administration with a specialization in Environmental Policy and Law from the University of Colorado, Denver.

Mohamed Isa, a best-selling author and prolific publisher, invited Amal to submit a chapter for his book “Women on Success.” Isa published the book in 2020, and Amal’s chapter is entitled “Lost and Found in the Rocky Mountains.” It’s a gripping account of her experiences of losing her way while hiking in the mountains and fortunately being found.

Below is the back cover of the book with the photos of the 37 women who each wrote a chapter for it. That’s me in the turquoise top, and the photo is taken the last day I saw Amal before she left for Bahrain.

Our Toastmaster Club’s Sendoff for Amal

As the time approached for Amal to return to Bahrain, our club wanted to collectively honor her. Yet, we knew we couldn’t gather in person for such a sendoff due to the restrictions related to COVID-19. So, one of our members organized a Zoom meeting with each of us toasting her. Another member delivered brownies and a goodbye card to her porch.

We delightedly watched over Zoom as she opened the container of brownies and read the card. Then we each took our turn paying tribute to her. I started us off by reading the biographical information about Amal from the book “Women on Success.”

One member read a beautiful toast about goodbyes. Another delighted us with a reading on laugher from the book “365 Words of Well-Being for Women.”

The most musically talented member of our club created lyrics to the tune to “My Cherie Amour” by Stevie Wonder. Her delightful rendition of that song was unforgettable.

Our club president closed out the toasts by reading some of the lyrics of a Patsy Cline song called “Fingerprints.” He spoke for us all when he said that our club is forever changed by Amal’s presence.

 

How About You?

Have you ever had the opportunity to become friends with people from other countries? How did that experience enrich your life? What challenges, if any, did you experience?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 45 and up, to become more effective using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, business consultants, job seekers, and more – ranging from entrepreneurs to people in large corporations. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.