A Milestone: Tareq Hadhad Meets President Barack Obama

So honoured and proud to have had the chance to personally meet, greet, shake hands, chat and take this historic photo with the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama.

I am still trying to collect my feelings and put them into words; the meeting that will never be forgotten in my family's future as we look back into our history!

I honestly didn't sleep for 3 nights prior to this meeting. I practiced what I wanted to say in the car all the way to it, working on my cadence, sincerity and tone. I remembered that in 2008, when I needed to hear it the most, I watched him on TV saying: "Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it"

and I said to myself: what are the odds for me out of billions of people who know him to get the chance to chat together. If someone came to me after the unthinkable events in our lives, after our massive losses in the war, after all what we have been through and said: you will meet the 44th president in 2019, my response would have been, simply: "Impossible".

Reality came! The moment I entered the room, and said: "honoured to meet you, Mr. Presid.... " he looked me in the eye and said "Congratulations, Tareq!. Hope all is well" with the biggest smile I have ever seen on him.

Back in 2016, Pres. Obama was sitting in the room at the UN when Prime Minister Trudeau gave his famous speech about our family. He was nodding agreeing with the importance of being inclusive, welcoming, of opening the doors for those seeking a brighter future for themselves and their families and lending them a hand.
It was the gift that I never expected that night to get noticed by the most admired man on the planet, to know that what we are doing is being noticed and celebrated, and it was that push forward that encouraged us to keep going.

To everyone who worked so hard to make this dream a reality, I’m eternally grateful to your compassion and limitless kindness.

"Yes We Can" has a different meaning for me now. It is: "Yes, if you can dream it, you can do it".