Tarek El Dakhakhny
I chose to interview Tarek El Dakhakhny. He is an Egyptian man, living in the Manial
district in Cairo. He was born on October 30, 1972. He is currently a marketing
manager in the restaurant field of Amer Group. These restaurants include Chili’s,
Carino’s, Studio Misr, Halaket Al Samak and Alain Le Notre. He has been working
there since December 2007. Previously, Dakhakhny was working in the United Arab
Emirates, also as a marketing manager in the Gulf Food Industries: California Garden
for five years. Married to Maha Abdel Moneim, with two enthusiastic and energetic
children, Abdallah, 6, and Ali, 5. Dakhakhny attended The American University in
Cairo throughout the years 1990 and 1995 in which he graduated in February with a
physics degree.
I thought it would be interesting to interview Dakhakhny because during the time of
the strikes taking place in AUC in the beginning of this fall semester (Fall 2011), we
shared numerous conversations exchanging viewpoints and experiences from the
different times the strikes took place. I would share about current events and
happenings, and Dakhkhany would compare by sharing his own experiences on how
protests and sit-ins in his time were conducted differently.
Dakhakhny touched up on different topics such as, representative in his curricular
activities (Student Union, physics club), the strike in the 90s, how AUC graduates are
perceived in the work field today, his current occupation, the caravan, a sit in
concerning politics, lieutenant generals and policemen on campus, folklore, and a
slight reference to the future.
Tarek El Dakhakhny spoke about the past, present, and future experiences of AUC,
what he went through, what he can see today in fresh gradutes and how he hopes for
his children the same opportunities in AUC.
Nostalgic Reminiscing of Experiences of AUC
Interview Transcript
Interviewer: Amina El Ashry
Narrator: Tarek El Dakhakhny
Date: 24/09/2011
Place: Gezira Club, Zamalek Cairo
College: The American University in Cairo
Professor: Kim Fox
Date Completed: 27/09/2011
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24 September 2011
Persons Present: Amina El Ashry
Tarek El Dakhakhny
Ashry: Hello, thank you for taking the time to meet me today for this interview. Tarek
El Dakhakhny, you were such an interesting candidate for this interview because you
were an active student in AUC and I wanted to know more of what life was like for
you as an AUC student in the 90s.
Dakhakhny: OK, where to start, OK, I’m class of February Fall ‘95, I’m a physics
graduate; well I enjoyed AUC to the maximum, a lot of extra curricular activities if
you would say. We are talking about student union, I was a freshman representative,
and then I moved to become a physics representative a couple of years later. In the
union there was a lot of work but a lot of fun as well. I was in the academic
committee writing petitions and defending for student petitions and this was very
rewarding job, and I made good friends, yaani, there are people who would run and
come and they look at me as their savior yaani, which not really I just after a couple
of times I used to, bas, you know work at a certain format I developed a certain
format which is kind of the best way to present the case and kind of defend it. But I
was also a member of the activities committee, which in this case we used to organize
trips. Throughout the stay in AUC interestingly enough there was a strike. I have a
kind of vivid memory of the strike but the things that I remember was that I stayed,
we slept over at the student union me and a friend of mine and I don’t know I
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Dakhakhny: think we were protecting something but I don’t remember what it was
exactly. It was a horrible night I think but we couldn’t sleep well.
Ashry: OK we will touch up on that topic a little bit later. Now I’ll just ask what
experiences did you gain from AUC that you felt that you wouldn’t have gained from
any other university in Egypt?
Dakhakhny: Bossi [look] I think definitely it’s how to express yourself, you know.
Now I hire people and looking at AUCians I always say, and it’s kind of a criticism
really, you come out with you come out from AUC you have a very big tongue, you
have a very big mouth, and a very big ego. And that’s for me now not very
comfortable.
Ashry: (Laughter)
Dakhakhny: But I’m an AUCian I can criticize AUCians, so people find this very-find
it fair. And the young AUCians that I work with they want to argue about every single
point and they want me to convince them. Now me as a boss now I don’t want to
spend that all that time and effort convincing people they are not dying to prove
themselves they are criticizing everything and they look at everything and they want
to be convinced so it’s kind of rough but at the end of the day they are generally
smart, they are very expressive they know exactly how to expressive themselves, they
don’t-they’re not shy in any way. And of course the language helps you know having
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Dakhakhny: a strong written and spoken language helps and they are so, yaani eh
motatalayen [looking forward], they have a such a, they think big yaani they are
always-
Ashry: They think out of the box kind of?
Dakhakhny: No, no it’s not about out of the box, yeah out of the box is fine, bas asdi
en homa [I mean that they], temooh yaani eh [What does ambition mean]? Temooh
[ambition]? It will come. So those are the AUCians. I wouldn’t, now I am very
carefully in hiring them but eventually when I interview some AUCian they are so
much better than everybody else in terms of expressiveness now that doesn’t mean
they function better at work because they think very highly of themselves and not all,
yaani and this is sometimes a hurdle in certain jobs which require which are very
challenging and require a lot of yaani a lot of hard work. So that’s the point.
Ashry: So you hire a lot of AUCians as you said. What is it that you do exactly?
Dakhakhny: I am a marketing manager in the restaurants field. I manage restaurant
brands Chili’s, Carino’s, Studio Misr, Halaket Al Samak and Alain Le Notre.
Ashry: OK. So here’s a copy of the last week’s caravan. Does it bring back any
memories?
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Dakhakhny: Oh yes it brings back a lot of-bas look this is much better yaani, this is
much better, it has even the content itself, I would, I don’t recall being a very strong
reader of the caravan but I would definitely recall seeing headlines and going down to
that office in it was a very kind of a dungeon office and I recall the caravan the editor
in chief used to be a very strong character. And it was a she; it was always a she I
think in the caravan for one reason or the other, I don’t have that.
Ashry: I’m not quite sure why but even currently today we have a female editor in
chief
Dakhakhny: Yeah but anyway, but this content, yaani, look the layout the content the
quality even of the paper is much more professional, I like the concept of having a
developed you know, this is much developed which is good it’s normal, it’s expected
but you’re there I wonder if you could add some advertising in there to make some
more money. If you need more money I guess. So.
Ashry: So after reading just the headlines are some of the topics familiar what was
covered in the caravan in this issue, were some of the topics familiar what you were
facing during your time in university.
Dakhakhny: Bossi [look], I have a very vivid memory but yaani I’m sure if we’re
talking strike,
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Ashry: Yes as we spoke briefly about the strikes
Dakhkhny: I would recall the strike. But my yaani ana my effort in college was much
more physical than mental even in the strike and organizing things recalling those
days yaani. And also we had that Iran the Iraq the first war Iraq and there was a lot of
tension and I remember at one time we had a lot of Arabs and Palestinians and there
was a strong air there was strong direction against the Iraqi, the invading Iraq the US
and the coalition invading Iraq so there was a sit in and there was a very tense
environment at that time I did not really have a developed political-I don’t think a lot
of people had but the Arabs and the Palestinians used were definitely much developed
than we are I think by virtue of their situation. So there was that sit in. and before that
sit in there was, we had five lieutenant generals, lewaat yaani maarafsh yaani eh,
[lieutenant generals, I don’t know what it means] walking and cruising keda
around the campus in a show of strength
Ashry: Wow
Dakhakhny: And I remember very well them walking. They didn’t do anything to
anyone. But I remember that very well.
Ashry: (Interrupt) But this is just very surprising to hear, exactly inside the campus
they were.
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Dakhakhny: And inside the campus, And they walked, and look at them walking with
their big fat bellies, and they walking and it was relatively intimidating there was a sit
in and the role of the SU at that time was trying to cool down things, because
remember the policy was with Egypt initials were there. That was interesting. I also
recall at that time there was an overlap in the Greek campus because we had
something called DPS I don’t know if you still have it, which was the department of
kind of studies of people who were not AUCians they are like courses and stuff and I
had a couple friends there and in the 90s also we had some terrorist activity and we
had one of-and there was a hunt down for some of the terrorists on the papers and
yaani, it was-
Ashry: (Interrupt) Wow
Dakhakhny: Rough times and they came inside the campus and they picked some up
who looked like one of the terrorist it turns out he was not but they came and they
picked him up yaani forget baa’a security forget any kind of privacy for the campus at
that time yaani no joke yaani they would jump in yaani you know, they would jump in
get there some and I remember. So I remember all those also parties that we used to
have we always had a few policemen here or there and I remember an incident where
I was at the gate and I think it was one of the welcome parties and then there was that
police man and there was this guy going in carrying something and he would call the
guy and tell him and he would swear at him before even-that was that’s the attitude of
the police or was the attitude of the police, taala yad yabn el you know ta da ta da,
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Dakhakhny: [come here boy, you son of a] where is your beta’tak [ID], where is
your ID, so the guy gives his ID before he gives his ID he takes him he grabs him by
the clothes
Ashry: (Interrupt) By the collar
Dakhakhny: By the collar and he looks at the beta’a [ID] and
Ashry: He already has such an aggressive-
Dakhakhny: Exactly yeah it’s being aggressive to give it saytara [control], to give it
yaani el howa [which is like], don’t think you can do something yaani I’m here. I
will kick your ass. Ah, I will kick your ass big time those things I remember clearly,
Ashry: This was the attitude of the policeman
Dakhakhny: Those are things that come up to my mind remembering college. Of
course yaani, along with the folklore, which is which, was great. Folklore and the
choral, I used to sing as well.
Ashry: Oh really?
Dakhakhny: Yeah
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Ashry: Oh ok. I knew about the folklore dancing, which is why I was surprised to see
the first article in the first issue of this year’s caravan the folklore
Dakhakhny: It breaks my heart baa’a
Ashry: (Giggle)
Dakhakhny: It’s so hard after finishing college because it was so much fun, it was a
lot of work, so much fun because we used to travel to folklore festivals abroad and
Ashry: Yes as this was in Spain I believe
Dakhakhny: Yeah something like that. Typical countries would be Spain. I went to
Italy, the Netherlands, we went to Bahrain we went to England and France. And none
of those was in the capital, huh, they were always outside the capital somewhere but
they were a lot of work and a lot of fun and a lot of excitement and a lot of interaction
with a lot of people and a lot of memories and it hurts, yaani its not hurts bas, I
remember the time when after you graduate what are you gonna do? No more folklore
it really it hurts huh.
Ashry: Yeah I’m sure if it had such a big impact on your life throughout all those
years in AUC it does make a difference when all of a sudden it’s all gone. So to close
up our interview here what do you think is going to happen in the future of AUC
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Ashry: concerning students and protests and so on and so forth since this has
obviously been a recurring event that has been taking place strikes and sit ins and, just
being expressive as you said that you can see now in the AUC students that you hire
are very expressive and bold and how they speak out and, as for your kids do you
look forward to, do you look forward that would you like to put your children in
AUC?
Dakhakhny: Oh yes definitely if I can afford it, I doubt I can afford it, if I can afford I
wouldn’t think twice. I think the American system of, look have being an AUCian has
helped me throughout my career I haven’t been where I have where I am right now, of
course with the hard work of course bas yaani it helped a lot it helps a lot, and I’m
telling you, you get an AUCian in an interview they’re just different than everybody
else and they still are even with all the other colleges out there. But I’m not hiring any
more AUCians to tell you the truth, not on junior levels yaani.
Ashri: Oh I see more experience in the work field?
Dakhakhny: More experience will probably do it.
Ashri: Yes, why thank you very much and it was a pleasure.