Death is inevitable for every human being because “to God we belong and to Him is our return” said the Holy Koran. However, Nacer Amezian’s passing away affected me a lot. The terrible news of his death shocked and deeply saddened me and added to my homesickness in this ‘cold’ part of the world – Ohio, US. His death came at a time I hadn’t gotten over the shock of the loss of another Moroccan close friend yet – Lahcen Laabid, God bless his soul.
I met Nacer for the first time in Boston College in August, 2004. We were there to attend an educational program sponsored by the University of the Middle East (UME). He was the only Algerian in the group and he felt at home with us the Moroccans though he got on well with everyone else. My relationship with him grew up very quickly because we had many things in common that helped us do so, especially language. We spoke Berber, French, and English but we usually used Berber.
Nacer believed in the power of friendship and he was the only one from the twenty four members of the group who stayed in touch with me on a regular basis. We emailed each other and we phoned one another. I liked reading his emails because they were always peppered with that good humor he never lost.
Nacer was such a good friend and often wished the Moroccan-Algerian borders would open so that he could visit me with his family in my hometown.
He was such a loving and faithful husband and often told me that his wife was the center of his life. He was such an affectionate and devoted father who did everything for his children and whose eyes welled up with tears whenever he talked about them in Boston. I still remember how sad he felt one day in August, 2004 because one of his daughters celebrated her birthday in his absence. I learned the names of his three daughters because he kept talking about them all the time. His boy was still not born at that time. He emailed me and told me the good news when Yassine was born.
Nacer liked fun and enjoyed life. He liked to listen to Berber music. It was in his blood. I recall that day when we were about to leave an American bookstore and that Algerian Berber musical dance came on the radio. He refused to leave the bookstore until the song was over. He even danced for a few seconds there.
My heart is broken because I lost a good friend, a real friend, but “Every soul must taste death.”
My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, his three daughters and his son. My sincere condolences go to his many friends and all those who knew and loved him.
Rest in peace Nacer you will be missed and remembered.
Noureddine
I met Nacer for the first time in Boston College in August, 2004. We were there to attend an educational program sponsored by the University of the Middle East (UME). He was the only Algerian in the group and he felt at home with us the Moroccans though he got on well with everyone else. My relationship with him grew up very quickly because we had many things in common that helped us do so, especially language. We spoke Berber, French, and English but we usually used Berber.
Nacer believed in the power of friendship and he was the only one from the twenty four members of the group who stayed in touch with me on a regular basis. We emailed each other and we phoned one another. I liked reading his emails because they were always peppered with that good humor he never lost.
Nacer was such a good friend and often wished the Moroccan-Algerian borders would open so that he could visit me with his family in my hometown.
He was such a loving and faithful husband and often told me that his wife was the center of his life. He was such an affectionate and devoted father who did everything for his children and whose eyes welled up with tears whenever he talked about them in Boston. I still remember how sad he felt one day in August, 2004 because one of his daughters celebrated her birthday in his absence. I learned the names of his three daughters because he kept talking about them all the time. His boy was still not born at that time. He emailed me and told me the good news when Yassine was born.
Nacer liked fun and enjoyed life. He liked to listen to Berber music. It was in his blood. I recall that day when we were about to leave an American bookstore and that Algerian Berber musical dance came on the radio. He refused to leave the bookstore until the song was over. He even danced for a few seconds there.
My heart is broken because I lost a good friend, a real friend, but “Every soul must taste death.”
My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, his three daughters and his son. My sincere condolences go to his many friends and all those who knew and loved him.
Rest in peace Nacer you will be missed and remembered.
Noureddine
4 comments:
Dear all,
I still can't believe Nacer is no more with us ! I've known Nacer at
IDEAmed seminar in Barcelona. He was an amazing character with an
unbelievable good sense of humour that made us appreciate life with all its constraints.
I got to know him better in Barcelona when we went one evening downtown
myself, Atlagh,Tawfik ,Lhoussaine and his friend Louness. I remember
he's such a caring father, shopping for his children and choosing the best he could get for them.
May his soul rest in peace .
Fatima Kalyati
Dear all,
I have never experienced the pain of the death of someone as I am living it now. From the beginning I could not believe it even when I received a call from his family giving me the devastating news. Announcing it to colleagues and friends was an exprience I would have paid the wealth on earth not to have had to go through. But I had to, he was a friend.
The idea of his passing away was no sooner accepted by my mind that I had to go through it again. I called his family to see how they were doing and I got a reply that the phone I was calling was "out of service"(The word in French is much more stricking: "eteint"). A second death; I was calling his mobile.
May we have strength to go through these difficult moments and may he rest in peace.
Lounès Abdous
Dear Nacer's friends,
It's with great sorrow and sadness that I am expressing myself after my Freind's passing less than a week. Nacer was for me a discovery in Barcelona. during all our free time we were together. We stayed up late cracking jokes and expanding on fruitful ideas on our educatioanl systems, our schools and our families as well. Nacer, always refused to be the first to go to bed. Always joking saying " once back home i will sleep until the next seminar ".
I would like to mention that the creator of this tribute to Nacer was a great companion to Nacer during the TEI04 in Boston. Late Nacer did not cease to talk about the strong relationship with his Moroccan friend that he only met once and the rest of their communication took place only through email and telephone. This was my dream to develop more relationship with this great man and to be real friends for ever. I gave him a new name . I once sent him an email telling him that I decided to change a vowel in his name calling him NICER . Hellas, God wanted it otherwise and we only have to accept it and pray for him to rest in peace. My heart and mind is with Lounes , Nissa and all the Ameziane family who will find it a great pain to be separated from this Man that everyone loved. May God give us all patience and through our prayers to him we will manage to reduce all the pain and sufferings .
With tears in my eyes, I would like to share with you the last email Nacer sent me personally .
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:46:41 -0700 (PDT) De: "nacer AMEZIANE" nacermzyahoo.com
Objet: thanks ahmed À:atlaghyahoo.fr
Dear Ahmed, thanks for everything you're doing to keep us together. I've a lot of diaporamas to share with the group but I'd like to make my own comments to give them a sense that corresponds to the Barcelone meeting. As you know, my capacities in computing are so limited that I need some time to do it. By the way, can you please separate the second picture (Toutes Directions) and send it alone to the group with the notice:( Samira, here is the source of inspiration of Nacer the guide). Thank you very much.
Please , let me stop here and I will post the diaporama that Late Nacer wished to share with you in the medhopes group but unfortunately without his precious comments .
Ahmed .
Dear All,
I am shocked and so sad to learn that Nacer is no longer with us. His wonderful good humor and gentle spirit were often at the center of classroom life that I experienced in Boston at TEI. We looked to him to keep things in perspective.
My deep sympathy goes out to his family and friends, and may his soul rest in peace.
Bob Frank
Boston
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