Après une longue et fructueuse carrière (plus de trente ans!) au sein des organisations internationales, Rita Ezrati, Chef Interprète à l'Organisation de l'Aviation Civile Internationale de 1995 à 2007, vient de « raccrocher ses patins ».
Si vous avez raté la fête organisée pour son départ à la retraite, vous pouvez maintenant lire l'allocution qu'elle y a prononcée en deux langues, Canada oblige! Entre deux anecdotes sur la vie d'interprète, elle brosse un tableau peu reluisant de la situation de l'interprétation dans les organisations du Régime commun des Nations Unies. Ceux qui l'ont connue retrouveront dans son texte ses grandes qualités humaines et sa disposition au bonheur et à l'harmonie dans tout ce qu'elle entreprend.
En lui souhaitant de réussir sa retraite aussi bien que sa carrière, je la remercie de son amitié et de sa confiance.
Michèle Homsy
Rita Ezrati prononçant son discours, à ses côtés Randa Akoury, Ellen McCarthy, Evgueni Teplov, Jing Yang, Ahmed El-Sehmawi et Marcel Marquis
Chers amis et collègues
Merci d'être là pour m'accompagner dans ce tournant de ma vie.
Le rêve de l'interprète: faire son propre discours, avec ses propres pensées (if any) ses propres mots..... mais évidemment, avec sa propre responsabilité.
Et voilà, c'est devenu une réalité : on fête aujourd'hui mon départ de l'OACI après 31 ans de service... les années ont passé si vite..... depuis l'École d'Interprètes et de Traducteurs.
I am not really sad to leave...but I am sad not to be sad. Indeed, these last 2-3 years have been very difficult (not only for me, I know) and the last 6 months have been .... impossible. That's why I have decided not to stay until the Assembly.
In the old days - or even 3 years ago - I enjoyed the Assembly, the excitement, the different people, the adrenaline that have to be balanced with a good dose of patience and imagination to face the unpredictable. .....BUT to be able to sustain that tension, to be able to keep up with the long working hours, to be able to lead this huge team of 50 (5-0) interpreters, the Chief must have the inner conviction that, somehow, the little miracles, the extra mile that she will have to ask from her team at one point or another are really worthwhile and will be acknowledged, one way or another. The enthusiasm has to be contagious.
Unfortunately, I realized that I had lost that enthusiasm, that inner conviction, that sacred flame, ce "feu sacré" qui peut déplacer des montagnes et que c'était au-dessus de mes forces. That's why I have decided to leave.
I decided to leave, but at the same time I realize how lucky I am: lucky to have the possibility to say NO, and to go and explore new horizons, enjoy doing ...nothing or painting or traveling with JanJac, or having lunch with former colleagues.
But it also saddens me to think of those who would like to stay and might not be able to.
Bon, changeons de sujet, après tout c'est ma fête et je vais vous parler de ce dont je me souviendrai avec plaisir:
1. Un de mes premiers souvenirs amusants est celui d'un premier avril
Three new young staff members decided to do something different for April's fool: so we drafted a "Staff Notice" (in FR, with a lot of mistakes), whereby the Secretary General was granting an additional legal holiday. It was (deliberately) so poorly written that is was absolutely impossible to understand why and when this extra day would be granted. Then, we forged the Secretary General's signature and....went to see him and show him our masterpiece: he had a good laugh, agreed to the Staff Notice...and on March 31, after hours, we posted it on every floor.....
2. Un autre souvenir dans la même veine
When that same SG left, the interpreters gave him a "Walkman" (or should I say a "Walkperson") and a tape called "For your ears only" which was a "pastiche" of a Council meeting......... it was a great success ......we are expecting the Movie any moment !!!
3. I'll remember the "typical" interpreter conversation, all languages flying pêle-mêle, au cours de laquelle « on joue par les oreilles » (play it by ear), on « agit sur l'éperon du moment (on the spur of the moment) et où finalement quelqu'un part en disant ‘Sorry guys, my duty my shovel » (mon devoir m'appelle). I can try that with Jean-Jacques, but somehow it does not work as well!
More seriously I will remember:
4. The people of ICAO: as an interpreter, one gets to meet and to know people from all Bureaux, Branches and Sections, one gets to know the whole organization. As C/INT (during 12 years) I got to know - and most of the time annoy - lots of people: annoy them because I wanted that speech or that presentation, because I could not accommodate an additional meeting, because "I" was too expensive (that's an understatement... JanJac knows that!) but I made some good friends (and ultimately the other ones don't count).
5. I'll remember some the Panels of Experts (- in those days they all had interpretation and translation services!): they were inventing systems, developing things for the rest of the world (I'm thinking of ADISP, FANS, the Ad Hoc group on Explosives). Ah, la première réunion du groupe sur les explosifs..... quelle horreur et quelle merveille ! imaginez un groupe qui allie la chimie et les techniques d'Interpol (on est loin du vocabulaire aéronautique) : on s'arrachait les cheveux tellement c'était difficile, mais quel plaisir d'être là, de servir à quelque chose, d'apprendre, et plus tard de découvrir à Dorval ces détecteurs d'explosifs, de voir les équipes de chiens au travail...
6. I'll remember some very special (and tense) Council meetings discussing the flight KAL 07 (mes premiers cheveux blancs), or the flight PanAm 103.
7. I'll remember some great missions: Arusha: it was fantastic - may be because it was my first one), then Singapore, Vienna, Cape Town (a great one, indeed) and Cairo.
In my 28 "good" ICAO years, I had the feeling that I was part of something useful, working for something bigger. When I would board a plane I would be proud to know how some things worked or had been improved et j'étais heureuse d'avoir, ne serait-ce qu'un tout petit peu, participé à cela. I worked with a passion !
But these values belong probably to other times, they are not quantifiable nor are they cost-effective (and they can't even be outsourced!) et je crains que ces valeurs ne me fassent ressembler à un ancien combattant!
However, because of those same values, I enjoyed working at ICAO, interpreting for ICAO and being ICAO Chief Interpreter. And here, I have to stress how I enjoyed working with "MY" team: Natalya, Patricia (Danielle, Suzanne, Lucette and Barbara before) and the interpreters, from all the booths: never a dull moment with them; their adrenaline always running high, in any one day, they are able to jump from Environment to Satellite communications, from Budget to Security, or from Dangerous goods or MET to Air Traffic Management: they know ICAO inside out; they are its institutional memory. It's a fantastic team of professionals really devoted to the Organization, with a great team spirit: anyone sick or having family problem: the Musketeers formula always applies: tous pour un. I worked with them (sometimes fought with them) with a constant pleasure and I learned a lot with them and from them.
When I had a difficult decision to make relating to the team, I would ask myself the following question: "if the C/INT was requesting that from me, what would be my reaction, as an interpreter?" That method, that is, trying to see the other one's point of view, never failed.
That's the only advice I would give to the next Chief Interpreter...... if there were one. Mais, étant une incorrigible optimiste, même si mon optimisme a été mis a rude épreuve ces derniers temps) I still hope that there will be soon, somehow, another ICAO Chief Interpreter).
Finalement (famous last words)
• considering that out of 31 years, only the last three ones have been far from pleasant,
• considering that, with age, the short-term memory goes away first....
• It is obvious that in no time I'll remember only the good things, the good moments and the good people.... and there's a lot of them.
Merci
Rita Ezrati
19 Juin 2007
