Greg Lewis joined our Club in March this year and has managed to avoid his new member presentation ... until now. It was a just in time presentation as he has recently been appointed to an offshore role in Egypt as New Zealand’s Ambassador based in Cairo. He will take up this new posting in the New Year.
We learnt about what is important in Greg’s life, his interests and his passions. First mention was that he is a very proud donor father of Frankie and he enjoys being actively involved in this little person’s life and celebrating his milestones with his family.
He is a beekeeper, a hobby he got into while living in Saudi Arabia. He has two hives in Wellington and three at his parents place in Tauranga yielding 8kg of honey off his Johnsonville property. That’s value in today’s honey market.
Greg studied microbiology and International Law at Otago and he went on to do a masters degree in international bio-ethics and health law. He completed his university studies in 2001 and began work for Ministry of Health in their health legal team. He contributed to the drafting of the human artificial reproduction technologies bill.
A big love is travel and inspired by his travelling Grandmother, a friend’s suggestion to apply for a role at MFAT saw him join the Ministry in 2003. He’s had a passion for the Middle East from his very early years so when the opportunity to be posted to Saudi Arabia came up it not only fuelled his travel passion, he was sent to Cairo, the cultural hub of the Middle East for 18 months intensive Arabic language training. Perfect!
Greg considers himself fortunate to have experienced the Arab Spring in January 2011. On 29th January 2011 while he was in Cairo, and because he was able to speak fluent Arabic, he was able to go out onto the streets and speak to those protesting against torture and the cost of food and to those seeking to bring about societal change.
He shared a number of the challenges he encountered during his posting in Riyadh including having to cope with temperatures of 53 degrees Celsius, a dry heat where you can feel the water evaporating from your eyes! To relax and get away from it all he would take a projector out into the desert and watch a movie under the starlit night sky. He organized a harriers group for his expat colleagues so they could spend time together without the usual constraints of the Kingdom and were able to share experiences while they ran - or walked in the heat. He did of course host political and trade delegations and I suspect there could be a book written about the ups and downs and near misses that are an inevitable part of life in the diplomatic service.
In his new role in Cairo, Greg will lead the Team who are the eyes, ears and voice for New Zealand focusing on trade and security. His 5 corporate staff and 8 local staff will support our trade in this country of over 100 million people and ensure information is provided correctly to government agencies in Egypt and some of the surrounding territories. Greg is up for the challenge of being a new and relatively young Ambassador and drawing on his previous experience in the region.
But he will be back – it’s only a 3 year assignment plus he has a special little boy to draw him back home as well.
Club Reporter
Brenda Lazelle
President's Message
