Walking into Pizza Plus Pizza, a popular little
pizza shop in Natick Centre, you might not expect a slice of philosophy to be
served up with lunch. It’s what was at the top of the menu however, when I sat
down for an informal interview with proprietor Kamil this past Sunday. Pizza
Plus Pizza has been one of my favorite haunts since I was a little kid, and measuring
my height against the stainless steel counter top was something I always looked
forward to, though not as much as the pizza itself, which in my opinion,
remains the best in town. Though I’ve known Kamil since I was small, I’ve never
had a truly personal conversation with him, and it was a pleasure to just sit
down and talk, albeit for only half an hour. With the little television and the
comforting sounds of busy pizza production in the background, Kamil opened up.
Kamil,
as I knew, hails originally from Egypt. Born in 1969, he is the youngest of ten
children, all of whom graduated college, a source of pride for the family.
After graduating college however, Kamil pursued a number of different careers,
for varying lengths of time. He worked with the Egyptian department of
education for six years, as well as living in Italy as a receptionist for an
Italian tourist company.
When
speaking of learning Italian, though he is not fluent, Kamil stressed how
important bilingualism, and how “when you learn [another language] you can
deal. When you learn you can educate yourself, and take another step ahead.” In
Egypt, the native language is Arabic, and Kamil started learning English at 11
or 12 years of age, similar to how the United States has middle schoolers start
Spanish or French at the same age. Now, he tells me, English is being taught in
those as young as kindergarten. “I believe that even from the A-B-C’s you
should learn another language,” Kamil says, “A child is like a white page, you
can write whatever you want on it, you can learn.” It’s this conviction that
leads him to speak Arabic in the home to his children, though English is
predominant in their lives. “I try to encourage them in the house to speak our
native language, to keep it as a skill,” he says. “All language is skill.”
Coming
to America didn’t require skill in the same sense, however, but faith, and
extraordinarily good timing. In fact, when I asked about his decision to come
to America, he smiled and said that it was not his plan, “but God’s plan.” Some
thousand men and women stand in line every day to get visas, and maybe only 5
or 6 are given out, but his application for a green card was accepted, and in
1999, Kamil stepped off the plane in JFK airport in New York. From there,
following a community member’s advice, he boarded a bus to Boston, not even
knowing where it was, in pursuit of a promised job opportunity at Pizza Plus,
and three days after landing in America, he was already working.
“I
had never worked in [a] Pizza Place before,” he said, “I had not even been [a] big
fan of eating pizza before I came here! That’s tough.” After insisting that
Pizza Plus serves my favorite pizza in the world, Kamil smiles, thanks me, and
says “we do it with love, because with love is the only way we can exist.” And
that love tripled when in 2004 Kamil became an American citizen, and was able
to bring his wife of three years, and their young daughter over from Egypt.
According to Kamil, five years are required before you can become an American
citizen, and he spent those years building a foundation, working both at Pizza
Plus and part time elsewhere, over 80 hours a week, looking, as he said, “for
the opportunity. “
Opportunity
knocked again when Pizza Plus’s previous owner decided to sell the business.
Without the funds to purchase it in full, Kamil bought the business with two
partners. Before long, however, it became too small for the three of them,
“because we’re all supporting families, and the families are growing.” When the
three of them decided to go separate ways, Kamil took the initiative and
finally purchased Pizza Plus Pizza for his own. “This is the land of
opportunity,” Kamil says, knowing countless immigrants have said it before him,
and “Right now I’m happy with it, because it’s the resource I can support my
family [with].”
The
opportunity of coming to America has its struggles as well, though. “I spent 21
years learning through college, and now I’m making pizza,” Kamil said. The
tough part is given all the years of study in Egypt, and the change of the
career all of a sudden.” The immigrant experience also had its downsides. Kamil
told me about when his father died, and he was not able to return home. To
return home would have required a 12-hour flight, plus another eight hours
inside the country. “This is the price of being immigrants,” Kamil said.
When
asked about what gets him through the hard times however, Kamil has his answer
ready: faith. “Faith is number one,” Kamil said. “We believe in ourselves, and
we believe in God.” And Kamil insists it’s not just the work, but practice as
well. “If I go through [a] hard time, and I have no friends, no family, I lift
it up. And I find [an] answer always.”
My
last question was more for myself than anyone else. “If someone asked you for a
piece of general advice, what would you say to them?” “There are two ways,”
Kamil said, “One way leads you to success, one way leads you to maybe either
death or jail. We can decide which way we can go.” Casting around for the right
words to make sure his advice is sound, Kamil decides on what is known as the
classic rags-to-riches mantra, “If you work hard, you’re going to reach the
point that you want. Nothing is impossible unless we believe it’s impossible.” Kamil
tells me that we are the ones who make our future, and that if we’re good people,
with good hearts, and good relationships around us, we can find success
someday. Based on that definition alone, Kamil is one of the most successful
people I’ve met.
My
pizza comes, handed to me by another smiling man I’ve come to recognize at Pizza
Plus. He is also from Egypt, and I wonder what his story is like. As I look
down and dig into my “Brian Special,” pepperoni, extra cheese, and black
olives, named for my dad, Kamil smiles at me. Though he’s a shy and profoundly
humble man, he looks pleased with himself after our interview. Once I’ve put
away my audio recorder, he wants to add something. “One more thing,” he says
excitedly, as his last thought occurs to him. “America is [a] blessed land.
This I believe. Even everywhere you see is green. Make what you can with your
opportunity. You will find it.”
And
as I walk out of Pizza Plus Pizza and into the brilliant summer day, I believe
it.
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