Emil Kogan was a friend of mine, who I kept in contact with over the years after we first met at a Rotary camp in 2007. He was an incredibly impressive young man, who in those five years worked as an Australian Youth Ambassador in the Philippines, at the Big Issue, Australian Red Cross, Youth Forum... he founded his own charity,
Embrace Education. And he did so much more.
He was truly beautiful, and unquestionably one of the most giving and attentive people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.
The shock of his death has now worn off a bit, and I'm left feeling just so sad. I'm sad that I didn't go on that crazy beach day with him. I'm sad he'll no longer be peppering facebook with tales from all over the place, each and every time doing something that made other people feel more included and live a better life.
http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2012/09/vale-emil-kogan#To quote his father:
"When Emil was 4 we went to Paris to visit our relatives. Emil had never seen beggars and insisted on giving each one a coin. One day outside the Louvre we saw a child beggar. Emil cried. He never changed. He phoned me from Manila quite distraught one day. The night before he'd been tricked by a taxi driver and was left in the middle of nowhere. Out of the darkness at ten at night a very young child appeared and ran up to him. Emil felt looking down at the boy looking up to him that he was seen as some angel come to the rescue. It was with anguish that Emil left him there ."
Suicide is always tragic, and Emil and I weren't close, but this feels like such a horrible loss. He was truly exceptional, and he'll be missed.
