By Tariq Rasheed

Things seemed to be operating normally this Tuesday before everyone was gathered in the main area for a meeting. I was nervous because I thought we were getting reprimanded for something, but tragedy turned out to be much worse. The founder, president, and CEO of XpressGas, Kofi Nketsia-Tabiri, had passed away suddenly. Tabiri had fallen weak to illness and couldn’t overcome it and as you could imagine, people were devastated. Employees began to cry and a woman fainted. I thought they’d close down the office but some people continued to work and the workplace felt heavy. It was a surprise that offices weren’t shut down as it was a big loss for the company. The man who started it all is now gone, but business went on as usual. This may speak to what he built, a company successful enough that they couldn’t afford to shut down operations for even a day. I never met him but could feel his loss’s impact on all of them. I felt as an American intern who had only been here a short time, I was encroaching on a space that I shouldn’t be and decided to go home for the rest of the day. I felt it was necessary to give them the time and space they deserved, so I also decided to work from home the following day. Upon returning Thursday I could still see the impact, with many employees not attending work and the office being an eerie, quiet place, I recognize it will take a while for them to fully digest a tragedy of this magnitude. To the people of XpressGas, I extend my deepest condolences for your loss.