Thirty Years....

When my Dad was here in October he spoke with his sister for the first time in thirty years. Its not like they were lost to each other as we always knew where she was, its just that because Lebanon and Israel are still in a state of war since 1948 they cant speak to each other.

Like a lot of people from South Lebanon my Aunt Hasiba and her husband Chafik Atmeh lived and worked in Palestine. Now most of my uncles did the same prior to 1948 as did most people from Derdghaya. One of the reasons they worked there was the Palestinian Lira was worth eight Lebanese Lira's. Most people came back when the war started but there is a lot of people that couldn't make it back to Lebanon and remained in Israel. Most live in Haifa, Jish and Nazareth.

My Aunts family were one of the ones that never made it back. My Aunt came back but was put into a Palestinian camp in Tyre. With a new born and her husband staying in Haifa she decided to be reunited with him as life in the camp was hard. She made contact with the Red Cross and they took her back across the border to Haifa where she was reunited with her husband.

My Dad and Aunts story isn't one of not knowing about each other and meeting for the first time but of siblings torn apart by war and not having a lot of contact. My dad has been lucky as he has seen or spoken to Hasiba several times over the last 60 years, where as my other Aunts and Uncles haven't had that luxury as they have always lived in Lebanon.

As we live in Australia contact through the 70's and 80's was always there. I remember as a child the 3am wake up call from my Aunt. But over time for one reason or another we lost contact then my father moved back to Lebanon in the mid 90's so there was definitely not going to be any contact because of the war in 1948.

A couple of years back when I started doing the family tree I got curious about her and her family but how was I to contact her or find someone that could help me. I came up with an idea that I might be able to contact her through the church in Haifa but as with most things it just sat on the back burner while I just plodded along with other things that were easier. While I was in Lebanon in 2010 my Dad believed she had passed away around 2000 as they had visited her husbands family in Ein Ebel and that's what they believed. I found it hard to fathom and I suppose I needed proof of that.

When I got back to Sydney I searched for a church contact in Haifa. My mum told me that her husband was Maronite so I emailed the Bishop of Haifa asking whether they knew of her or her family. Like with most things you don't get your hopes up, so I wasn't surprised that I didn't receive reply to even confirm they had received the email. Maybe 3-4 months later I had someone add me on Facebook with a message saying they were my Aunts granddaughter. I nearly fell over.....

Messages were hard to understand as they were in Arabic written in Latin fonts. Eventually I spoke with Aunts grandson via MSN and learnt they had received my email via his wife's brother who was a priest. I was so stoked to have spoken to one of them I was also over the moon to learn my Aunt was still alive and well though she was bedridden since taking a fall in 2000. I eventually spoke on the phone to my Aunt on New Years day 2011 and all she was worried about was making sure her brothers and sister were ok especially my Aunt Hichmeh as they are the only girls.

So now with the help of Skype we are always in contact and Dad and his sister got to talk and see each other through the wonders of the Internet..... 

Boulos and Latife

I Spoke to my dad about how his Grandfather Boulos Geryas Khoury met his grandmother Latife Sawaya as she wasn’t from the Derdghaya. In those days the villagers predominantly married from their own villages.

Her family were farm hands and were working in a nearby village named Mazraat el Twairy which is between Srifa and Ghandouriye. This village was run by a rich Christian family called Bayt el Machahbar.  Boulos met Latife there and they married in Derdghaya.

Boulos worked as a builder and was working for the Machahbar family when he met Latife. The Sawaya family are originally from Kfarhouna near Jezzine and were working in Mazraat el Twairy as ploughmen.

Later when my Grandfather Najib was about 3-5 years old maybe even younger, Boulos travelled to America to raise money to buy some camels. A man that owned a couple of camels in those days was considered well off. Camels were used like trucks are used these days for transporting produce between ports. This was in the early 1900’s. No one can give me an exact date and I can’t find his immigration papers in America.

In America he died working on the rail road’s from the cold in winter. Around that sort of time frame a lot of the villagers were either moving to America permanently or going there to work for a year or 2 and coming back with the money.

After Boulos passed Latife was left as a single mother. Unlike today where single mothers are looked after, woman had no way to earn a living so she remarried fairly quickly. She married a man Daoud Zarka. Together they had another 4 children. My grandfather was still very young, around 5 years old.

Daoud Zarka from what I understand also died young. My father tells me he was either drafted into the Ottoman Army not as a soldier as he was Christianbut virtually as a slave. He died during that time or was killed when Derdghaya was attacked by bandits in 1919.

Latife lived a long life of 105 years having many grandchildren

Camille Chamoun

Camille Chamoun was President of Lebanon from 1952 - 1958. What I didn't know was that we had a connection to him. I'm not related to him, but he was my Grandfathers Geryas Salibi's lawyer and became a family friend.

As the story goes.....it was 1939 and there was a dispute in Souk El Gharb over a woman. A Syrian man had taken up with one of the local girls. Her family was against this and threats were made from all parties involved. There was also a bad element stirring the pot from both sides.

The Syrian came to the town centre armed with a knife and stabbed two men, one from Souk El Gharb and the other from Bekheshtay. The Syrian started shouting where are the brave men from the Salibi family, my grandfather was nearby. He took a walking stick from an old man and hit him across the arm disarming him of the knife, at the same time another man pulled a pistol out and shot the Syrian man.

During the investigation my Grandfather was questioned and not wanting to be involved denied he was in the town centre, but there was several witnesses that had sworn he was the one that disarmed the man with the knife. Because he had lied he was thrown in jail. The shooter fled and was hidden away from authorities for a few years before he was able to make his way to Africa.

My Grandfather was thrown in jail for 4 months before he was able to be released on bail. Investigations seem to take a while and in 1941 he again was thrown in jail when they reopened the investigation. He again spent a few months in jail. These were hard times on his young family as he was the only bread winner and had 3 children under 6 years old.

It finally made it to court and he was found innocent of all charges. I don't know what he was actually charged with as my Mum was only about 7 years old and cant remember. But my claim to fame is that Camille Chamoun got my Grandfather out of jail.