One Man's Journey After Fleeing His Native Country in Ruins

            Have you ever walked through Times Square in New York City and stopped to observe the thousands of people rushing around you? Have you ever pondered over the stories of each of these people and wondered what brought them to the same place as you at the same time? This country and every city within it was built up on the basis of discovery and immigration. Besides the Native Americans, who inhabited this continent before the Europeans invaded, not one person can truly consider themselves a non-immigrant. At one point in time, all of our ancestors chose to leave behind their families and lives in their native countries to make a new life in America. These transitions didn’t come easy: Our ancestors were faced with hard times trying to adapt to the new world and its new cultures. As a first generation American born citizen, I personally know about the hardships most immigrants encounter on their journey to a new life and have the upmost respect and admiration for anyone who strives to succeed in this country.

Apartment buildings in Beirut during the Civil War 

            In 1975, while America was experiencing its “Zen, hippy stage” of society with discos and the Brady Bunch, across the globe, Lebanon was beginning its most destructive and segregating Civil War.  The war in 1975 can be linked back to problems brewing from the religious segregation issue between the Druzes and the Maronites in Mount Lebanon in 1860.  Lebanon was open to colonization in the middle 1800s by both the Ottoman Empire and by the Europeans creating a rivalry between the Christian westernized culture and the Islamic Ottoman culture. This culture struggle stemming off of the vast difference of religions has been the reason for conflict within Lebanon for hundreds of years. Both sides of culture fight for their own respective communities and cause uproar and disagreements in government and every day life. Each culture battles to establish identity and power within Lebanon with most conflicts resulting in violence and hostility. In this case, colonialism of Lebanon by two conflicting cultures, westernized Europeans and the conservative Islamic Ottoman Empire, caused a division in society and is directly responsible for the sectarianism that takes place there. It pitted a once unified society against each other merely based on geographic and the mothering empire that ruled each side. Before the war, Lebanon was multi-sectarian, with Sunni Muslims and Christians occupying the coastal cities, Shia Muslims being mainly based in the south, with the mountain populations being in their majority Druze and Christian. Tension (that sparked) between religions brainwashed citizens into hatred and discrimination in hopes of creating false nationalism for their respective religious parties. Lasting 15 years from 1975 to 1990, the war was responsible for a mass exodus of almost one million people in Lebanon.

A popular street in Beirut after an explosive. 

       The peak of the Civil War in 1976 is when my father decided to flee the country and come to New Jersey: 11 years old at the time. His father had decided that he should finish schooling and start a life in America, as his older sister had just left with that similar ideal.

Pre departure- My father aged 8 in 1973

Pre departure- Communion in Lebanon in 1975.

He remembers the society in Lebanon before he left as being “chaotic and anxious”. His journey to America and safety was a long one involving a pit stop before being able to settle down. 
          He fled the country swiftly to Belgium where he waited with relatives for his paperwork to clear and for his student visa to be issued. After three weeks, he was given approval to fly into JFK and meet his sister.  He was able to obtain a student visa by enrolling in a nearby Catholic school. Once he arrived in America, he began working at a nearby gas station, was the town’s paperboy, and also balanced schoolwork and basketball. Because he worked after school for hours, he often had to make sacrifices when it came to playing the sport he loved. It was also difficult for him to get to and from games and practices because his sister was busy raising her children and he relied solely on a bike as means for transportation. That’s when his favorite teacher, also a nun at the church, stepped in and would drive him whenever he needed. He later was forced to quit the basketball team due to financial difficulties and the time commitment required.  

Pre departure- My father's elementary school class, May 1975

April 1976- Pre departure from Lebanon.
Pictured from left to right: My uncle, my father, and my grandfather.           

         
           After living with his sister and working to pay for his own school, he graduated and was sponsored by his company to attend technical school for telecommunications. After his education, he entered the work force where he has worked every day from the age 11 to this day. From coming here with only a suitcase and ten dollars in his pocket to building a full life, he has worked tirelessly to support himself and his family. 

Post Departure- High school graduation in 1983. 

            Because my father fled Lebanon when it was at its worst, he felt no desire to return. By the 1990s, almost all of his family had moved west and settled near each other in New Jersey. At that same time, violence and conflict began to simmer down in Lebanon and it was then when my father decided to return to his homeland for the first time in 16 years in 1992.  He recalls driving through familiar parts of town from his childhood and not being able to recognize the ruins of the now vacant buildings. Many of his neighbors and friends were dispersed across the country or continent choosing to abandon their old lives in Lebanon for safety elsewhere.

Palisades Park High School Basketball Game 

            The Civil War in Lebanon disrupted and uprooted the lives of all Lebanese people because of their inability to coexist peacefully. The very same religions and sacred Holy Scripture that preached acceptance and mercy were used to pit opposing parties against each other.  The once unified and majestic country of Lebanon was demolished in just 15 short years. 
             
             My father has not been back to Lebanon since that trip as he is only able to assimilate it with the faint memories of his interrupted childhood and with the sad reality of the state of his town when he returned.

Written by Michelle Hayek 
Narrative and pictures provided by Michael Hayek 

* All pictures used are permitted to be published on this site.*