A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.599.3142. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: Oct. 10 All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be emailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, campus correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Tatiana Shehadeh, special contributor; Nick Young, photography and layout
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Students give views on Lebanese crisis
By Tatiana Shehadeh
Special Contributor
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| Sara Safa | “Could you please remove my hold so I can register for classes” stated the e-mail I received on July 28 from Lebanese International student Sara Safa, who was visiting her family in Lebanon during the summer. A great relief came over me as I realized that she must be safe and is planning to return to Collin despite the turbulences happening on that side of the world.
Safa is one of several international or Lebanese-American Collin students who happened to be in Lebanon during the month of July. Luckily for those holding American citizenships, U.S. ships and helicopters soon evacuated them to the island of Cyprus, and then home. But many others (Lebanese studying in the U.S.) had to take the long route to Syria or Jordan to return to Texas to continue their studies. Safa, whose home is in the Southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh, fled with her grandparents, mother and siblings to the Northern city of Sidon when the building opposite their home was bombed.
A short trip of 20 miles became a trip of six hours due to road blockings and the destruction of bridges. Safa relayed how she felt her home shake during bombing, several people from her town were hurt, and how fearful she and her family were for their lives.
“It was the scariest month of my life,” she said. Although thankful she is on safe grounds, her heart cries for Lebanon and the Lebanese people. For Nada Fawaz, a Lebanese-American Collin student, it was a scary experience. “It was a very tense time for everyone. People were calling each other to find out if their relatives and friends were alive.”
Finally, she says that she is glad to be back in the United States where it is safe; however, she feels guilty leaving relatives and friends behind. Two new Lebanese international applicants, who were admitted to Collin for the fall semester, were unable to receive their student visa due to the closing of the American Embassy in Beirut. Several Lebanese college students visiting friends and family in Collin County during the summer, unable to return to their universities in Beirut and in fear of loosing a semester of studies, were admitted to Collin this fall semester.
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| Chadi El-Khoury | Chadi El-Khoury, a Lebanese-American student, initially wanted to find a way to go to Lebanon to help.
However, he said, “I came to the conclusion that my voice and my stance on the issue, here in the United States, would be more beneficial and have a greater influence than being in Lebanon.”
American-born Palestinian student Mohamed Elkhalid felt very scarred and worried for his family’s safety in Lebanon. His grandparents, uncle, aunts, and cousins living in the most Southern city, Tyre, were stuck there due to the destruction of the roads making it harder to flee to safer ground.
“This differed from the war of the 80’s,” he said, “because the air raids and artillery fire were more frequent, making the attacks less predictable.”
Mohamed’s uncle, aunt and cousin, U.S. citizens who were visiting Lebanon, were his only family members who were evacuated by a U.N. commissioned ship two weeks after the crisis.
New transfer Lebanese student Chadi Fakhreldine said that he is “angry at the destruction of the infrastructure of Lebanon and of killing the innocent people indiscriminately.” He was also worried about his family in the South of Lebanon. “No one has stood with us, nor supported us. No matter; even though we stand alone, we Lebanese are proud and courageous people who will be able to rebuild the country better than it was before," Fakhreldine said.
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| Omar Daghlas | Omar Daghlas, an international student from Palestine, commented that he felt that “even though no action was taken by the Arab governments to help the Lebanese strive their way through the crisis, we as Arabs lived every moment of this disaster and felt their pain. Lebanon is beautiful and it will always be.”
Every one of these students was asked if they would ever go back to Lebanon. The responses were “definitely,” “of course,” “inshallah (God willing),” “absolutely,” “yes” and “hopefully, very soon.”
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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