Faith and family bring siblings home
By Jennifer Mitchell
Rocky River
Published August 9, 2006

Marina Georges and her brother, Sam Elenahass, are two of the Americans who narrowly escaped the ongoing fight between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon. (Photo by Larry Bennet)

There are at least a million ways to say, “I love you.”  Friends and family of Rocky River’s Marina Georges did it by purchasing her passage to Lebanon.

Georges, 44, was diagnosed with cancer in September. One of five siblings, she’s lived in the United States since she was 19. Her mother and one sister still live in Lebanon the country where Georges was born.

She planned to visit her childhood home with her husband, Habib, who’s known to many as Bobby, and the couple’s two children, Tony, 22 and Timmy, 20, in August. However, her doctor advised her to go sooner. Her brother Sam Elenahass, a Westlake resident and youngest in the family, agreed to accompany her. Though he’s lived in America since age 18, the 35-year-old goes overseas every few years to visit his mother and sister.

Georges’ friends and family, including her aunt and uncle, Jeanette and Joe Kanaan of local favorite Joe’s Deli, held a fund-raiser at St. Bernadette Catholic Church in Westlake to pay her way.

Soon Georges and Elenahass were on their way oversees. While the intentions of all involved were good, the timing was poor.

An unexpected welcome
The siblings left for Lebanon July 8. Israel began bombing the country the day after they reached their destination, Aitaneet in Beeka Valley.

“We weren’t that close, but we could hear the bombs,” Elenahass said. “We thought it would only be a couple of days.”

The two were in a primarily Christian area of the country and assumed it was safe. Radical Islamic Shiite groups and organizations seeking to create a Muslim state primarily compose Hezbollah, and the organization bases its operations in areas heavily populated by Muslims.

However, Georges and Elenahass soon realized nowhere was safe. As their nephew was driving them to dine at their sister’s house, a bomb struck, exploding about 50 feet in front of them.

Had the siblings’ nephew been traveling just a bit faster, the bomb could have hit their car.

“Everybody was terrified,” Elenahass said. “We didn’t know where they were going to bomb next.”

Georges is certain that the survival of her family was due to the intervention of a higher power, as well as the prayers of friends and family here and in Lebanon.

“We believed that God was watching for us,” Georges said. “He saved us.”

That incident, paired with the decision of the United States government to evacuate its citizens, cut Georges and Elenahass planned 3-week trip in half.

The long road home
Though they were ready to return to Ohio, finding a way out was difficult.

“It was like a bad dream,” Elenahass said. “You feel helpless. You feel numb.”

The siblings’ first task was finding a way to Beirut.

“We had to find somebody to drive us,” Elenahass said. “Nobody wanted to take a chance.”

Fortunately, they found a man with a dilapidated old junker who agreed to the risky journey. Elenahass had to pay the driver close to $200 for a trip that usually would cost $20. They left at 4 a.m.

“It looked like a ghost town going to Beirut,” Elenahass said.

The car they rode in had no air conditioning and reeked of gasoline. Georges sat in the back, dizzy from the fumes. Israel’s bombs destroyed Lebanon’s main thoroughfares, requiring the travelers to make their way along back roads on their route to Beirut.

Getting out of Beirut was another story. Georges was ill and fellow evacuees were in a panic — pushing, shoving and even fighting.

Elderly people fainted and children vomited during the long wait in the hot sun to board U.S. military evacuation vessels. The ships were taking travelers to the nearby island nation of Cyprus for safety.

“It was standing room only,” Elenahass said. “It was chaos because of the amount of people trying to leave.”

The siblings said that although the Marines aiding in the evacuation were organized, the 25,000 Lebanese visitors trying to escape were in chaos.

Elenahass said the Marines and Navy staff aided small children and carried people’s luggage. On the ship, they stood up, allowing evacuees to sit. They fed their guests, cleaned up after them and let them sleep in their bunks.

“We don’t think they slept,” he said. “The Marines and Navy personnel did a good job.”

His sister agrees, “The Marines were wonderful,” she said.

Helping hands stretch across great divide
In the midst of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, additional help came for Georges in what some might see as an unlikely form.

“The person that helped them the most was a wonderful Jewish man, Eli Rosenbaum, who works for the Justice Department,” Jeanette Kanaan said.

The Kanaans’ daughter, Jenni, works for Rosenbaum, as does her boyfriend, Adam. The three did all they could on Georges’ behalf. Their efforts secured her a wheelchair as well as a doctor upon the siblings’ arrival at Cyprus, about 130 miles from Beirut.

Without Rosenbaum’s help, Georges and Elenahass would have had to stay in Cyprus three or four days. Instead, they were able to board a plane right away.

Delta Airlines took several evacuees on a 12-hour volunteer flight from Cyprus to Atlanta for free. The company provided evacuees with food, T-shirts, and two nights of hotel vouchers upon arrival in the United States. From Atlanta, evacuees also were given half-price tickets to anywhere in the country so they could get home.

“Delta Airlines did a wonderful job helping people,” Georges said.

Brother and sister both give credit to God for getting them home. Elenahass said that their family members played a large part in their return, too.

“We want to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts,” Georges said.

Now that they are home safe, the two said their hearts and prayers are focused on the family they’ve left behind, as well as the innocent people who suffer as Israel and Hezbollah battle.

 “We left and our hearts were attached,” Georges said.

Nonetheless, they are glad to be back in America.

“We don’t realize what we have here until you travel to another country,” Elenahass said. “We are spoiled. It’s good to be home. It’s good to be a U.S. citizen.”