The Dreadful Evacuation-NG

“BOOM!”

More and more bombs were falling out of the sky as we were on our way to the port. Everyone had a look of fear in their eyes as the Canadian police officers were checking the passports. I never knew that this could possibly happen, but there I was, caught in the middle of war!

It all started on July 12, 2006, two weeks after we moved from Canada to Lebanon. Israel invaded Lebanon and we were asked by the Canadian government to evacuate back to Canada. My dad decided to stay in Beirut because he had work, and he promised to call my mom, brother, sister, and me every day. As we were all saying our goodbyes, the Canadian police officers told us that we should start getting on the bus that was going to take us to a big hall called Biel.

There were over 300 people trying to evacuate in August. We waited in line facing the Biel building for three hours, and the sun was like fire pointing at us. Everyone had their own suitcases, which made it even harder to walk while people were pushing because they wanted to get inside as soon as possible. We made some friends as we were waiting in line, which made the time pass faster. As we took our last step in the burning sun, we were in a big room full of people and air conditioning.

This room was very colourful and massive. There were babies crying and people screaming. Everyone was stressed out, depressed, and angry. There were tables to sit at and a snack bar to eat from.

A man came to me and my family, and he gave us a card which read 265. I was very angry at first, because the number that he gave us was the bus number we were going to be on, and they were only at bus number 136. Then I found out that we were one of the last buses, and that whoever had a card which read 267 and more were to stay over night. I couldn’t complain anymore, because there were no beds or mattresses for the people who had to stay over night, they had to sleep on the dirty floor.

Eight hours later, they called our bus number, and we were relieved. We got on the bus, and it took only 10 minutes to get to the boat. We were very lucky that we were heading to Cyprus, because Cyprus is much closer than Turkey. As we got on the boat, a lady walked towards us, and she told us. She would be glad to take us to our room. We followed her, she led us a room with four beds. It was perfect!

The boat was very big, and the people who worked there were very nice. Even though the boat ride was eight hours long, they had a big buffet for everyone to eat from and a big room with a big screen TV and sofas for everyone to watch. Then, the boat came to a stop, and everyone stood up and waited in line to get off the boat.

After a long wait, we were off the boat, and they brought us to another bus, which took us to a stadium. Five minutes later, we were at the entrance of the stadium, and they gave us our plane ticket number.

They took us to a crowded gym, with no air-conditioning, and the electricity was not stable. There were over 200 cots on the floor, in case we had to spend the night, and there was a snack bar that was open 24/7. They gave us sandwiches, coffee, cookies, and much more. All for free.

We waited in the gym for twelve hours, and they finally called our number. No one was going to have to stay over night. You could see everyone’s faces light up when they told us. We had to get on another bus which brought us to the airport. It took about ten minutes to get there.

We waited two hours until we finally got on the plane. We were told that the plane ride was going to be ten hours long, but I didn’t complain, because I knew that I would be in Canada in ten hours.

I slept the whole way there, and when I opened my eyes, we were landing! I was ecstatic; I was finally in Canada after that exhausting journey.

I’m back in Lebanon now, and I know that when we go back to Canada in the summer, the trip is going to be long, but after what I’ve been through, I’m not going to complain at all!