Safe from harm

Blacktown Advocate (Australia)
July 26, 2006 Wednesday

AS 15-year-old Annette Mazmanians ran into her family’s arms at the
arrivals lounge of Sydney airport last week, she gave way to the
pent-up emotion of her week-long ordeal in the Middle East.

The Quakers Hill resident was one of 67 teenagers from the Armenian
dance group Hamazkayeen Sevan, who became trapped in Beirut when the
brewing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted.

The exhausted dancers and their chaperones were greeted by hundreds
of emotional family members bearing flowers and balloons when they
arrived shortly after 11pm on Thursday night.

"I felt the wheels land into Sydney, I was really relieved and happy
home sweet home," Annette told reporters. "As much as you’re far away
from your parents and you have your friends around, you just want to
come back home as soon as you can."

Over the course of six highly-fraught days, the dance troupe hid in
their hotel in the city’s Christian quarter before travelling by bus
to Jordan via Syria. They then boarded three planes in Bahrain for
the long flight back to Sydney.

"As soon as we got into the bus to go to Jordan, and just to escape,
to evacuate from there, we felt one bomb and that was the closest. We
saw the buildings just go off and we felt the vibration, it was pretty
scary," she said.

Annette’s father Karl said the group had been on the last stop of a
tour which included Armenia and Syria and which should have brought
them home on July 14.

"They were only there for a brief stop over, just two days, but once
the bombs started coming in they had to stay in the hotel," he said.
"Even when you hear that they are OK and they are coming back you
still don’t 100 per per cent relax until you see them coming through
the gate."

Life is gradually returning to normal in the Mazmanians household.
Annette has returned to St Gregory’s Armenian School in Rouse Hill
and is catching up with friends and relatives.

"She won’t be going anywhere alone for a while that’s for sure,"
Mr Mazmanians chuckled. "The family is just looking to put this
behind us."

At the time of going to press, about 2,600 Australian citizens had
been evacuated from Lebanon.