They’re safe and sound
THE 69 Fairfield residents who were stranded in Beirut have been
returned safe and sound, to the delight of their family and friends.
The Hamazkaine Sevan dance group members landed in Sydney on Thursday
night and Bossley Park resident Tatiana Arabian, whose daughter Rose,
16, and son Sion, 15, were with the group, said they received a warm
welcome home.
"Someone said ‘Tatiana, just look behind you’," she said. "I did and
they were all just standing there looking at us.
"Then everyone was running, and everyone was hugging, and everyone
was crying and kissing.
"It’s like, when you want something so bad, when you finally get it
you don’t know if it’s real or not."
The group had been in Lebanon on the last stop of a tour, which
included Armenia and Syria, when Israel launched its offensive against
Hezbollah militants in retaliation for the kidnapping of two Israeli
soldiers.
They were evacuated from the war-torn city to Jordan by bus, then
flown home to Sydney.
"My son is sleeping on the couch and I was watching him from the door
and my husband asked what I was doing," Ms Arabian said.
"I said, look at him, he’s here, just look.
"The phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
"Even people I don’t know very well are calling to wish us well.
"It’s amazing because at the end you feel like we’re all human and
we’re all thinking about each other and we’re all taking care of
each other."
For her part, Rose said she was relieved to be back in Australia.
"We could hear the bombs, but we were fairly safe most of the time,"
she said.
"The day we left though, we were sitting in the bus waiting to go
and one fell so close that a piece of debris fell next to us.
"That was really frightening, just waiting to leave and wanting to
be home and safe."
Rose said flying into Sydney was a special experience.
"That was the best feeling," she said.
"Seeing the city and the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
"To be back in our own country, our own city was great.
"We’re the lucky ones, we were just visiting.
"It’s the people who live there that are having the hardest time."