African Odyssey of a Lebanese Emigrant: An Autobiography of Sorts

Beirut, Lebanon — 1982
…no sooner had I stepped out of the car when a bomb exploded right next to where we had parked; I was not even fifty metres away. Without thinking, I immediately rushed back to the car… What I saw still haunts me. I saw horrible burns all over Ghazi’s face and upper body…
After the death of Ghazi, I was emotionally disturbed; part of me had died with him. At the cemetery, offering our condolences, the atmosphere was extremely tense as Ghazi’s mother approached me and said with a broken heart and in a tone I will never forget, ‘why did God take Ghazi and not you, Habib?’ At that moment, I knew it was time for me to leave Lebanon.