Escape from Lebanon Hampden woman, 2-year-old daughter evade dangers of bombing

HAMPDEN – Monica Nelson pointed to the sky Tuesday as an airplane roared over her home, pausing to listen to the sound that a few weeks ago drove her into hiding with her 2-year-old daughter and seven other people in a basement apartment in Lebanon.

Nelson, who is several months pregnant, and daughter Ameera returned home Sunday after a two-month visit with relatives in the southern Lebanese town of Houla. Her husband, Lebanon native and Bangor area surgeon Wassim Mazraany, already had flown home when on July 11 Nelson first suspected something was wrong.

She heard jets fly over her in-laws’ house, an unexpected sound in an area designated as a no-fly zone because of its proximity to the Israeli border, she said.

“I’m not supposed to hear airplanes in Lebanon,” she recalled thinking.

Then her sister-in-law’s cell phone started ringing, Nelson said, curled up on the couch in her living room, her T-shirt taut over her pregnant belly. She heard the bombs begin to fall, beside herself with worry because Ameera was nearly an hour away at day care, Nelson remembered.

“That was driving me absolutely insane,” she said.

Without Nelson’s knowledge, Ameera’s grandfather braved dangerous roads along the border to retrieve the young girl. Hours later, with her daughter back, Nelson called home. “I’m sorry to wake you up, but they’re dropping bombs,” she told her husband during a 3 a.m. phone call.

That day was the beginning of a nine-day stretch Nelson and Ameera spent in the homes of friends and neighbors, waiting out the fighting and ducking inside when explosions drew near. Nelson, a dietitian, fretted over the food supply not only for herself and Ameera, but also for the baby inside her, she said.

“Every time I felt the baby move I was so grateful,” Nelson said. “The only thing I had the remotest amount of control over was the food.”

During a lull in the bombing, mother and child made the treacherous journey to Beirut to be evacuated with other American citizens. Nelson packed a bag with only clothes, bug spray for Ameera, a flashlight, diapers, her passport and money.

“If I’m ever there again and hear an airplane again, I’m going to hightail it out of town,” Nelson said.

Her escape took place in a speeding car along open roads, with Ameera asleep in her lap and her sister-in-law behind the wheel, she said. They flew white flags out of the windows to avoid being bombed.

“We were the only people on the road. I was holding that flag with all my strength,” she said.

After reaching Beirut and waiting in long lines amid a crowd of at least a thousand, Nelson and Ameera boarded the USS Nashville to travel to Cyprus. Two days later, they flew back to the U.S., staying in New Jersey with family before returning to their neat subdivision in Hampden.

“I still feel guilty that I was able to get out,” Nelson said.

She now is diving back into her doctoral thesis and catching up on domestic tasks after spending two months away. Folded piles of children’s clothing were laid out on the floor and curtains in her living room awaited straightening after being disturbed by a recent paint job.

Though grateful to be home, Nelson is nagged by worry about Mazraany’s parents, who have moved north along with many other refugees to Mount Lebanon, she said. The area is known to be “pro-Israel,” a sentiment she finds hard to understand amid the devastation.

“Destroying a country is not self-defense,” she said of Israel’s retaliation for Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers on July 12.

Residents in southern Lebanese towns have been instructed to evacuate, but roads and bridges are impassable because of the bombing, Nelson said. Though not as familiar with the area’s political history as her husband is, she and Mazraany are working to educate lawmakers who they believe are blind to Israel’s faults, Nelson said.

Much like she did in Lebanon, she still tries to avoid the images of violence on television, Nelson said. Her husband speaks with his family by phone about twice a week, and feels a strong pull to return home and use his medical skills to help others, she said.

While neither she nor Mazraany will return to Lebanon soon, Ameera’s grandfather will see his new grandchild as soon as it is safe, Nelson said.

“I love Lebanon,” she said. “I love the people.”