Dr. Kyle Badaoui and his family typically visit their family in Lebanon for three or four weeks each summer.
On July 1, Badaoui, better known to his patients at Caruso Chiropractic in downtown Lake Orion as Dr. Kyle, his wife Fernande, and their children, Christa, 5, and Elie, 4, completed the 20-hour journey to his parents? home, ten minutes north of Beirut.
‘We were going for our normal vacation,? Dr. Kyle said.
But this trip quickly became anything but normal.
‘Everything was perfect the first three or four days,? said Dr. Kyle, whose sister’s wedding took place shortly after the family’s arrival.
Unfortunately, a tragedy struck his family right after the wedding, as his uncle passed away.
Dr. Kyle said the fighting in Lebanon began on the last day of his uncle’s funeral.
He said it is common for there to be a day or two of bombing, but that it usually stops.
‘The war has been going on like that for a long time,? he said.
But after a couple of days, their family realized this wasn’t the usual amount of bombing.
‘We could see the airport being bombed from our porch,? Dr. Kyle said, noting that he and his wife were doing their best to keep the young children from witnessing the violence.
Dr. Kyle said he and his wife experienced the situation when they were growing up, and hoped not to expose their children to it at such a young age.
‘Last year, we actually skipped the trip because of political concerns,? he said, adding that they thought the situation was resolved enough to make the trip this summer.
‘It was a war zone,? he said. ‘People were just freaking out.?
Dr. Kyle’s family left his parents? home and headed even further north to his brother’s home.
Most of the fighting has taken place in the southern part of Lebanon, where the death toll is nearing 1,000 since mid-July.
With the fighting showing no signs of subsiding, Dr. Kyle and his wife decided to explore their options for returning home to the United States as quickly as possible.
‘We got our names into the American and Canadian embassies,? he said.
Going through the American embassy, which was the first to respond, would allow only one parent to go with the children, and Dr. Kyle and his wife did not want to split up the family.
The Canadian embassy, however, said that the entire family could go together, and advised them to report to a pier near the heart of Beirut.
According to Dr. Kyle, 1,200 people were supposed to show up at the pier, and roughly 5,000 did.
Their family had to wait from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. in a line, in order to do the proper paperwork.
The nine hours in the sun with no bathrooms for the little ones was tough enough, but then they had to stay overnight, sleeping on carpet and their luggage at the port station, before they could depart the following morning.
‘It was a risk worth taking,? said Dr. Kyle. The family could hear bombs landing all around, but were part of a safe-zone at the port.
Jet ships took the family to Turkey for the next leg of their long journey.
‘The worst experience through it all was the sea sickness on those ships,? Dr. Kyle recalled.
The family then went from Turkey to Paris, where they were finally able to fly back to North America.
When they arrived in their destination of Montreal, there was just one more obstacle to cross.
‘That day, my son got sick with a 104.5 degree fever,? Dr. Kyle said. ‘So we stayed there for a few days.?
Without the time spent in Montreal attending to his son, Dr. Kyle said the return trip took a total of 79 hours.
‘Going there, the flight time was 20 hours, and that included a five or six hour layover in Germany,? he said. ‘So it was four times as long coming back.?
In all, the Badaoui family spent one night in a port, one night on a boat, two nights in Montreal, and one night on a train (from Montreal to Windsor).
Dr. Kyle said they are glad to be back, but are keeping a close eye on the situation in Lebanon, and are talking on a daily basis with family still there.
‘Unfortunately, it’s still going on,? he said. ‘Thank God nothing happened to us.?
‘It will take a long time to fix whatever happened, even if it stopped today,? he added, saying the fighting has set the country back at least ten years.
Dr. Kyle said many relatives are in the process of coming to visit him while the situation settles in Lebanon.
His sister, on her honeymoon in Paris, was unable to return home because of the fighting.
Dr. Kyle said that situation is just one example of the many that show how the lives of nearly five million people have been affected by the fighting.
The Badaoui family lives in Waterford, and Dr. Kyle said the support of their community, and his work community in Lake Orion, is one of the reasons they are encouraging family members to come to the U.S., if possible.
‘Through the whole process, I was amazed by how many e-mails I received from here,? Dr. Kyle said. ‘And prayers too. It’s great to be back home.?