Chch woman lived in Beirut during fighting

Press, 14 March 1977, Page 4

Chch woman lived in Beirut during fighting

A Christchurch woman; believes that Lebanese,! Moslems, and Christians will! not be able to live in peace again after the recent war which destroyed their capital, Beirut, and many other towns and villages. Mrs Diane Pharaon has spent three years and a half in Beirut, and is married to a Lebanese banker. She was! there throughout the war.] which she says was definitely' not a civil war. “It was Leftist-influenced.'; with participants from! Somalia. Iraq. Libya, Syria. Palestine. Pakistan, Japan.; and Eritrea — we were “in-; vaded by all these people,”: she said. Mrs Pharaon has adopted Lebanese citizenship, and ; hopes to return to the country soon to rejoin hethusband She had been nursing in Italy when she decided to 1 visit Lebanon, and found the people there very difficult to understand at first. “But when I went back a second time I had more friends among English nurses and the local people, so it was much better.” She married her husband, Salim, at the end of 1974. and began working in a hospital in Beirut. “At the beginning of 1975, things started to become tricky. When I went to

tricky. . ;en went to town, people seemed to be everywhere and shops were shutting that usually stayed open until eight o’clock,” Mrs Pharaon said.

“The people are a very good barometer of the political climate — if they were running in the streets at midday. I started heading for home myself.”

She noticed that people would stay away from work for about three davs. then gradually drift back. “Then i the incidents became longer,

and the intervals between | t'hem shorter.” i But at no time did she and her husband consider fleeing the strife-torn city. “I was ■ there and felt I had a job to do,” Mrs Pharaon said. She recalled the night when bombs first fell round the hospital and wounded

i people began to pour in seeking help. “My hands shook for about five minutes as I was preparing an injection. After

that, while I was at work 1 was quite calm.” she said. During the war, the ; Pharaon s were forced to use ; the back rooms of their house > as those in the front were exposed to rocket fire. The kitchen was the safest place, and so they slept on the floor there for weeks. "My husband and some of i the neighbours formed a group which would patrol the streets of the neighbourhood, guarding against looting. Unfortunately, that left me at home by myself, too terrified to sleep, wondering if soldiers were about to break down the doors and kill me.” There were all the usual discomforts of war — electricity and telephone wires cut. water supplies sabotaged, no petrol, and food limited to a few staples, such as potatoes, lentils, and macaroni. During the war, about 55 truces were agreed. “After a while, they were looked upon !as a joke. The Moslems ■ broke just about every one, usually within 24 hours.” Finally, the Syrians decided it was time to restore peace, and now a mainly Christian Government rules Ithe country. Mrs Pharaon, who was I bom and went to school in ■Christchurch, is working at the Princess Margaret Hospital until she returns overseas.