Amme's Story

In this Episode, Amme sets off from Tyre, Lebanon to Baghdad, Iraq to Mosul, Iraq. (circa 1930)

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Amme's Story tells the tale of a Lebanese who travelled around the world through the 20th century, from the early 1920s up until present day. An Autobiography filled with historical facts & anecdotes about Lebanon, Iraq, Europe, and North America.

tags: autobiography, iraq, baghdad, jewish school, mosul, lebanon, tyre, amme's story, lebanese, roadtrip, history, 1930

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below are the transcripts to these videos: Amme's Story Part 2 Videos

Part 2-1

It was August 1930, and the news about her brother's death had spread. People from the British Training Mission, who were spending the Summer in Brummana, visited Amme's family to offer their condolences. They knew of Amme from before, that she had graduated from the British Training College with the Higher Training Diploma, and they offered her a teaching job in Tyre (Soor), where they had a small school. Her mother, and her brother, Elias, allowed her to go. At the time, if she hadn't left the house, something would've happened to her; she would've gone crazy or fallen sick...

She went to Soor, along with two other teachers who had been with her at the British Training College: Martha, from Tripoli (Tarablus), and Fahima, from Beirut.
She worked there for two years. "And the fact is that my life is from Martha and Fahima." They never left her alone. They lived together in a house within the school campus. The campus was surrounded by a wall, and had a garden with a pool in it to water the plants. Sometimes, she would lose them and go off by herself into the garden to be alone. They would always go look for her, or ask “khala” Farida, the older woman who took care of them, to find her.

She owes her life and mental health to them. “They were so kind to me, so wonderful to me”. They were good friends, and the three of them were very close, probably closer than sisters would be. They shared a bedroom, and had a living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. They’d “come and go” together… for two years, during which her life was revived.

- Was Sour beautiful at the time?
- Yeah….it was different than it is today. There weren't all the tall buildings that are on the shore today. Instead there was the “kharab”...

Part 2-2

On the coast of Tyre (Soor) there weren't sandy beaches, but "kharab": ruins and rocks from old ports and buildings. Amme, Martha and Fahima used to go on Sundays to walk on these ruins. They'd go to church, attend the Sunday service which was held by a priest who would come in from Sidon, and then go take a walk on the "kharab". There wasn't anywhere else for them to go.

The rocks there were very slippery, and they'd be careful and try not to slip. One day, they were walking there and arrived to a place where there was a hole between the rocks, with fish swimming in it. "And the water is tricky; you can't tell how deep it is; you think you can reach out your hand and find the fish". She reached into the water and slipped and fell into the hole. She held on to the rocks around her; it turned out to be very deep, deeper than her height. Martha and Fahima were helpless, how would they get her out?

Across the ruins there were houses, where many of their students lived. And it seems that the students would wait and watch, when they saw that their teachers were going out on the kharab.
One of them, a teenage girl, saw her fall in. She ran from her home to the ruins, and pulled her out of the hole!

"That was one of the incidents that was very funny."

She was all wet, and they went home so she could change her clothes. At the time she was wearing all black, throughout two years.

"People are very good... My experience with people, whether in teaching, traveling or through meetings: people are very very nice."

After Soor, she went and taught in Baghdad, in a Jewish school....

tags: amme, story, beirut, lebanon, tyre, south, baghdad, transcripts

-birdog- Amme's Story on BloggingBeirut.com

PART 2-2: Amme recalls walking on the Beaches of Tyre, Lebanon in the 1930s.

PART 2-1: Devastated by her brother's death, Amme heads to Tyre, Lebanon.


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click here for PART 1

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PART 2: Devastated by her brother's death, Amme heads to Tyre, South Lebanon to get away from it all.


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click here for PART 1

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due to a lack of coordination, we published Amme's Story: Part 1 before getting around to writing the synopsis. so here it is, late but very helpful for those who are rusty with their Lebanese (Arabic).

When Amme decided to go to the US, she hadn't discussed it with anyone previously. Her family weren't happy to hear she was going, but they knew she wouldn't change her mind. She felt that she needed the change, if not America, then India; she needed to see something besides Baghdad and Brummana (she worked in Iraq for a while before going to the US -- more on that coming up).

The issue was that she was 12 years younger than her brother Bchara, who passed away when he was 32 years old. He became ill with Edison's disease, a dryness in the glands around the kidneys, which makes the skin turn bronze colored. John F. Kennedy, the previous U.S. president, had the same disease, but it was never discussed in public. Yet wherever the president went, there was a pharmacy accompanying him. But in the 1930's, Bchara's time, medicine was not as advanced. His doctor, Tanios from Brummana told Elias, Bchara and Amme's eldest brother, that Bchara would live three more years with special attention and care. Elias didn't pass this information on to anyone. Bchara lived five years. He used to be able to come and go, but his health deteriorated. His white skin turned bronze. It was like he became sick with the flu; he didn't have anymore energy and strength. And he died.

His death killed her. "It was the end of Amme". She had no more happiness and fun in her. It was like she was lost.

Bchara's death pushed Amme to take a new path in her life, and marked the beginning of her travels away from Brummana.

More to come... -birdog

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Amme's Story tells the tale of a Lebanese who travelled around the world through the 20th century, from the early 1920s up until present day. An Autobiography filled with historical facts & anecdotes about Lebanon, Iraq, Europe, and North America.

Part 1: Amme talks about her decision to travel to the USA from Lebanon in 1930 - dwelling on the reasons behind this decision.

This is the first part of a mini series exclusive to BloggingBeirut.

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-finkployd- all rights reserved to BloggingBeirut.com