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T
hat’s not how it was supposed to be. The students should
have been at home studying for their IB exams. Rasha
Daouk, the IB coordinator, herself, should have been at
home with her husband and son.
Instead, she and 12 IB students were huddled in the hallways of
Fadlallah building – an apartment block just a half kilometer away
from the Ras Beirut campus.
The windows rattled as militiamen fought their battles right be-
low them. The building shook with every RPG fired. Bullets zinged
by. If the students were petrified, they didn’t show it. They talked.
They joked. They berated the militiamen below them.
Daouk looked around the young faces around her. She was ulti-
mately responsible for them. And she was responsible that every IB
student sit for their exams scheduled over two weeks and an a half.
“I should have been worried but strangely I wasn’t,” said Daouk.
“I felt strong. I felt I had to protect them.”
It was pure instinct that drove her to suggest allowing students
to sleep at the Fadlallah building on May 6th. Not that she antici-
pated a battle. But she did anticipate road blocks preventing stu-
dents from arriving to the campus. There would be a demonstra-
tion and a strike the next day and road blocks were bound to be
erected. Altogether there were 23 students.
As the demonstration was underway, the students made their
way to the campus and took their exam as planned. But trouble
was brewing and it seemed safer to spend another night. On May
7th, the students sat for their second exam. In the afternoon, some
students (who didn’t have to take the exam the next day) went
home. Twelve remained.
And the battles began.
In less than 24 hours, Beirut had become a battleground for mi-
litias vying for control. In the morning of the 9th, the battles still
raged on. Meanwhile, Daouk’s phone was ringing off the hook. All
were worried. President John Johnson, VP Mishka Mourani, direc-
tor of secondary school, Youssef Korfali, and parents felt helpless.
Sitting in the hallways, Ibrahim Kaiss, 17, wondered about the
safety of his family in Mazraa, which had taken the brunt of the
fighting. But his parents “knew what to do, they’ve been through
the civil war,” he assured himself.
Going home didn’t even occur to him. He had to take the exams
or miss out on attending McGill University next year.
In a daze, Daouk called up the IB office in England.
“We can’t reach the school,” she said.
The IBO told her to postpone the exam until Sunday.
A short distance away at IC, John and Mary Johnson were in the
Martin House listening in horror to the noises outside.
Towards midday, there seemed to be a lull in the battles and
Johnson quickly invited Daouk and students to come over.
“I didn’t think anybody would attack the school,” said Johnson.
“There was no reason to.”
The couple had just arrived from their Easter holiday in the US
and food in the house was scarce. As things seemed relatively calm,
Johnson ventured out to the nearest open supermarket and lugged
bags of food back to campus. To cheer up his guests, he made them
lasagna.
“They ate it all, so I guess they liked it,” he said laughing.
More students arrived the next day to prepare for the Sunday exam.
To accommodate everyone, the boys were relegated to sleep in
the teacher’s lounge in Rockefeller Hall while the girls remained at
Martin House.
Among the arrivals was Michael Feghali, 17. He had gone home
just before the battles broke out and drove himself crazy worrying
about his friends hiding in Fadlallah. He managed to convince his
parents to send him back to rejoin his friends.
“It was great being in the teachers’ lounge, the forbidden area,”
he laughed. “We were the kings of the school.”
Mattresses and pillows were quickly provided. The cafeteria was
opened and a live-in chef summoned. Seven of the IB students,
who live in the east side of Beirut, were relegated to take their IB
exams at the Sagesse High School in Mansourieh.
Finally, on May 15th, the danger was deemed over and students
were sent home. The exams continued uneventfully.
On May 16th, the school reopened its doors to all students.
It was over.
“The strength of IC as an institution is that we pull together
when we need one another,” said Johnson. “Making sure our stu-
dents are safe and continuing their education are two things our
school community does well.”
Over 60 people died during the week long crisis. The IC family sends
its deepest condolences to all those who lost their loved ones.
Crisis in Beirut (but IB students sit for exams)
IC Features