BABLIEH, Lebanon: Ten-year-old Ghiwa Chahine never imagined that she wouldn’t be able to speak to her father Ghaleb. The girl, who spoke to him every day, will never hear his voice again. The last time she saw her father was last month, during his last visit to Lebanon from Ivory Coast.
Ghaleb Chahine was robbed and killed Wednesday.
Like Chahine, thousands of Lebanese have traveled to the African continent to provide their families back home with a decent livelihood.
At his funeral service, the voice of a sheikh reciting Quranic verses echoed Thursday across the south Lebanon town of Bablieh, where Chahin was from. The town lies 15 kilometers from the city of Sidon.
An estimated 90,000 Lebanese expatriates live in the Ivory Coast, with almost 90 percent of them in the capital Abidjan.
In the yard of his family house, Chahine’s father Mohammad accepted condolences. The family is still waiting for the body to arrive from Africa to be laid to rest.
Chahine, the father told The Daily Star, had been working with his brother in Africa for 20 years buying coffee bean crops.
“It has been said that Ghaleb withdrew an amount of money to pay for the beans,” the father added. “As you know, expatriates like Ghaleb hired bodyguards to protect them when going around after they heard robberies were on the rise.”
Unfortunately for Chahine, the plan backfired. “According to initial information, it was his bodyguard who killed and robbed him,” the father said. “But we will wait for the results of the investigation.”
Mohammad couldn’t help hold back his tears as he talked about his son. If Chahine had found a job in Lebanon, then he wouldn’t have been forced to leave and look for other opportunities, the father said.
On the first floor of the house, Ghiwa and Maha sat next to their mother, holding Chahine’s picture. The mother was in distress, shocked by the news of her husband’s death.
Bablieh’s Mayor Chahin Khalil Chahin said that he was following up on the investigation with other expatriates in Ivory Coast, praising the role of the Lebanese diaspora for nourishing the Lebanese economy.
Family members urged Lebanese officials to keep Lebanese abroad safe. Hasan Khalifah, Chahin’s brother-in-law, asked officials in Lebanon and in Ivory Coast to protect expatriates from theft.
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