Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

[Miulang]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

Tita, the Philippines are also on that State Dept. watch list. You mean you going tell me that if your relatives (who you have not seen in 20 years) in the Philippines asked you to come see them because Tata was going celebrate his 93rd birthday, and if you could afford the plane ticket, that you would say, "no I cannot come because my government said it was too dangerous"?


Miulang

P.S. Sarah isn't on American soil yet. She has to get out of Cyprus and fly to London and then she can get back to the States.

[1stwahine]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

Tita Miulang, Yes. I have not visited the Philippines for the very reason. My late husband comes from Tagum, Davao del Norte which is a dangerous Region. A lot of Muslims and many ambushes.

It was already dangerous when I last visited there with my late husband and my children years ago. I made a promise not to return and bring danger knowingly to any of us. I have kept that promise.

When my Governement says not to go. I listened. When I saw first hand ~ I knew.

Nuff said.

Auntie Lynn

btw: I can afford a trip to PI or anywhere if I want to go.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

Tita, the Philippines are also on that State Dept. watch list. You mean you going tell me that if your relatives (who you have not seen in 20 years) in the Philippines asked you to come see them because Tata was going celebrate his 93rd birthday, and if you could afford the plane ticket, that you would say, "no I cannot come because my government said it was too dangerous"?

My mother hasn't returned to the Philippines in 23 years. When her brother passed away in 1998, she couldn't bring herself to go back because she just didn't feel safe.

The State Dept.'s watch list has nothing to do with it. Mom knows first hand how corrupt the government and law enforcement is there and chooses to stay away. I have Hawaii relatives who enjoy making frequent trips to Ilocos Norte and they're just fine with it. Mom, on the other hand, feels that the bigger risk lies not with the Muslim extremists, but with the armed renegades that have terrorized her home province. I myself haven't been since I was 3 years old and have no plans to return. If mom doesn't want to go, I won't even bother.

People still travel to the Middle East despite the State Dept. warnings, but I don't think anyone really expected things to escalate like this. It's unfortunate that Ms. Ahmadia found herself in this situation, and while many will continue to question and criticize her reasons for being there, I think we should all just be quiet and be happy that she'll be home soon with her loved ones.

[1stwahine]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

It's unfortunate that Ms. Ahmadia found herself in this situation, and while many will continue to question and criticize her reasons for being there, I think we should all just be quiet and be happy that she'll be home soon with her loved ones.

Wisely put. Agreed.

Auntie Lynn

[CranBeree]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

my stepfather moved back to the Philippines (Cebu) in 97...he ran for a government office and won...after a few months, my mother and him received death threats, bullets with ribbons wrapped around them saying RIP....my mom offered to pay plane fare so we could come and see them and see her dream home being built...we said no thanks we''ll see you when you visit us! i wouldn't put my family in danger. unless you know someone or have seen even some parts of the Philippines, only then can one realize the dangers of that country...i would'nt care if Tata was turning 100, i still wouldnt go!

[damontucker]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

Miulang...

AuntieLynn can afford many luxuries that many of us can not... One of those luxuries... is that she was priviledged enough to travel in the philipines while her husband was famous.

Money is not an issue in what I was trying to convey... I wanted to convey that Sarah has a prominant family in Beirut and she herself, when she chooses to, can look very much like she is a "local" there....

With that being said she would have been able to travel the streets fairly freely and not be associated as an "outsider"

Auntie lynn would look local going back to the Phillipines...however the crisis that has been going on there is a bit different and there for dangerous for even the local people that live there...this was a sudden uprise between two seperate entities...

The phillipines is fighting amongst themselves...

(please ignore some of my ignorance on this...I'm writing on emotions rather than facts)

[Miulang]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

<sigh> Manoa, I wen already go explain to Tita that she took something that wasn't meant to be personal personally. Get plenty peeps when the ohana invite dem to come visit, dey go say, "eh, no can because no moa kala" (even when dey get da kala because dey no like visit da ohana). All I was saying was everybody gotta decide for demselves when they need to be with ohana and when they no like be with ohana (I tink da "no kala" excuse is one "nice" way of getting out of telling da truth, which is, "I no like see your stinking face!" )

Miulang

P.S. Boy, Tita got you trained good now! And yeah, I was upset with the way the State Dept. wen go handle the evacuation procedures. Dem guys who got stuck in Lebanon neva have one clue dey were going get stuck ova dere. Now one moa ting making me all huhu. Get American Jews who actually going to Israel to live right now, even though they know there's fighting over there. If they get caught in the middle of things, then as far as I'm concerned, they can fend for demselves because they still going to Israel knowing that there's bombing lidat going on.

[1stwahine]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

P.S. Boy, Tita got you trained good now!

heheheheheh...and then some. I wen Hanai him several months ago.

Heaven help us ALL!

Auntie Lynn

[damontucker]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

heheheheheh...and then some. I wen Hanai him several months ago.

Heaven help us ALL!

Auntie Lynn

Yeah but you saw who got the whacks when I went walking....

who was soar on the right side of the body from whacks...

[1stwahine]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

Yeah but you saw who got the whacks when I went walking....

who was soar on the right side of the body from whacks...

Manoa, you got to learn how to spell correctly!!!! It's "sore" not "soar"

Auntie Lynn

[poinographer]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

There's a blogger from Big Island who is not so happy about Ahmadia's brush with fame, to put it mildly.

Link to his post

[mel]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

While I am happy that this lady will be home today in Hilo, she should not have gone to Lebanon. The State Department had long ago issued warnings to Americans to stay out of the country because of the region's volatility. Anyone traveling to the Middle East should realize that their lives are at risk and that they should be prepared to expect the worst.

[pzarquon]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

I don't think anyone who goes to the area is unaware of its instability. But I'm sure the sudden and drastic nature of the conflict's escalation was a surprise to lots of folks. Besides, as people from Hawaii know quite well, the desire to return or visit home -- even just an ancestral or family home that one's never been to before -- can be quite powerful. There's a draw that, for some folks, supercedes any practical considerations.

Given all the warnings and reknown dangers, some folks shouldn't go hiking in the mountains. But, they do. And as much of a bother as it may be, and as much as even I joke that Darwin theory should just take care of everything, I'm glad a mechanism is in place to rescue those who get in over their head.

Sounds like Ahmadia has discovered, however, that America's ability to intercede isn't quite as flawless as she expected. For all her griping, though, I sure hope she's, somehow, grateful.

Unless the U.S., like some municipal rescue operations, issues her an invoice for services rendered!

[glossyp]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

I confess to being amazed that Americans believe the government should come rescue them from foreign countries when hostilities break out. As a frequent traveller in a prior life to places on the State department's 'do not travel' list, I always went with contingency plans to get myself out whether that be being prepared to hike cross country, jump a cargo ship or float down a river in the company of questionable characters. I've only had to run twice but if I hadn't been prepared I'd probably not be here today. People who travel to dangerous places or simmering hot spots need to be prepared, self reliant and not expect big daddy to come rescue them.

[Miulang]

Re: Please Pray for Big Island Resident Sarah Ahmadia

For people who think Lebanese Americans who were trapped in Lebanon at the outbreak of the current hostilities were foolish, what would you make of the young Jewish Americans between the ages of 18 and 26 who are going on 10-day jaunts to Israel in the middle of all of this?

Miulang