Home is Not Where the Heart is: A Story about Diaspora Armenians in Lebanon.

(Photograph: P. Papalov’s photographic studio:http://www.photomuseum.org.ge/photographers/papalov/papalov_en.htm)

The year was 1946, and Diaspora Armenians from the Middle East were invited to repatriate Soviet Armenia.

My father was around 22 years of age, and he owned a building in Burj Hammoud, the Beirut suburb that was founded by the survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. He did not live in Burj Hammoud but visited once every few months to collect rent from tenants. He was living in Niha, al-Chouf, his hometown, and the trip back then consumed an entire day given the nature of the roads and unavailability of affordable methods of transportation.

Missing “member” of a family:

Two days ago, I received a call from my friend Joumana who, in disbelief, shared the story of the girl from Baisour whose brothers decided to amputate the “member” of her groom because she had eloped with him (the groom) early July and because he is from a different religion.

Joumana and I did not know whether we should stop breathing at the ghastly spectacle (we both have very active imaginations) or hysterically laugh in disbelief at the horrific story that is more likely to occur in a jungle than in a country which has recently approved civil marriage with an overwhelming support (almost 45%) from the Druze sect to which the girl belonged.

The brothers of the girl allegedly had a problem with her marrying a Muslim (or anyone from a different sect for that matter), while others argue that it has to do with the age-gap between the girl and the guy for he is 39 and she is 19.

After convincing the newly weds to come over for dinner, the brothers kidnapped the guy, beat him to pulp, and dragged him to the town square to kill him. One of the brothers who works as a butcher, cut off the “member” in hopes to cut the family off the one member who isn’t welcome. Many questions come to mind: Who were they doing a favor to here? Who benefited in the end? What happened to the girl who has been missing since then? Was it that shameful to them that they had to commit crimes and end their lives for it? Does anger ever have limits? Will the law consider this an honor crime and sentence the brothers to a measly number of months in prison?

It took the Lebanese only two days to start circulating jokes about the story:

Insurance companies are now offering policies that cover “members” who wish to marry girls from other religions. The policy covers the entire region except Baisour (the hometown of the girl). Prices vary depending on the size of the member.

In utter disbelief, my sister asked me, when I told her the story, whether the guy died as a result of the amputation. It is a “sensitive” case, but people do not die when their private parts get cut off.

What upsets me even more is that this case shook the country, but no one is paying attention to female genital mutilation happening all over the Arab world and depriving women from ever enjoying intercourse. It ends their sexual life completely. Sex becomes painful and an ordeal. One guy got mutilated in Lebanon, and the entire country is talking about it. Thousands of women get genitally mutilated every year, and no one dares utter a word. What a shame!

I am not trying to say that what happened to this man is not a crime. It is the ugliest of crimes. I am, however, concerned about the girl, his wife. Where is she? Who knows what about her? What happened to her? He lost his member; did she loose her life at the hands of her brothers?