Looking over the camper list just prior to their arrival yesterday, I noticed two with the last name of "Hibri." This put me in mind of Bassem El-Hibri, whom I knew as a young man from Beirut, Lebanon. Bassem attended a Y camp in the mountains of Lebanon and somehow through that experience met Paul Brown, Halbe Brown's brother. Paul was doing an international Y stint in the middle east. (I think David Allen met Paul, and perhaps Paul and Bassem, over there too. David was in Egypt, I think.) Anyway, Bassem found out about Frost Valley from Paul and arrived in 1973 (in the midst of war and civil war back home). He was here in '73, '74, and '75, possibly '76 too. One summer he was the Totem village chief. Another summer he climbed all 46 high peaks of the Adirondacks with Bud Cox and a group of boys on an Adventure trip. He and I became pretty close friends and spent some wonderful days off together in '75.I lost touch with Bassem a few years later. Last I heard, he had moved to the U.S. and was running an import/export business in South Carolina.
"Hibri" on the camper list. Okay. Then I promptly forgot about all this and went on with my check-in afternoon. Coming back from taking a family up the hill to a cabin, I ran into staffer Jessica Dymond who said that someone named Hibri was looking for me. His first name was Nadi. He was in fact Bassem's brother!
Nadi and his family live in Texas, where he is an MD (radiologist). "My brother has told me for many years that Frost Valley changed his life - that I must bring my own children here." So from Texas they came - with son Omar and daughter Nadia. As they drove a car along the New York highways, Bassem called his brother from Lebanon and asked where he was. "We are driving to Frost Valley!" "Oh! When you get there, look for Al." So they did.
Yes, Bassem is back in Beirut (running a business). So now I'm aiming to get back in touch with him. Meantime, Omar, as you see above, tried his hand at limbo in the Challenge contest this morning. He was eliminated fairly early (big guy) but seemed to have fun.
- - -
David Allen notes: "I met Paul Brown in Beirut but Rich Hanna new him there better. Rich came to Frost Valley first, and called me about an opening. Definitely a Beirut connection though. Part of my childhood was in Egypt, some teen years in Lebanon."
