Georges Abi Nakad

My name is Georges. Similar to most guys my age I was fascinated with soccer. My sister used to always joke around telling my family and friends: “If you’re looking for Georges and you cannot find him, just go to the soccer field and there he will be”. I only wish that was true now… After graduating from high school, I was waiting for an opportunity to enroll in the Lebanese Military academy. Meanwhile, I kept busy tending to my mother who was sick at the time and helping my father at work.

On July 19th 1983, while I was driving the truck from Zahle towards Beirut, somewhere along the road, I disappeared. Coincidentally, that was the only day my father could not come to work with me; he happened to be sick so he stayed at home. After I disappeared, my father was willing to do anything to find me. He sold his tractor, his cultivated land and many other belongings in order to hire lawyers and investigators, yet all was to no avail.

My mother never lost hope that one day I would return. She kept waiting for me until her very last breath. She constantly told my siblings “If Georges returned after I die, just knock twice on my grave so I can be able to rest peacefully”. If I never get to return home alive, my only wish would be to be laid to rest next to her.

My name is Georges Abi Nakad. Do not let my story end here.