Dubai family reunited with Mexican relatives through Facebook

Dubai: A Lebanese family based in Dubai has been reunited with their Mexican relatives following a series of chance encounters leading to a meeting on Facebook.

Rashad Asaad Masri and his sisters Boshra, Randa, Rima, Rabiaa and brothers Khaldoun and Rawad from Lebanon tried for many years to locate their cousins in Mexico in vain.

Masri, who lives and works in Dubai, told Gulf News that his grandfather left Lebanon for Mexico in 1920 leaving behind his two sons — Shafiq and Asaad. “My father Shafiq died in 1999. Before the death of my father he told us that my grandfather Kasem got married again in Mexico and had three children — Manuel, Fareed, and Elma,” said Masri.

Masri said his family was originally from Al Kalaa Village, Mount Lebanon.
“My uncle Asaad never got married and died in 1959 in Venezuela,” he said.

“We had no chance to get to know our cousins in Mexico, we didn’t even know their names. We only knew that we had two uncles and one aunt there,” Masri said.

He said he managed to find out that his uncle Fareed was an anaesthesiologist and had two sons named Shafiq and Nassim Gibran and one daughter Yamille.

Masri said he learn that his aunt Elma, who had three daughters, had died and so had his uncle Manuel, who had been a policeman and had three daughters and two sons. “We managed to get some information about our cousins when a relative of mine from another village travelled to Mexico recently for a vacation. His name is Samer Masri and he found out that the Masri family in Mexico was a big and close-knit community; among the group was my cousin Yamille,” he said.

Masri said Yamille told the visiting relative that her grandfather’s name was Kasem and she had relatives in Lebanon. She asked if he could help her find her cousins. “Yamille searched for me on Facebook and sent me messages to find out if we were relatives. She told me about her father and grandfather and all her family members,” he said.

“I asked Yamille, a mother of two, about my other cousins and I was surprised that her brother was named after my father Shafiq,” he said. He said Yamille was so excited to be reunited with them and even sent them souvenirs and Mexican hats with a lady coming to Dubai. “We met a month ago and now we are always in contact on Facebook and Whatsapp,” he said.

“We used to get some information about our uncle and aunt in Mexico [through my father] but after his death in 1999 we lost touch with them,” he said. “Since that day we have been searching for them,” he said. Masri said that he and his family members are overjoyed that they are reunited with their Mexican family.