Glenn Ryan part of YMCA group stranded amidst Mid-East conflict
By MARK MILLER
Glenn Ryan had a chance to tour the Holy Land a couple years ago when his wife Rhonda’s church organized a trip. He didn’t go because he didn’t think it was safe.
Undeterred, Rhonda made the trip. She described it as “unforgettable.”
Earlier this year, when the Greater Fort Wayne YMCA promoted a cultural trip to Israel for Oct. 6-15, Glenn decided to go based on his wife’s experience.
It was also unforgettable, but obviously for different reasons. The group landed in the early morning hours of Saturday, Oct. 7, just as Hamas was launching their attacks along the Gaza border.
“We were watching live TV on the plane,” he recalled. “We saw rockets coming in as we were landing.”
The Bluffton resident was one of five people in the small group, all associated with the regional YMCA, of which Bluffton’s facility and program is a part of. He had retired in 2017 as director of properties and facilities. The leader of the group was Tim Hallman, director of Christian Emphasis and a full-time minister with the YMCA.
The Tel Aviv airport “was a hot mess,” Hallman said. Ryan describes it as being “a zoo. People were already trying to get out.”
To make matters worse, the group soon realized their luggage had not arrived in Israel. They had flown on a Turkish Air flight from Chicago to Istanbul and then on to Tel Aviv.
“It took us an hour to realize that, and then another hour to fill out forms,” Hallman continued. “We were told our luggage was in Istanbul and then assured it would be delivered to us (in Jerusalem) but I didn’t really believe them.”
Their itinerary had them going to Bethlehem after arrival, but Hallman, a Fort Wayne resident, arranged for a driver to take them to the Jerusalem International YMCA which has hotel rooms.
He immediately reached out to the travel agency that had arranged their tour. “But it turns out they don’t have a 24/7 help line,” he said. It being a Saturday, his calls went unanswered.
While the travelers settled into their rooms, Hallman began to work on his cell phone. It was immediately assumed that they would not be able to complete their tour and they needed to get out of the country as soon as possible. Getting advice from friends back home, he was advised to contact the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and his Congressman’s office.
Ryan knew that the director of the Columbia City YMCA (also a part of the Greater Fort Wayne group) is a personal friend of Congressman Jim Banks, a Columbia City resident. So Hallman contacted Banks, who promised to make a phone call.
“Very soon, I got a callback from one of Banks’ staffers,” Hallman related. “She was very reassuring and helpful with advice.”
The U.S. Embassy staff also advised them to try to find a way home on their own, but if they could not, the State Department would make arrangements to get them out of the country to Cyprus. “From there, we’d be on our own,” Hallman says.
He was aware that the national home office of the YMCA utilized a travel agency for their executives. A friend there passed along a phone number: “Could you help us get home?” he asked. “Of course,” he heard the response.
He continued, “It took them several days. We would get a flight scheduled and then it would get canceled.” All U.S airlines along with several others including Turkish Air had canceled all flights into and out of the region.
After hearing nothing about their luggage by Sunday afternoon, Hallman and Ryan hired a driver to take them to the Tel Aviv airport, about an hour’s drive from Jerusalem. They were able to claim the group’s luggage and return to Jerusalem without incident.
The group was initially confined to the hotel and YMCA, which they described as a fine hotel and a beautiful building. The facility’s director, Fadi, assured them they were safe there but was not comfortable letting them leave.
“We were in a country that had just declared war,” Ryan says. “Not so exciting to be a part of history.”
The group spent their time getting to know the roughly 30 or so other travelers who had found themselves stranded in the hotel, a “remarkable building,” Ryan said, which is anchored with a very tall bell tower.
“So every Sunday noon, they ring the bells 12 times,” Hallman shares. “Fadi (a friend from previous trips and the facility’s CEO) was giving us a tour of the building.”
Five stories up the tower is a carillon, a musical instrument that operates the bells. It is often operated by professionals, Hallman said, but their host allowed them to hit the appropriate key to ring the noon bells.
“It produces a beautiful sound that echoes across the city,” Hallman said.
“No sooner had we hit the last note than air raid sirens went off,” he continued. Fadi told them they had 90 seconds to race down the circular stairs to the bomb shelter in the basement. When they got there, they gathered together in a circle to pray.
“While I was praying, I felt someone join us and take my hand,” Hallman said. It was an English lady who was also stranded. “She was so appreciative of us being there and for the prayer,” he added.
There were a few times they felt in danger. They recalled three air raid warnings, “but it was mostly calm” in Jerusalem, they said.
“But we could hear the bombs, especially at night,” Ryan said. The Gaza border is only about 50 miles to the southwest of Jerusalem. “And we could see the bombs light up the night sky,” Hallman added.
By Monday afternoon, their host felt it was safe for the group to venture out to a nearby shopping mall. However, it was “mostly empty,” the two agree. The government had shut down all schools and most businesses — only a few stores were open but they were able to enjoy a supper of pizza.
On Tuesday, another of Hallman’s friends he had made from previous trips to Israel visited the group. He refers to him simply as “Tewfic,” a Palestinian Christian who emigrated to the U.S. and was in the midst of a successful banking career in New York City when he felt called to go back to his homeland to assist his fellow Christians.
“It is a very difficult place for (Palestinian Christians) to live,” Hallman said.
Tewfic and his wife operate a tour company. When he realized the group had not, and likely would not, see any of Jerusalem’s sites, he took them on a walking tour of the close-by area.
“So we got to at least see the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and much of the Old City,” Hallman said.
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While Hallman continued to seek arrangements to get the group home, they were also becoming friends with others stranded in the hotel. And they began to feel like they had been sent there for a purpose.
Three young people from Denmark had been traveling in the area for a couple weeks and were in Bethlehem, a part of the West Bank, when hostilities erupted. They were forced to escape to Jerusalem without their luggage.
“They were totally lost as to what to do,” Hallman shared. It soon became clear that while their group enjoyed the support from the U.S. Embassy and from their travel agency, these people had no resources.
“Our travel agency agreed to help them get home as well. They were so appreciative and just couldn’t believe that some strangers from America would help them get home.”
Another elderly couple from Canada — Egyptian natives who had emigrated but had returned for a tour — was also stranded at the hotel.
“They just had no idea what to do next,” Hallman said.
JuWan Turner, a staff member at the Fort Wayne YMCA, created a Facebook page for them and took a video of them explaining their dilemma. He then posted the video, “tagging” the Canadian government and the Canadian media.
“It worked,” Hallman said. They were soon interviewed by a radio station and a TV station, and the government made arrangements for them to fly back home.
“We think we were meant to be there,” Hallman said.
The trip had always been meant to be more than just a tourist thing, Hallman explained. He had made previous trips to the region’s YMCAs and was working to build friendships and collaboration. The group was slated to visit several YMCA units in Jericho, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, adding events and activities that were “educational,” “service,” and “immersion” into the area’s culture.
Hallman is slated to go back in December to further those efforts, but chances of a cease-fire in time for that trip to happen are, he knows, slim. But he is also concerned for his many friends, like Fadi and Tewfic. Tourism is an important part of the Israeli economy.
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A flight to take the five travelers home seemed to be set for Wednesday evening, Oct. 11, on Emirates Airlines, “but we kept our fingers crossed,” Ryan said. They were successful in flying from Tel Aviv to Dubai and then a “long, very long” 15-hour flight to Chicago, where a Fort Wayne staff member greeted them and drove them home Oct. 12.
But Ryan’s journey had one more twist. It was during the layover in Dubai that he got word that his 96-year-old mother had passed away at her home in Toledo. It was not unexpected, “she had not been well and had suffered a couple falls,” he said, but nonetheless difficult. Hence, as soon as he arrived in Bluffton, he was off to Toledo to join his siblings in comforting their 97-year-old father. The funeral was Thursday, Oct. 19.
“Exhausting,” is how he described his past few weeks. “And disappointing. I had thought it would be a fun trip.” But he is also appreciative.
“I certainly gained some new perspectives,” he added. “We are so lucky to live where we do.”
And he has been amazed this past week as he’s been approached by “several people I don’t even know,” he shared. “‘Glad your back,’ they tell me.”
“You know, Hallman quickly added, “that’s something we found out when we got home: How many people had been praying for us. That really meant a lot.”
miller@news-banner.com
