Keeping kids close to home normally means peace of mind for parents. Not so these days in Lebanon, where increasingly frequent bombings have left many shaken, putting parents in the unfortunate position of trying to keep their children safe by asking them to leave their country.

“When I came to Lebanon [from Kuwait] 18 years ago with my three babies, I thought we were going to live in a country where my children would never go through what we went through,” says Amine-Jules Iskandar, a Beirut-born architect. Having spent most of his life abroad, Iskandar returned to Lebanon after the Civil War to raise his triplet daughters, now 18, two of whom are now studying in Lebanon while another is at university in France.

Back then, it was often the kids who wanted to go abroad and the parents who fought to keep them home.

“I think it’s better that I leave, but I just love it here,” she says, gesturing around at the tree-lined courtyards of the AUB campus.

She says she can’t imagine raising kids abroad, adding that she always thought her children would grow up in Lebanon and attend the same school she did.

Her friend, Ghina Awad, is looking to move to Montreal at the suggestion of her parents. She already knows some people in the Canadian city, which is home to a large Lebanese community, and so her parents wouldn’t fear so much for her safety.