A Chatham mother is going to Lebanon next month to try and get her sons back.
Jolly Bimbachi has a court date to try and get shared custody of her two young boys after their father took them to Lebanon two-and-a-half years ago and never returned.
Bimbachi is optimistic that someday she'll be reunited with 8-year-old Omar and 7-year-old Abdel-Dhaniy.
"There are some days where I lose almost all hope, but I don't lose all hope. I think you have to stay positive in this kind of situation and keep going because otherwise when you start to give up, you have already lost the battle," says Bimbachi.
Bimbachi is not optimistic that she'll ever return her sons to Canada, but is prepared to visit when she can. Bimbachi says there were no signs that her ex-husband would take her boys overseas. She adds that she lost everything and says, "a mother without her children is like a sea without the salt."
Bimbachi says she has a big battle on her hands because of cultural and judicial differences in Lebanon.
"Lebanon views this issue as a family issue, they don't view it as a criminal case. In Canada, we view kidnapping as crime, but in Lebanon they view it as a family issue that has to be resolved between the parents," Bimbachi says.
Bimbachi considers this a human rights issue and hopes the Lebanese government can see it that way too.
"They're my children. I want to be part of their lives and I want them to know that their mother loves them. I'm not going to give up hope that maybe someday something will change and I can get them back. I just don't know how feasible that is right now," Bimbachi says.