European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 15, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                American stays to help in embattled Beirut Story and photo by Gary lakes Dennis Hilgendorf is one of the Lucky ones. His lebanese kidnappers turned him Loose yet despite the risk of being a american in Beirut. Hillge Dort remain stubbornly in a City torn apart by civil War. Hilloc Dorl 52. Is an ordained minister of the evangelical lutheran Church of America he arrived in Lebanon 25 years ago irom Milwaukee As a missionary today he is one of the last americans in Cirul. A Man who has set aside concern for his own safety to help the War disabled and the drug addicted in a fragmented country for which few have any Hope. Hillge Dorl say he is the Only Loreign employee of the Contact and resource Center in East Beirut a social service organization that provides rehabilitative services and training to those whom he describes As living on the margin of society and no longer getting Lair Iro Alment " helping the disabled and combating drug abuse is the Crux of arc s operation but it also oilers crisis counselling reconciliation and emergency Relief through six different centers throughout Lebanon including morn controlled West Beirut. In february 1984, Hilloc Dorl was kidnapped in East Beirut and held Lor eight hours i think it was a Case of mistaken identity. I was fortunate in that the people who kidnapped me were More responsible than most once they realized they had the wrong person they abandoned  he does not know who his kidnappers were. In late january 1987, then Secretary of state George Shutlz issued a directive making it illegal for . Citizens to enter Lebanon using an american passport. But Hillge Dorl uses a lebanese la Suez passer document to travel periodically by boat Between the Christian controlled port of Jounier and Cyprus where his wife Ellen and iwo of their live children live. Few americans have been Able to get such papers says Hilgendorf America s policy in Lebanon is not a very Happy or organized one so the Dennis Hilgendorf a lutheran minister from Milwaukee works for a social service organization in Beirut. Lebanese really have no idea where the americans stand on the issues. I think they Are just As Happy not to have that Many americans  seventeen foreigners including nine americans Are held captive by Beirut based terrorist organizations that Are trying to extract political concessions from the United states and other countries in Exchange for their hostages release. . Officials in Nicosia says that except Lor the stall at the . Embassy in Beirut lebanese born . Citizens and .-born children of lebanese parents it knows of no americans residing in Lebanon. The Hill Gendorf eared live children in Lebanon and witnessed the civil War firsthand. Their House was twice Hil by rockets yet the family stayed until the school system finally broke Down in 1983, alter spending a year in Wisconsin Ellen Hilgendorf and the two youngest children resumed to Cyprus although they see Christian East Beirut As being a Little safer than West Beirut the family worries about Hillge Dorl. Because i lived in Lebanon myself Lor 20 years in was t As hard to leave him behind Asil would have been had i never been there says Ellen Hillge Dorl. Bui because i am a Christian i believe god is in control of the situation. The lord knows that Dennis is doing his work so he will have to Lake care of  Lebanon has one of the highest percentages of disabled persons in the world. Most of them Are War wounded or their disability is a direct consequence of the conflict. According to Hilgendorf there Are 125,000 physically disabled people in Lebanon and Only 200 of them have jobs. These Are the people arc tries to help some have been Able to Start new businesses he said. He explains that arc also helps some lebanese make peace on a personal level bringing together members of different factions and religions in its training program. Last year a number of disabled people associated Wilh arc organized a March from the Northern port of Tripoli to Southern Lebanon. The marchers protested the continual stale of War and the dire circumstances that disabled people face. Forty persons began the March in ended eight Days later Wilh about 2.000 participants. That was exciting says Hillge Dorl. They crossed 26 checkpoints and went irom East Beirut to West Beirut. This shows that in is possible to unite these people around a cause that is bigger than the factional or political problems that Are identified with  drug addiction he says is an increasingly bigger problem All the time one that he attributes to the frustration of Young people and the disintegration of the traditional lebanese family. He estimates there Are 17 illicit drug factories in Lebanon and that Many Young people turn to drugs to overcome their sense of helplessness last november we had Over 30 cases of death by drug overdose at the  food shortages Are becoming a problem As Well. Free restaurants food programs and charitable distributions Are keeping the lower segments of society going to adds. About 80 clinics Are providing free medication supplied by the . Government. Gary lakes ii a Iree Lanco writer Irving in he Coria. Cyprus. Mention the word vacation and most people think of Kathie Lee Gilford bopping around a cruise ship throwing confetti Over a group of people who could die from terminal happiness. Advertising would have you believe that confirmed reservations protect you irom All evils wrong. Let us Lake one moment to Honor the poor souls who minutes after arriving at their destination become sick. These Are the people no one Ever talks about the fun seeker in Hawaii who paid $300 a Day to throw up in a sink shaped like a Shell. The woman who packed three new bathing suits for her trip to Acapulco and pulled the draperies in her room because the Sun on the White Sand Hurt her eyes. The vacationer who lived Only to Eal eight meals a Day on a cruise ship and was reduced to eating crackers and Gelatin in his bunk. There is nothing More miserable in the world than to arrive in Paradise and look like your passport picture. Joann irom Vienna va., got the Llu on a Western vacation recently and longed for her own bed her own Medicine Chest and her own thermometer. In her words i wanted to go Home and die not in some strange place where maids kept interrupting me her husband said we can t go Home. The airline charges $75 per ticket to change a reservation and you Don t want to know what it takes to return a two week rental car before its  it s sad to know that $150 was standing in the Way of dying in my own bed she said. I told my husband if he was this sick he d have his room quarantined and they d air evac him  he replied Honey that s because i gel sicker than  my heart goes out to All those people on organized Tours who Are scheduled to see eight countries in 12 Days and end up saying where s your bathroom in eight languages. Maybe it s the excitement or the water or the food or the change but our vacations read like a medical report. What memories i have of Italy. Watching everyone go to the ruins while from my bed i viewed or. De on to talking in italian. I made the trip to Machu Pitchu but my husband was Back in Cuzco inhaling oxygen and trying to think of the Spanish phrase for codicil for my  i Don t have a solution to this problem. But what we re really talking about in t so much the discomfort and the disappointment of not seeing anything but the Money. Ail those Bucks to sit there and look at ugly wallpaper. The least they could do is reduce the hotel rates. Especially for Joan ifs husband who gets sicker than anyone else. C 19b9 Erma Bombeck Page 16 the stars and stripes monday May 15,1989