Manar's mother is Seham Mohammad,
a graduate of Teshreen University in Latakia,
with an M.A. in Arabic Language, who taught Arabic for many years.
Her father, Sha'aban Kachour,
was Admiral of the Syrian Navy for 10 years.
Manar has two sisters, Dima
and Maha, and a
brother Firas.
Dima is married
to Mohamed El-Kohen,
and they have a son, Hicham
Badreddin (age 6 months). Dima has a Master's degree
from the University of London and is a professor at Teshreen University;
Mohamed has a Ph.D. from the University of Nice and is the Representative
of the UN World
Food Program in Syria. They live in Damascus.
Manar's sister Maha
is a physician and works for the UN
High Commissioner of Refugees in Aden, Yemen.
Her brother Firas
is an agricultural engineer working for the Ministry of Agriculture
in Latakia. His son is Ali
(age 6).
(Learn what an Alawite
is -- the religious community that Manar belongs to.)
Joshua's mother is Joan Hutton
Landis, who has just retired from her position as
a Professor of English and Chair of the Liberal Arts Dept. at
the Curtis
Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
His father is Kendall Landis,
who retired as Vice President of Swarthmore
College a number of years ago. He also worked for City Bank
for 18 years - ten of which were in the Middle East, where his
children were raised.
His brothers are Ethan
and Chris, who work
together at Landis
Construction Corporation in Washington DC.
Ethan is married
to Jude, who works
for FNMA (Fannie
Mae). They have two sons, Jake
(age 9) and Stuart
(age 5).
Chris is married
to Tomi, who is
Executive Director of the Discovery
Channel. Their sons are Kyle
(age 8) and Ryan
(age 7)
