It’s a zig-zagged row of school kids, each in their blue and white striped uniforms, looking at the camera. Most of them smiling.
Then, in the back row, second from the right, there is a small girl.
She is not looking at the camera. She is not smiling. She is looking away. Her mum says she is “looking lost”.
Her mum is Sally Faulkner, who was jailed in Lebanon earlier this year after kidnapping her two children Lehala, six, and Noah, three, from their father’s custody.
“This photo right here!!!!!! Found on the school page. This was enough to break me into a million pieces today,” Faulkner’s caption reads.
“I miss you Lahela. I hope you were looking out the window dreaming of the moment you and your brother come home and are truly happy again. I just want to cuddle you and never let go.
“Don’t be sad baby. Please don’t be sad. One day I’ll make this right and you will know that your mummy never gave you up. #surflebanon #parentalalienation #tookthebreathrightoutofme”
The story of Faulkner and her children is heart wrenching.
Faulkner's ex-husband, Ali Elamine from Lebaonon, left Australia with the two kids in May, 2015 for a short holiday - a holiday that Faulkner had consented to.
A few days later, Elamine told Faulkner "plans [had] changed" and that Lehala and Noah were not coming home.
Faulkner tried contacting the children. Pleading with Elamine. She explored her options legally. The end result was a botched kidnapping on the streets of Beirut on April 6, 2016, filmed and paid for by Channel 9's 60 Minutes.
Sally talks to Mia about the botched 60 minutes recovery and how her fight still isn’t over yet. Post continues below.
Faulkner and the television crew were jailed for 12 days before facing court.
On April 20, they were released on bail after Elamine agreed to drop the personal charges of kidnapping, in exchange for full custody of the children. Faulkner remained two extra days in Lebanon to sign the custody papers.
Now, back in Australia with a new born baby to her current partner, Faulkner scours the internet for images of her two eldest children.
The one of her daughter gazing out away from her school mates was found on the school's social media pages.
She refuses to give up her fight to bring Lehala and Noah back to Australia.
"They are the victims in all this and I can not just let this be 'okay'," she told Mamamia in October.
"You see, when they were with Mummy they had Daddy, but now they are with Daddy they can't even talk to Mummy.
"My fight will carry on long after the media coverage is gone and I guarantee you one thing. I will bring my children home."
Top Comments
Um....quite a few kids in that photo don't look very engaged. Kinda looks like it's the 10th time they have taken the photo and they all just looked bored......
"Isn't this enough for you. What is she thinking in this moment? She looks so lost! I miss you Lahela. I hope you were looking out the window dreaming of the moment you and your brother come home and are truly happy again."
I'm sorry, but this is just so wrong. They take a photo of a group of small kids. A bunch of them aren't smiling, one turns her head as the camera snaps and she wants to impose her assumptions on it like this? Seeing a snapshot moment of your kid hardly tells the whole story. Yes, it was wrong of her ex partner to take the kids. But she has since signed away her custody rights- surely that wasn't the best move! Also, the fact that these two had a bad separation and the father has taken custody initially by stealth, it does not necessarily mean the kids don't or wont have true happiness. I do sympathise, but she just seems to really lack common sense.
Im sure she can evaluate a photo of her child better than anyone else let alone a random