Editor's note: Vanessa is on assignment in Cyprus with NBC Correspondent Dawn Fratangelo.

The image that stuck with me the most is of a woman who came off the first arrival of the Orient Queen into Cyprus. Her body had been overtaken with such emotion that she was trembling with anger and sorrow as she tried to tell us her story. She was unable to get her parents out of south Lebanon and had also left her husband and brother behind to attempt to do so. She had spent four days previous huddled in a garage with 35 other people trying to stay safe while Beirut was being bombed. She could not understand why no one was helping when so many civilians were being killed. She kept repeating that they had not done anything wrong yet they were being punished. Once again she had lost all hope for the country of her birth which was being destroyed after it had just got back on its feet. It was a sentiment repeated by many.