From the pain of the Beirut port explosion.. A love story between two brothers, two victims

From the womb of the tragedies of the loss of the most precious people in the Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, and from the heart of the pain of injustice, love was born between William Noun, the brother of the victim Djo, a member of i firefighters of Beirut, and Maria Fares, the victim’s sister, Sahar, the nurse of the same fire department, who died in the port explosion together with Djo. While they were doing their job, they put out the fire in the first moments before the explosion.

The story of William and Maria began after the tragedy of the Beirut port explosion, which claimed more than 200 lives, including his brother Djo and his sister Sahar, as they fought and are still fighting the battle to get justice until now lost, as a consequence of the judicial investigator being prevented from carrying out his own investigation.

And as soon as the images of the announcement of her engagement spread, social networks were inflamed with blessings and expressions of joy for their love, which constituted a “glimmer of light” in the darkness of the dossier of the explosion of the port of Beirut.

Suffering brought us together

William Noun told Al Arabiya.net: “Suffering brought us together… Our story began after the Beirut port explosion, when we formed a follow-up committee of the families of the victims. We have always been there met on occasions related to the explosion.”

Last October was a turning point in William and Maria’s relationship. They had dinner at the home of one of the victims of the port explosion. He told her of his feelings towards her, only to be surprised that she had the same feelings for him too.

I told her about my love

William added: “At first I was hesitant to reveal my feelings towards him, because his family is still under the influence of the injury caused by the loss of his sister in the explosion, just like my family’s situation, but I made the decision on the sidelines of the dinner and declared my love for her, only to be surprised that she shared the same feelings with me.”

William and Maria’s joy at their love wasn’t limited to their families, it extended to the Beirut Fire Department, of which Dajo and Sahar were two members before they were kidnapped in the port explosion.

They get married next summer

After the marriage proposal, William and Maria are preparing for an official engagement on December 22, and will get married next summer in the presence of family, friends, members of the Beirut fire brigade and relatives of the victims.

And just like William Noun, who lost his brother Dajo in the explosion, Maria Fares also lost her sister Sahar in the firefighters, who was preparing for marriage before death snatched her from her boyfriend.

Our future is shared

Maria told Al-Arabiya.net: “Our story began after the tragedy of August 4, but the ‘serious’ things happened months ago, when she told me her feelings and that she hoped we would have a common future The initiative came from him and the acceptance came from me, and our love will be crowned by marriage next summer.”

“It is true that we met after a sad story, but joy will be the title of our common life,” he added.

Continue to struggle after marriage

Despite the many obstacles that were placed in the path of the forensic investigator in the explosion and managed to stop the investigation, William and Maria affirmed their continuation of the fight “until we know the truth about who killed my sister Sahar and my brother Dyou and all the victims of the Beirut port explosion”.

“Our love will strengthen our struggle,” they said, “we will not retreat from our primary goal of getting justice for Dajo and Sahar.”

Dju and Sahar named their two sons

And as a joint struggle, William and Maria unanimously agreed that in the future they would name their two sons Dajo and Sahar.

Since last summer, the investigation into the Beirut port explosion has stalled due to requests for answers and disputes with the state, presented by former ministers and deputies, who have asked the judicial investigator to hear them as defendants in the case.