We Will Never Forget You…
On the first commemoration of the Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, the Communication and Public Relations Department of the Middle East Council of Churches published a special issue of its quarterly magazine “Al Muntada” in August 2021, entitled "Beirut, in the Heart of the Church, Beirut, a City of Resurrection". The issue includes a special article written by the journalist Melvine Khoury, explosion survivor.
Written by the journalist Melvine Khoury/ August 4, 2020 Beirut Port Explosion Survivor
This is the fourth of August, what was supposed to be an ordinary day, despite the unusual circumstances we were going through on many levels.
I was home, what everyone calls a “safe place”. I didn’t know there was a ticking bomb about to explode, depriving us martyrs, victims, injured, and doomed of our lives.
They wanted to stain us that August 4 with blood, fear, despair, and surrender, for they are the sons of darkness, and leaders of a world unfamiliar to mercy and humanity. But once these negative feelings touch our souls, we take our gowns of worry and disability off. We are now stronger, and surrender is not an option we are willing to consider.
With every piece of corpse buried, with every child, boy, girl, man, and woman who closed their eyes for the very last time, we find strength to revive ourselves. We are the children of light, faith, and resurrection. We do not fear those who murder flesh.
With every unbearable cry of pain, with every tear shed, with every thought of an unknown future, we hold on even more to our faith. We carry our cross with joy with He who carried his cross towards his own death to save us.
I am not just writing theories, these are facts I experienced throughout the year.
Yes, I was in great pain due to my severe injuries. Often, pain was unbearable. I asked God many times: “Why me? Why all this pain?” I had so many questions, but I only got the answer from within, from my conscious and my subconscious: “How dare I complain about a little pain when my savior went through the most horrible of tortures for me?”
It is true that the sights engraved in my memory from that bleak day are harsh, it’s hard for the human brain to process them.
I stand here, distressed voices in my head, the smell of death haunting every corner… in the port, in the streets, the cars, and the hospitals, where blood cover our faces and every inch of our bodies, where destruction, emptiness, darkness, and broken glass fill the roads.
I stand here for hours, with the faith that the Golgotha path we’ve crossed will surely be rewarded with a resurrection from death, rubble, wounds, and pain. This path watered with a blood that covered the smell with death with that of a sweet perfume leading us towards salvation.
Dear August 4, I assure you, you did not break me, even though you broke my body. You did not destroy my will, even though you tried to taint my soul with despair. You did not shake my faith, even though you were a living proof of evil growing in my country. You did not deprive me of my strength for I get it from the Lord of this world. You did not take away my hope for justice for I believe in a heavenly justice that never fails.
Dear August 4, remember us well… remember the martyrs and victims, remember the scars you left on our faces and bodies, remember the tears of mothers and the heartbreak of fathers, remember the children asking about their moms and dads, remember the hopelessness of the homeless.
Remember us all… because we will never forget you!
Communication and Public Relations Department