Khaldiya Bakri

Khaldiya grew up in a big family –two brothers and three sisters. She married Ahmad Hajj Steif and they had four daughters together, Latifa, Dima, Diana, and Joud.

Khaldiya dropped out of school to work with her parents. All grown up, she became a loyal wife, and a caring devoted mother. She sustained life's hardships, poverty, and injustice and stood still for her family. She tried hard to support her daughters during the Syrian war while her husband sought refuge in Lebanon to improve their economic situation. When the Syrian conflict escalated in 2014, she decided to flee with her daughters and join her husband in Lebanon. She ran from the hardships of life to her death.

This is a story like no other. It is the story of the mother who lost her life in the Beirut blast, with her daughters, Latifa (24) and Joud (13), in their house in Karantina.

Khaldiya was home with her daughters, waiting for her husband to return home, when a horrific explosion destroyed their house over their heads, causing three deaths, a mother and her two daughters, her two other daughters were wounded and trapped in the house rubble. With the help of the Lebanese civil defense, the dead and wounded were found in the rubble and evacuated to the hospital. Khaldiya arrived to the hospital while breathing her last; she died moments later. According to the medical report, she died of hemorrhage and extreme injuries.

On August 7, 2020, Khaldiya and her daughters were buried in Darayya.