We Meet The Couple Who Met In A Syrian Refugee Camp On The Eve Of Their Wedding

Oman and Maram met in a refugee camp, after travelling thousands of miles to find safety away from Syria’s civil war. On the eve of their wedding, Lena Corner met the couple determined not to give up on love...

Their story doesn't start with flirting or romance but with bloodshed and tragedy. ‘I knew it was time to leave the country when my mother was shot in the head by a sniper,’ says Omran, a 26-year-old Syrian from Damascus. ‘She died in a pool of blood in the passenger seat of my brother-in-law’s car. She had been taking my pregnant sister to hospital – she was in labour.’

Omran doesn’t know why the sniper began shooting at their car. He thinks someone mistakenly assumed they were armed. But after the first shot was fired, soldiers patrolling the streets retaliated and, in all, 15 bullets were found embedded in the family car. Omran’s beloved mother, who was just 45, died at the scene. Her daughter’s baby was stillborn.

‘That was the moment everything changed,’ says Omran. It’s been three years since his mother was killed and the senseless way in which she lost her life is a reflection of the chaos that now engulfs Syria.

The conflict began in 2011 with the civil war between President Bashar al-Assad and his opponents, but descended into chaos as Islamist militant group ISIS (also known as Daesh) moved in. Russian and US forces retaliated and, earlier this month, UK MPs voted to join in the air strikes raining down on the country.

‘Right now, Syria is the most dangerous place in the world to be a civilian,’ says Laura Gilmour from CARE International, a charity that fights poverty in the world’s most vulnerable places. There are now 4.2 million registered refugees outside of Syria, but thousands continue to flee every day, by boat to Greece or traipsing through Serbia, desperate to reach safety.

After his mother was shot, Omran realised it was time to leave. Taking his 16-year-old brother with him, Omran drove to Lebanon and flew on to Jordan.They found a flat to stay in and, despite having recently qualified as a lawyer, Omran took the only work available: night shifts in a kebab shop, making three hundred euros a month. Keen to put his academic skills to good use, he also volunteered for three months with Care International in Jordan’s Azraq camp, home to 30,000 refugees, helping them with translation and paperwork.

‘My mother always loved to help people, so I wanted to follow in her footsteps,’ he explains. Working alongside him in the office was 22-year-old Maram, a fellow volunteer, also from Syria. She and her family had recently fled Damascus after a bomb fell on her university. Busy and tired from his long night shifts, Omran barely noticed Maram at first. But as time passed, they became friends, chatting late into the night on WhatsApp, getting closer each day. When their placements came to an end, there was a farewell party one night, up in the hills. ‘There were about 20 of us. We ate grilled lamb and tabbouleh, played music and smoked shisha,’ says Omran. But as he sat watching Maram dance and laugh with her friends, he experienced an overwhelming feeling. ‘I suddenly felt incredibly worried I was going to lose her,’ he says. ‘I certainly wasn’t looking for love – I was in a bad situation – but I sat her down, took her hand and said, “I want to be the one you dance with.”Then, I told her I loved her. She sat beside me saying nothing, but I knew there was a connection.’

Omran went home that night and barely slept. But the next evening, Maram admitted she felt the same. ‘When he told me he loved me, my heart was beating really hard,’ she says. ‘Our love had started a while before, but neither of us had acknowledged it.’ The pair soon became inseparable, taking comfort and strength from one another.Then, in May last year, they got engaged and made plans to move on from Jordan, hoping to start their married life somewhere more secure. They chose Frankfurt, where Omran has an older brother as well as another sister he hasn’t seen for four years.

In August this year, they set off for Turkey, where Omran paid £1,600 – from their hard- earned savings – to secure their passage to Greece. But the man they paid disappeared with the cash.They paid again and a few days later found themselves in a boat with 60 others. ‘It was very frightening,’ says Omran. ‘The water was coming in and before long it was up to our knees. We threw our bags out to lighten the load and lost everything – clothes, photos... Maram and I were separated – she had three people sitting on top of her. She was very afraid.’

Finally, they arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos and began the rest of their harrowing journey on to Athens, then on foot and by train through Macedonia and Serbia. Filthy and hungry, they slept on cold, hard floors. When they got to Hungary, they were imprisoned. ‘Every seven hours a policeman would come in and throw sandwiches down on the dirty floor,’ says Maram.

On the fourth day, they were released.They fled to Austria and finally caught a train to Germany, where they’ve made their home for the past three months.They arrived dirty and exhausted with nothing but their passports and the clothes they stood up in. Maram was very weak after falling ill in prison.They’re currently staying in a hostel along with 80 other refugees on the outskirts of Dresden.

But the city is becoming increasingly dangerous for the couple, as the fast-growing far-right group Pegida (meaning patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West) takes over the streets.There are weekly rallies calling for the likes of Omran and Maram to ‘get out’ of Germany. ‘Ten days ago, locals threw a brick through one of the windows. It landed on a family sleeping inside,’ says Omran. ‘Maram is too scared to go outside.’The couple are in limbo: they can leave the hostel but not the local area, and now have no passports (they had to hand them over on arrival). Omran is desperate to learn German so he can get a job. It’s a stark contrast to the warm welcome Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, talked of recently. But there is also excitement and hope, as the couple prepare for their Christmas wedding. Omran bought her a gold ring in Jordan. Maram ordered a dress and veil from Amazon and hides it in her sister’s room. It fits beautifully.

‘Meeting Maram has been the one good thing to come out of this situation,’ concludes Omran. ‘And keeping her with me is the one thing that keeps me going. We hope one day to go back to Syria and have a family, but until then, she gives me strength. My mother always said I would end up with a beautiful girl, I wish she could have lived to see how right she was.’

**This Christmas, Grazia is supporting CARE International to help vulnerable refugees and couples like Omran and Maram. **Visit careinternational.org.uk/carepackage to help and give what you can

Words by Lena Corner