Fire took their restaurants but left them friendship — and the power of forgiveness
Rosa and Roberto Lopez speak a different language than Ranya Taha and Bashar Mahanweh.
The couples are from different parts of the world and practice different religions.
None of that mattered when Taha and Mahanweh decided they needed to help after the Lopez family's restaurant, Gorditas Durango, burned down in an apparent arson in early March.
The Lopez family had operated the small but popular restaurant at 527 W. 13th St. for about seven years.
Taha said she and her husband knew exactly how the other couple felt: Taha's Petra Mediterranean Restaurant, at 6140 E. 21st St., was destroyed in a November fire that investigators said was intentionally set.
Taha said she could understand the pain and sadness at the loss of a restaurant. She could also sense the joy the Lopezes felt when she asked how they could help.
After Petra Mediterranean Restaurant was destroyed, Taha experienced an outpouring of community support. She wanted the Lopezes to feel that same sense of support, she said.
Rosa and Roberto are ministers for the Pentecostal Church of God Hispanic District. They pastor a small church called El Elyon Iglesia Cristiana and are originally from Mexico.
Taha and Mahanweh are Muslim and originally come from Jordan and Syria.
Yet both couples have another thing in common: They have decided to forgive the person or people who set the fire.
“It doesn’t matter what they do to you. You should never wish bad upon someone,” Rosa said.
Forgiving might be a difficult decision, but it was a part of his parents’ faith, said Moses Lopez, Rosa and Roberto’s oldest son. God gave them strength and helped fortify their faith to keep going.
About a week before Easter, the Lopez family was hard at work cleaning out the front of their restaurant, repainting and preparing to reopen sometime in April. They had visited with Taha and Mahanweh just days earlier, when the couple gave the Lopezes chairs and a deli case to replace furnishings in the restaurant.
“It goes to show it doesn’t matter what color your skin is, what religion you believe in, what you are, there’s always good people who are willing to help you out no matter what the difference is,” Moses said.
As the Lopezes prepared to reopen Gorditas Durango, Taha and Mahanweh opened a new restaurant, Omar’s Kitchen, at 2801 W. Central in late March. Even though she’s been busy with her own restaurant, Rosa offered to help with the opening of Omar’s Kitchen.
When business picks up, Taha plans to name a sandwich after the Lopez family or their restaurant. Proceeds from the sandwich will go to help rebuild Gorditas Durango.
When Omar’s Kitchen opened, Rosa Lopez was the first customer.
This story was originally published April 4, 2018 at 10:24 PM with the headline "Fire took their restaurants but left them friendship — and the power of forgiveness."