By Sophie Nasrallah
Visiting the Algasem family again more than four years after we initially met them left us with mixed feelings. As happy as we were to see this beautiful family again, we also felt sadness and discouragement as they were explaining how their situation has only become more and more challenging, despite the faithful support of the local church we work with. The Algasem family’s story is not your typical “happy ending” follow-up story, and yet it represents the circumstances of the vast majority of refugee families in Lebanon.
Worse off than before
Since we last saw the family, their situation has become more difficult because of Lebanon’s current crises. Their tenant doubled the price of their rent because of the devaluation of the Lebanese pound, and they now have to pay 1,000,000 LBP a month not to be evicted. This doesn’t even include their other expenses, like electricity or water consumption. They only receive public electricity one to two hours a day and cannot afford a subscription to a private generator to compensate for this drastic shortage, as it would now cost even more than their monthly rent.
Mahmoud, the father, can barely find work as the painting business he was working at is not getting any clients. The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, coupled with the degradation of the general economic situation, was very bad for business.
Mahmoud is extremely concerned with the future, even more so since the start of the war in Ukraine:
“We witnessed and are still witnessing the effect of the war in Ukraine on Lebanon. There are a lot of resources that we use which are imported from Ukraine or Russia, like flour or oil. The prices of these items have skyrocketed. Now the price of bread is so high that we worry whether we will be able to afford it the next day.”