Diego Ibarra Sanchez

Photographer; Educator; Video journalist

www.diegoibarra.com

Economic misery engulfs Syrian refugees and their hosts

Follow Hire

Location: Beirut, Lebanon

Nationality: Spanish

Biography: www.diegoibarra.com Diego Ibarra Sánchez is a documentary photographer, filmmaker , and educator, based in Lebanon, who specializes in in-depth long-form visual stories. He has been contributing to THE NEW YORK TIMES since 2012,... MORE

Economic misery engulfs Syrian refugees and their hosts

In Lebanon, the capacity of the local community and Syrian refugees to provide mutual support being stretched to breaking point by economic turmoil and COVID-19 crisis.

Behind the counter of her small convenience store in a rundown neighborhood of Tripoli, northern Lebanon, 35-year-old Kawkab Mustafa keeps a list of debts owed to her by customers she has allowed to buy goods on credit. In recent months, the list has grown so long she needs four separate notebooks to record all the entries.

Kawkab and her clients, who include both Lebanese locals and Syrian refugees, were already feeling the pain of months of financial turmoil, accompanied by political protests, that has hamstrung Lebanon’s economy and pushed as much as 45 percent of the country’s population under the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

The arrival of COVID-19 and restrictions to contain its spread in March have brought further misery, leaving many unable to work and pushing them closer to the brink of destitution

35 years old Lebanese woman, &a...of the workforce is unemployed.

35 years old Lebanese woman, Kawkab Mustafa, works at her shop in Bab al-Tebbaneh. Food prices have risen by more than 70 percent since the autumn, according to the non-governmental Consumer Protection Association. The inflation has been a blow in a country where more than 45 percent of the population now lives below the poverty line and about one third of the workforce is unemployed.

A view shows Bab al-Tabbaneh&am...rst economic crisis in decades.

A view shows Bab al-Tabbaneh´s neighborhood. The northern city of Tripoli has been hit hard by the country's worst economic crisis in decades.

35 years old Lebanese woman, &a...ll for 1$. She has 4 daughters.

35 years old Lebanese woman, Kawkab Mustafa, cooks the meal at her shop in Bab al-Tebbaneh. She is originally from Homs, Syria, but she was born in Lebanon. She is running a shop in the heart of Bab al-Tebbaneh´s neighborhood. Her kidney fails while her economical situation is getting worst due to the crisis and the COVID. The shop used to pay for her medication before but now she can barely sell for 1$. She has 4 daughters.

A picture shows the debt books ...stallments. They can”

A picture shows the debt books of Kawkab Mustafa. She has three books full of debtrecords. She has to go back and forth to them. She said: “I´m in a badsituation if I don’t bring goods, how am I supposed to live? I am not begging,this is the fruit of my hard work, I ask them to pay back in installments. They can”

Kawkab Mustafa checks the debt ...stallments. They can”

Kawkab Mustafa checks the debt books with her husband Rabie at her shop in Bab al-Tebbaneh. She has three books full of debtrecords. She has to go back and forth to them. She said: “I´m in a bad situation if I don’t bring goods, how am I supposed to live? I am not begging, this is the fruit of my hard work, I ask them to pay back in installments. They can”