While most people in Lebanon are being affected by the Lebanese economic crisis, Palestinian families residing in Lebanon, and mainly in refugee camps, have been struggling to afford the basic food products to secure their iftar during this holy month of Ramadan. And for the third year in a row, Lebanon continues to experience this detrimental financial crisis, pushing many Lebanese locals and refugees below the poverty line as the inflation rate has reached 239.69% in January of this year. The critical phase exacerbates due to the Ukrainian war as well as the upcoming national elections.
Sumaya El Hassan, a Palestinian mother dwelling with her family in Mar Elias Refugee Camp, mentioned to Kayani Project that Ramadan in the year 2022 has never passed to be this hard and that it has changed “180 degrees” for her and her family members. Sumaya is a mother of six children and is in charge of securing Iftar for a total of eight people every day during the holy month of Ramadan.
“Fattoush, which is a salad that is considered to be a staple on every Iftar table, has become a luxury,” Sumaya said. “The fuel crisis heightened by the Ukrainian war has further increased the prices of vegetables this month. For instance, an average bowl of Fattoush now costs 50,000 liras, compared to 12,000 LBP last Ramadan at a time when Vegetables are a very important component for Iftar as they provide the body with required nutrients and help with the feeling of fullness.”
Similar to Sumaya’s case, not only many other refugees can barely afford an iftar consisting of lentil soup, potatoes, or rice, but also are forbidden to use public transportation as a result of the economic crisis.
“As a mother of six, I am required to walk my kids to school every day, given that public transportation has become too expensive. During my fasting, I walk very long distances with the kids to school and then go to the market to see what limited food items could be purchased for the whole month.”
Zakiyya Chehadah, another Palestinian woman living with her family in the same refugee camp, experiences a very similar situation as that of Sumaya. While Zakiyya is required to provide iftar to only four people in the family, she still finds it very harsh to secure food for Iftar as well.
“If I want to list the number of foods that I am not able to buy anymore, then this interview would never end,” said Shehadeh. “Salads are impossible to make, and our iftar mostly consists of potatoes, but lacks the meat and dairy products as they have also been taken out of our diets because of their outrageous prices.”
In these cases, most Palestinian families occasionally secure some food products such as small bags of rice from the Mosque or other charitable organizations. However, this support is only temporal and never sustainable. Eventually, refugees consider the holy month of Ramadan to be a month of fasting and giving, and while other people shift their attention to giving to charity, it is essential to consider Palestinian refugees in Lebanon as a priority to be supported.