Residents of Beirut have had to resort to cost-effective lighting alternatives due to the power outages from Electricité Du Liban (EDL) as well as generators following the spiking fuel prices.
Photographed above is Lina Ghawi, a mother of three, doing the dishes using an old kerosene lamp as her source of light.
Previously, her husband, Mansour Zouhairy, purchased five of these lamps at a low price from thrift and antique stores.
“I bought these in November 2020. I had a feeling they will be useful.” said Zouhairy.
Zouhairy claims he saved money by buying these lamps, while Ghawi disagrees.
“He could have bought an actual lamp we can charge with that money” expressed Ghawi.
“It costs more to fix its batteries. We might not even get enough hours of electricity to charge it everyday” he replied.
Ghawi felt like the scene was out of a medieval movie, but it is her daily reality.
“The outages before were mostly consistent; three hours a day according to a schedule. Sometimes they went off schedule, but not like this. This is new.” said Ghawi in an interview.
She spoke about how she lived through the Lebanese Civil War and yet these times are a “new level”. In fact, Reuters called the current situation the worst crisis since the end of the 1975–1990 Civil War in Lebanon.
She walked us through her routine of how she rushes to do the chores that require electricity as soon as it comes back on. As photographed, Lina took the opportunity to put her finished laundry in the basket to be hanged to dry.
“I keep it plugged and on. When the power comes back, it starts working automatically” she explained.
“I just worry about my kids. My second daughter is a teacher online. Our laptop is old and does not last long without electricity. My other daughter has online school.”
“We are trying to make adjustments to our routine, but nothing is stable anymore” says Ghawi.
According to Zouhairy, a generator usually gives them power when the public electricity is out, but with the crisis Lebanon is going through, the generator owner cut way back on the hours of power.
According to France24, the minister in Lebanon’s caretaker cabinet said that the country would end up in “total darkness” by the end of the March if money is not secured for fuel to power generators and stations.
The reason behind the unavailability of money is the now-year long economic and fiscal crisis Lebanon is going through. The exchange rate of the local currency to the US dollar started increasing since October 2019 from the official rate which is 1515 L.L. per dollar. Coincidentally, protests broke out at the same time, and have continued on and off ever since. According to The Daily Star, the black market exchange rate has reached 11,000 L.L. per dollar for the first time in its history.
In addition to the disturbance of the average person’s life, the power crisis could also affect the health sector. According to Associated Press News, On Thursday, Lebanese Electricity Minister warned lack of fuel could affect Lebanon’s ability to store coronavirus vaccines.
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