Hiba
Chehim, Shouf District
Lebanon's Economic Crisis and Losing Job
MEET Hiba
HIBA (43 years old) is an engineer, she lives in the mounts of Lebanon
and used to work in Beirut for consultancy offices and companies, for
the last 15 years.
I was very sad
in the beginning, and I started applying for other jobs. I stayed for
about 3 months not working. Then I received offers to work on some
projects in Shehim, my village.I worked there during the summer only so,
I used to leave at 8 am from Shehim. I was really counting on this job
to be my lifetime job, and have
“Yes
of course. All prices are increasing. The bread which is a daily
consumption by all households, is now at 2500 Liras, when it used to be
1000.
When you go to a supermarket and you spend a 100 thousand you feel you did not get everything you need.
I used to
work on a project, on site in our village, that was supposed to take a
year to finish, then I moved to a bureau, with the promise of continuity
of work contract.
I was of course looking for continuity and sustainability. At that time, the architecture and engineering sector was suffering and a lot were getting laid off their jobs, that’s
why I was trying to find a job that has a promises continuity. I started the new job, and the economic crisis was starting to get harder, the demonstrations of October 17 were on, & the banks as well were starting to put limits on withdrawals.
Before the crisis she was working with a
bureau with the promise of continuity of the contract. “The economic
crisis was starting to get harder, the demonstrations of October 17 were
on, and the banks as well were starting to put limits on withdrawals.
The architecture office I was working for had many projects promised on
hand, then when the economic crisis started, those projects were
retrieved, we found ourselves without any projects to work on. This of
course meant that they couldn’t keep the employees anymore. So, I was
laid off due to the economic crisis.”
continuity with all the advantage sand social security I was promised.
When you go to a supermarket and you spend a 100 thousand you feel you did not get everything you need.
Those
things you used to get for 15000 liras before. I am still working and
getting paid the same salary of 1,200 thousand at the dollar rate of
1500, but buying at the rate of 9000. Everything is times 3 or more. We
are getting only the strict necessary.”
I was of course looking for continuity and sustainability. At that time, the architecture and engineering sector was suffering and a lot were getting laid off their jobs, that’s
why I was trying to find a job that has a promises continuity. I started the new job, and the economic crisis was starting to get harder, the demonstrations of October 17 were on, & the banks as well were starting to put limits on withdrawals.
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