After Multiple Crises, This Time Lebanese Feel Broken

For nearly a week, Mona Zahran slept on a couch¹ pulled across the front door of her home in Beirut. The powerful explosion in Lebanon's capital on August 4 had broken her door and windows. She feared robbers might try to enter her house at night.

It was the latest hardship in the difficult life of the 50-year-old.

A few months ago, Zahran lost her job because of anti-government protests, Lebanon's economic collapse² and coronavirus restrictions³.

Now, she could be robbed of her house in the insecure conditions created by the explosion.

"It is no shame to be poor. But this home is the only thing I have left," she said.

Throughout past political crises⁴, the Lebanese always somehow kept their way of life unshaken. That appears impossible now.

Lina Mounzer, a Lebanese writer, says her country has been slowly sinking into a "terrible state." There is a severe lack of public and social services while a few people profited by exploiting the warring and other unrest in the country.

Now almost half of the population is in poverty, up from about 20% two years ago. The banking⁵ system — once a highly valued part of Lebanon's economy — is in severe decline⁶. Unemployment is increasing.

"Everything we were able to imagine belongs to one world and now we are in the world of the unimaginable," Mounzer said. "It is incomparable to anything that any of us has lived before. And we have been through wars."

Zahran's family home is in Karantina, one of Beirut's poorest neighborhoods, overlooking⁷ the port.

She says the explosion sent glass flying, hitting her as she lay on her couch. She remembers shouting for her dead mother.

Her thoughts turned to her years as a child, when Karantina was often under attack during the 15-year-long civil war. It ended in 1990. Her first thought was that she would have to leave her home again, as her family did in 1976. Her parents and their five children lived in a single hotel room for years.

After the explosion, she ran through the house, checking on her family members. Her 60-year-old brother and two other relatives were buried in glass and bloody⁸ from cuts. The explosion blew out windows and doors and damaged two rooms.

"It was the definition of terror," said Zahran. "The only thing that provides us security is this house."

Volunteer workers recently put in a temporary, wooden door on Zahran's home for free.

For Zahran, Lebanon's politics are too complex. But she is sure of one thing: "Our rulers are not worthy⁹ of this country."

Less than two kilometers away, in the wealthy Achrafieh area, Rachelle Boumelhem sits among the ruins of her beauty shop.

Volunteers have cleared away the glass. But the shop, her dream investment in Lebanon, lost walls to the explosion. Small pieces of glass remain stuck in Boumelhem's legs. Her younger sister is recovering from injuries caused by flying wreckage¹⁰.

After pushing through many of Lebanon's crises, the 29-year-old Boumelhem now feels her will might be destroyed, like her shop.

"That is the first time I feel everything collapsed¹¹ on our head, morally and physically," she said. "How is it that on Aug. 4 at 6:08 p.m., all of this stopped?"

Boumelhem had chosen to build her life in Lebanon.

She was born in Australia. Her parents returned with her to Lebanon a few years after the civil war ended. A marketing¹² specialist, she returned to Sydney in 2016, considering a life there, but after a few months returned home to open the shop with her mother and sisters.

They invested almost $300,000 in the business. They chose to open it in Achrafieh partly for security reasons, believing it would be less affected¹³ if unrest returned to the country.

It did. Protests that began in October forced the family to close the shop for the first time. Protesters took over central Beirut, blocking roads. The demonstrators succeeded in forcing the government to resign.

"We got through it and we moved on. Then COVID happened and we were forced into lockdown. I thought again it is the end," she said.

But she kept the business alive. During closure, she offered its beauty services at individual's homes. The financial crisis¹⁴ offered a freak opportunity. She kept prices low. The business grew by 15 percent.

Boumelhem spent the summer urging friends to be hopeful, that the future of business looked good. There was no reason to fear additional conflict, she argued, although tensions between Lebanon's Hezbollah group and Israel were rising.

After the explosion, customers and friends began an online campaign to raise money for the shop. Boumelhem also hopes the government will inspect her shop and give her money for damages.

Lebanon "never had a break," said Boumelhem, adding that her hard work would have made her a major success in other places. But she does not know if she can start over.

"I am not sure where I stand now, honestly," she said. "I am afraid. I am lost. I don't know where to go next."

I'm Bryan Lynn.

And I'm Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

couch – n. a long piece of furniture on which a person can sit or lie down

customer – n. a person who buys from or uses the services of a company especially regularly

decline – n. the process of becoming worse in condition or quality

lockdown – n. an emergency measure or condition in which people are temporarily prevented from entering or leaving a restricted area or building such as a school during a threat of danger

1 couch   

n.睡椅，长沙发椅；vt.表达，隐含

参考例句：

• Lie down on the couch if you're feeling ill.如果你感觉不舒服就躺到沙发上去。
• The rabbIt'sprang from its grassy couch.兔子从草丛中跳出。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 crises   

n. 危机；危险期

参考例句：

• Economic crises recur periodically. 经济危机周期性地发生。
• Great crises often call forth gifted leaders. 危急存亡之际常能产生天才的领袖。

5 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

6 decline   

n.衰微，跌落，下降；vt.使降低，婉谢；vi.下降，衰落，偏斜

参考例句：

• I must decline to show favour to any of the candidates.我必须拒绝偏袒任何一位候选人。
• The birthrate is on the decline.出生率在下降。

7 overlooking   

v.忽视( overlook的现在分词 )；监督；俯视；（对不良现象等）不予理会

参考例句：

• The house is in an elevated position, overlooking the town. 这栋房子地势较高，可以俯瞰全城。
• The house sits high on a hill overlooking a lake. 房子高高地坐落在可以俯瞰湖水的小山上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

9 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

10 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

11 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

12 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

13 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

14 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。