21-09-2022 | di COOPI

Lebanon. Recycling run by Syrian refugees

In the courtyard of the municipal garden of Beddawi, about twenty women arrive one by one. It is 9 am and the heat is already heavy. After a few minutes of discussion, they each put on their yellow tunic bearing the COOPI-Cooperazione Internazionale logo. Their job for the day is cleaning the municipal garden of Beddawi. For this, the group of women divide up the tasks. There are those who sweep and those who pick up the trashs.

Among these women, Nafila, a Syrian who arrived in Lebanon in 2013, is busy picking up rubbish with a garbage bag. 

“In Syria, the living conditions were very difficult. When I come here to work, I feel safe because here they watch over me. Before this job I was doing nothing, I was at home. Here I work, I feel independent, I meet people and I made friends”.

Among her friends, Darlin, a Syrian who also arrived in Lebanon in 2013. 

"This neighbourhood is very poor, there is no money here, no work. I come here 5 days a week and this job allows me to feed my children and to feel safe as well".

In this poor district of Tripoli, 25 women are beneficiaries of the project set up by COOPI. In addition to the cleaning of the municipality, the women also take care of the recycling of plastic which is stored in a warehouse not far from the municipal garden. Nafila explains that since she is working on this project, she is also recycling the plastic at home. "When I'm home, I sort the plastic and bring it here. I also taught my children to sort at home or pick up the plastic they find in the street,” the young woman proudly tells.

 

A few minutes away from the municipal garden, under blazing heat and in the middle of the incessant traffic of cars, about twenty men are busy, armed with shovels, cleaning the sidewalk separating the two roads. This sidewalk, also managed by the COOPI, makes it possible to increase traffic safety on this dangerous and very busy road. In total, COOPI secured two sections of roads in the municipality of Beddawi by installing sidewalks in the middle of the road, on which trees were planted.

In one of the poorest municipalities in Tripoli, COOPI employs a total of 115 people, Lebanese and Syrians, 20% of whom are women. The intervention "Recovery Social and Economic STability in North Lebanon (RISTORA)" has been financed by the Italian Agency for Cooperation and development (AICS) has been implemented by COOPI in collaboration with the Municipality of Beddawi and the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) from September 2021. In addition to giving work to people in need, this program also makes it possible to improve the Municipality conditions, to allow women to leave their homes to come to work, but also to change mentalities and help emancipation of women.

 

Photographs by Florient Zwein