Rafka Nassim, 71, left, meets with her daughter Claudette Rizk through a plastic barrier to avoid contracting the coronavirus, at the Social Services Medical Association, a rehabilitation hospital and nursing home in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Thursday, June 10, 2021. With virtually no national welfare system, Lebanon’s elderly are left to fend for themselves amid their country’s economic turmoil.
A woman looks to a homeless Lebanese man who sleeps on the ground at Hamra trade street, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, July 17, 2020. With virtually no national welfare system, Lebanon’s elderly are left to fend for themselves amid their country’s economic turmoil. In their prime years, they survived 15 years of civil war that started in 1975 and bouts of instability. Now, in their old age, many have been thrown into poverty by one of the world’s worst financial crises in the past 150 years.
A nurse pushes an elderly woman in a wheelchair at the Social Services Medical Association, a rehabilitation hospital and nursing home in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Thursday, June 10, 2021. Lebanon has the greatest number of elderly in the Middle East — 10% of the population of 6 million is over 65. Around 80% of the population above the age of 65 have no retirement benefits or health care coverage, according to the U.N.’s International Labor Organization.
A homeless Lebanese woman and her cat sleep on a bench as the sun rises over the Mediterranean Sea in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, June 18, 2021. With virtually no national welfare system, Lebanon’s elderly are left to fend for themselves amid their country’s economic turmoil.
Marie Orfali, 76, is reflected in a mirror under a picture of Jesus in her apartment in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Tiny and bowed by age, Marie Orfali makes the trip five times a week from her Beirut apartment to the local church, a charity and a nearby soup kitchen to fetch a cooked meal for her and her 84-year-old husband, Raymond.
A homeless Lebanese man sleeps on a refrigerator inside an old deserted house in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 13, 2021. Lebanon has the greatest number of elderly in the Middle East — 10% of the population of 6 million is over 65. Around 80% of the population above the age of 65 have no retirement benefits or health care coverage, according to the U.N.’s International Labor Organization.
Abu Omar, 81, poses for a photograph at the Social Services Medical Association, a rehabilitation hospital and nursing home in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Thursday, June 10, 2021. With virtually no national welfare system, Lebanon’s elderly are left to fend for themselves amid their country’s economic turmoil. In their prime years, they survived 15 years of civil war that started in 1975 and bouts of instability. Now, in their old age, many have been thrown into poverty by one of the world’s worst financial crises in the past 150 years.
Marie Orfali, 76, left, and her husband Raymond, pose for a photograph in their apartment in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Tiny and bowed by age, Orfali makes the trip five times a week from her Beirut apartment to the local church, a charity and a nearby soup kitchen to fetch a cooked meal for her and her 84-year-old husband.
Rafka Nassim, 71, right, meets with her daughter Claudette Rizk through a plastic barrier to avoid contracting the coronavirus, at the Social Services Medical Association, a rehabilitation hospital and nursing home in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Thursday, June 10, 2021. With virtually no national welfare system, Lebanon’s elderly are left to fend for themselves amid their country’s economic turmoil.
Marie Orfali, 76, and her husband Raymond, share a moment in their apartment in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Tiny and bowed by age, Orfali makes the trip five times a week from her Beirut apartment to the local church, a charity and a nearby soup kitchen to fetch a cooked meal for her and her 84-year-old husband.
Suleiman Ali Yousef, an 81-year-old merchant, cries as he remembers his wife who died of the coronavirus during an interview with the Associated Press at the Social Services Medical Association, a rehabilitation hospital and nursing home in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Thursday, June 10, 2021. Yousef and his wife contracted coronavirus together last year. Unlike everything they did together the past 50 years, she passed away alone.
Abu Omar, 81, walks hand in hand with an assistant at the Social Services Medical Association, a rehabilitation hospital and nursing home in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Thursday, June 10, 2021. Lebanon is one of only 16 countries in the world with no pension scheme for private sector workers in case of old age, disability and death, according to the ILO. The national social security program covers only 30% of the labor force, mainly giving one-time payments at retirement, and is dangerously underfunded.
BEIRUT (AP) — Tiny and bowed by age, Marie Orfali makes the trip five times a week from her Beirut apartment to the local church, a charity and a nearby soup kitchen to fetch a cooked meal for her and her 84-year-old husband, Raymond.
Their only support — Raymond’s $15,000 one-time end-of-service payment from when he retired more than 20 years ago — long ago ran dry.
They have since depended on charity to cover almost everything: rent, cleaning supplies, pain killers and food for their white dog Snoopy. But charity covers less and less as Lebanon’s currency collapses. The cash they get from a benefactor and the church every month, once amounting to $400, is now barely worth $40.
The 76-year-old Marie broke down in tears when asked how she’s doing. “I’ve become scared, I’ve become jittery,” she said. “I sit and cry and think, I want money. I want to get stuff for the house.”
With virtually no national welfare system, Lebanon’s elderly are left to fend for themselves amid their country’s economic turmoil. In their prime years, they survived 15 years of civil war that started in 1975 and bouts of instability. Now, in their old age, many have been thrown into poverty by one of the world’s worst financial crises in the past 150 years.
Lebanon has the greatest number of elderly in the Middle East — 10% of the population of 6 million is over 65. Around 80% of the population above the age of 65 have no retirement benefits or health care coverage, according to the U.N.’s International Labor Organization.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Life Style News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
