BEIRUT, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Standing in the middle of his workshop located in a neighborhood of Tripoli, the largest city in northern Lebanon, the blacksmith Khaled el Ali was expecting the visit of his old customers who used to buy his self-manufactured axes, hammers and agricultural tools before he closed his shop years ago losing to importers of foreign products.
Now that Lebanon is going through its worst-ever economic crisis amid an acute shortage in U.S. dollar and a resulting decline in imports, Ali decided to reopen his workshop.
"There is a great demand, particularly in rural areas. They prefer to have their tools repaired rather than replacing them with new imported ones which are now sold at high prices given the hike in the exchange rate of U.S. dollar to the local currency," he told Xinhua.
Of course, another factor that prompted Ali to return to his old trade is his dire need for money to support his family, despite his older age relative to the enormous demands of the trade on physical strength.
"I have no other choice. I have to help my family and the profession generates good income," Ali said, as he was using strong fire to help soften the iron in order to repair an axe.
Ali is not alone in going back to old business in Lebanon amid the country's unprecedented economic crisis.
Mohammad Qashour, owner of a reopened kerosene lamp repair shop in Tripoli, recently had his shop renovated as the successive power cuts have increased the demand for the obsolete lighting facility dramatically.
"There are families in Tripoli's poor neighborhoods that cannot afford private generators during the power outage, so they have started to use their kerosene lamps and have them repaired," Qashour told Xinhua.
Said Hamdash, owner of a shoe repair shop in the Lebanese city, told Xinhua that it has been a boom year for his business as more and more people visit his shop to have their shoes repaired instead of buying new imported ones.
"In the past, I only had a few customers and I could not generate enough income to feed my family; but today I have employed three more workers to help me repair shoes," Hamdash said.
The Lebanese man said he had even borrowed money and bought a machine that now helps him manufacture affordable shoes for customers.
A recent report by the World Bank Group ranked the current financial and economic crisis in Lebanon, where the poverty rate has soared to over 50 percent, as one of the top three most severe ones globally since the middle of the 19th century.
Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab warned a few days ago that Lebanon is on the verge of total collapse, urging the world to help save his country as there have been successive failures to form a government capable of implementing necessary structural reforms. Enditem
