Enab Baladi – Jana al-Issa
Most Syrians use minibuses (a vehicle that accommodates between 10 to 12 passengers) to commute to their universities and workplaces, with some spending a third of their salaries on transportation, exacerbating their living difficulties. In addition, they often wait for minibuses on public roads due to needing to use more than one mode of transport daily to reach their destination.
Enab Baladi recorded observations from one of the minibus trips between al-Kiswah city and Damascus, with al-Kiswah located more than 21 kilometers south of the capital.
Most of the passengers were elderly and young women, their words few and their faces tired and burdened with worries.
On a side seat, customarily added by the drivers of the minibuses, a young woman named Dania (20 years old) sits heading to the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering in the al-Hamak area on the outskirts of Damascus. She takes three minibuses daily to reach her university in over an hour.
Dania pays 30,000 Syrian pounds (about $3) daily for her round trip from al-Hamak to al-Kiswah in rural Damascus, a monthly average amounting to approximately 600,000 Syrian pounds, more than the minimum wage.
Alongside many challenges faced by university students, transportation emerges as a primary issue that increases the burden on students’ families, who can barely secure the essentials for living, and the costs of educational materials add further strain on the breadwinner.
Dania told Enab Baladi that the cost of commuting to and from university exhausts her father, who supports a family of six, yet he is forced to cover the minimum expenses related to lectures and transport, leaving the young woman to forgo any additional expenses during her university studies.
Transportation costs impose additional pressure in most Syrian governorates on students and employees forced to use public transport at least five consecutive days a week.
Several employees, both in the public and private sectors, met by Enab Baladi complained of spending over half their salaries solely on transportation, as the fare for one minibus trip is roughly 5,000 Syrian pounds (about $0.5), and most employees live far from their workplaces in central Damascus due to low rental prices, compelling them to take more than one minibus to reach work and return home.
Drivers of minibuses and buses have imposed random prices on passengers in most governorates, especially in Damascus, taking advantage of the chaos that followed the fall of the Assad regime.
Abdul Jawad Kiyali, the Director of Public Relations at the Syrian Ministry of Transportation, previously stated that transportation fares (buses, minibuses) across all routes are being studied according to specific criteria which will be adopted once completed.
Kiyali mentioned to Enab Baladi that there will not be a specific fare for public transport fuel, emphasizing that the ministry’s study is based on the prices set by the Ministry of Oil.
He added that there are inspectors for the routes, who perform periodic checks and penalize violators.
To collect salary
Coming from Ghabagheb, a city in the southern Dara governorate located about 40 kilometers from central Damascus, Khaled Karman (60 years old) arrives with his daughter at the Real Estate Bank branch in al-Hariqa, central Damascus, on a monthly trip to collect his salary, as there are no ATMs available with cash.
The most recurring scene while walking through different streets of Damascus is the queues and congestion in front of automated teller machines following the salary and pension payment decision. Syrians complain about the money running out or machines breaking down, resulting in people sometimes waiting for several hours in line only to return without receiving their salaries, a situation that repeats for many for several consecutive days.
The ATMs belonging to the Real Estate and Commercial banks are the oldest and most prone to malfunction, in addition to the slow service of those that are operational in conducting cash transactions.
Karman’s pension amounts to 300,000 pounds (less than $30), an extremely meager sum that hardly lasts him for days. In order to obtain it during his trip, he spends 40,000 Syrian pounds, as he explained to Enab Baladi.
To meet the needs of his family of eight, the sixty-year-old relies on a small metalwork shop in his city of Ghabagheb, and through the limited work he gets, he can only secure the basic necessities for his family.
Karman complained about the high prices of essential goods, explaining that he needs about 300,000 Syrian pounds monthly just for bread, which equals his monthly salary, and the price of a home gas cylinder reaches 140,000 pounds, not to mention the cost of basic food items needed for a simple daily meal.
On February 20, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) issued a report stating that 9 out of every 10 people in Syria live in poverty, and that one in four is unemployed.
It pointed out that 75% of the population requires humanitarian assistance, including health care, education, employment, food security, water, energy, and housing.
In search of work
On the last seat of the minibus sits Mousa al-Najm (24), a graduate of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Damascus, dressed in a manner reflecting an elegance rarely seen in the streets of Damascus due to the pressures of living conditions and people’s general disregard for their appearance except for the bare minimum.
On that day, al-Najm was heading to al-Hafez Company for electrical tools near the Sahnaya area, where he waited for a job interview with the company after searching for work for a year without any success.
The young man has no information about the salary he might earn if hired, but from what he heard from acquaintances, the company is committed to providing transport service for its employees, which is a positive aspect that aids in his commuting between the company and Ghabagheb, eases his waiting times, and saves him transportation costs.
In Syria, the job hunt has become a challenging task that weighs heavily on skilled professionals and academic degree holders, sometimes forcing them to accept any job, even if it’s unrelated to their field, to secure temporary income that meets their needs.
10 hours of work
Abdullah Hussein (45), a teacher at one of the public schools in the Sahnaya area, lives in Nahr Aisha and commutes daily between these areas, going to school in the morning then to a private institute where he teaches, and returning home after more than 10 continuous working hours each day.
For his long shifts, the teacher earns just enough monthly income, as he told Enab Baladi, to take care of a family of seven.
His situation mirrors that of most youth in Syria who have managed to work in the private sector, often juggling two jobs to meet their family needs.
At the beginning of this year, the average cost of living for a Syrian family of five, according to the kassioun Index for Cost of Living, exceeded 14.5 million Syrian pounds, while the minimum stood at approximately 9.1 million pounds, highlighting the significant gap between the minimum wage and the ever-increasing average cost of living.
To try to balance income and expenses, most Syrians resort to relying on multiple sources of income, the most prominent of which are remittances from expatriates outside Syria and taking on second jobs, while families also forgo essentials to reduce their overall spending.
Syrian road trip uncovers life amid living hardships Enab Baladi.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Syrian road trip uncovers life amid living hardships )
Also on site :