RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Because he lives away from the city, Ali wakes up in the early hours of the morning, hoping to find a job to secure his family’s needs.
Near the roundabout of al-Dalla in the city of Raqqa sits Ali al-Hassan, 39, from the village of al-Jdeidat in east of the city, waiting for someone to come and ask for day laborers.
The man, who works as a day laborer, says he suffers hard living conditions after the recent fall of the Syrian pound which caused a lack of job offers and the collapse of wages.
Day laborers in Raqqa city suffer from the increasingly high prices after the Syrian pound (SYP) crashed against the US dollar exceeding 6.000 SYP. Most of them are struggling to make ends meet.
Last week, a bank expert told North Press, “The [Syrian] Central Bank bears responsibility for all reasons that led to the collapse of the pound,” accusing the bank and the approaches it embraced of “destroying the country.”
Hassan who has eight children earns a daily fees of 15.000 SYP (nearly $2.5). Hassan says he returns home many times without earning a penny. In this case, he prefers to spend the night in the city of Raqqa and not return home and be welcomed by his children empty handed.
There are two spots in the city of Raqqa where daily workers could be found; the first is the Dalah roundabout and he second is Zilim Souk.
Al-Hassan complains about the bad situation, “Groceries, doctors and others deal with the dollar, our living is tragic.”
“We as a people are finished off, no one cares about us, a kilo of tomato is sold for 3500 SYP. Our daily earnings reach 15.000 SYP. We buy bread, sugar, medicines and baby formulas on a daily basis,” al-Hassan said.
People of limited resources endure unbearable living hardships; prices are skyrocketing and there is a scarcity in job opportunities.
According to a report released by the World Food Program (WFP) in May, “12 million people in Syria – more than half the population – currently face acute food insecurity.”
Muhannad Abd al-Sattouf, 25, from the city of Raqqa, names some of the daily basic needs a daily laborer is asked to secure: vegetables, supplies, transport fees, rents, bills of electricity.
“Amid such terrible a reality, What can you buy with 15.000?” he said.
Sattouf, a daily laborer, no longer has meat on his list. Every day he goes to the market at a belated time to buy old vegetables where he could find it on lower prices.
However, this actual reality of living conditions in the city of Raqqa is not confined to daily laborers. The average salary of an employee in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) reaches 370.000 SYP ($60).
Amid such a reality, al-Satouf calls on the NGOs to render help as locals cannot meet all their everyday basic needs.
Fayez al-Omar, 45, from the city of Raqqa, cannot afford to buy winter clothes and needs for his children.
He says the dollar has made prices rise. A clothing item that he used to buy in return for 15.000 SYP is right now sold at 33.000 SYP. “May God help the poor,” he said.