Thirteen-year-old Samer stands embarrassed at the petrol station near the Anjar turnoff, in Lebanon’s Beqaa valley. In his hands, he carries a one and a half liter empty water bottle, hiding it behind his back.
Samer feels that poverty is something to be ashamed of, in a country where the poorer class is becoming larger by the day. Noticing the boy, a station employee takes the empty bottle and fills it with diesel. As Samer waits he prepares the 2,000 Lebanese lira (LL) (about US$1.33) to pay for it.
There are many people like Samer in the cold Beqaa area, which experiences a dramatic drop in temperature every winter. As their standard of living falls, residents use diesel for heating more and more sparingly, in amounts that are barely enough to last a few hours.
A tin of diesel is now over LL32,000 (about US$21), and smuggled Syrian diesel is still not making it to the market. Even the price of firewood is now being dragged up along with it on the weekly fuel market, gradually climbing up from LL200,000 (US$133) to LL300,000 (US$200) a ton.
Firewood has therefore become a profitable commodity.
Trading it is no longer just a spontaneous response by the people of the area to the rise in the price of diesel. The stockpiling of tons of apricot, cherry, almond, apple and grape firewood in the Central Beqaa has gone beyond the consumer needs of those with a limited income, those who also use wood burning stoves as an alternative to diesel ones.
These days, instead of paying US$250 for a wood burning stove, some have turned to blacksmiths to convert their diesel stoves. In turn, blacksmiths have found a new way to earn a living, charging LL50,000 (US$16.66) for each conversion.
Relying on electricity for heating has gradually become the worst option for winter in the Beqaa, not only because of its relatively high cost but also due to power rationing, leaving many homes in darkness for hours every day.
In trying to deal with the difficulties of finding sources of heating, people have resorted to alternatives which they find less than satisfactory. Some have been using old shoes as an alternative to firewood, while others have been creating a “hybrid” fuel of sorts. Old shoes are now collected in bags and sold in the popular markets.
“Our government really respects its citizens. It raises the price of everything to teach them to be creative!” says Aida Abdul Halim sarcastically.
Halim, from the Western Beqaa, is aware of the harmful effects burning shoes in her stove can have on her family’s health. But she says she has no alternative, because her husband’s monthly income barely reaches LL700,000 (US$466.66).
“A bag of old shoes costs LL7,000 (US$4.66) and lasts for two days. If we have to use diesel, we need 15,000 (US$10). Firewood is now only for the upper middle class,” she says.
Jamil Khaled, from Tinayel, is in a similar situation. But by widening the pipes of his diesel stove, he can fill it with used cooking oil. “Two barrels cost LL70,000 (US$46.66). I spent the whole summer collecting used oil from every restaurant that sells kebab. Then I mixed the two barrels with five tins of diesel,” he says.
Abu Ashraf al-Muhammad begins this year where he left off last year. He “provides for” his stove with sawdust mixed with used cooking oil, collecting it in paper bags. Because of the power harsh rationing his area is subjected to, Abu Ashraf no longer uses his electric heater, and because diesel for him is “like gold,” he has had to resort to this creative solution.
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