But apparently, work on the tuktuk is no longer limited to young men. In Sidon, the third Lebanese capital in the south of the country, a young woman, Bahia Al-Tallah, stops you and asks: “Where are you going? Go ahead, I’ll take you.”
A new phenomenon in the Lebanese street is not new in women’s work, but rather their perseverance to overcome the economic crisis with new tools.
Her name is Hala Muhammad al-Yaman. She is a 40-year-old daughter of Sidon. She previously worked in a laundry cleaning clothes.
Hala is not the first to drive a taxi in the streets of Lebanon, but rather the only one who bought a “tuktuk” to provide a livelihood for her family, especially her sick daughter.
Hala told Sky News Arabia: “I sold my gold bracelets and all the jewelry I owned so that my family and I could complete our lives and successfully overcome the crisis. I have 3 sons, a girl who is still studying and has diabetes and needs treatment permanently, and two young men, one of whom is trying to help me with… The second one is still working and studying.
Hala explained: “I am divorced and without a breadwinner, and I bear the burden of renting the house in dollars, and this concern awaits me each at the beginning of each month.”
And she continued, “The children’s idea was that I learn to drive a tuktuk, and my young son actually taught me, and I bought for the price of gold (worth $3000) months ago a tuktuk from Beirut. The fare started at 20,000 Lebanese pounds, but due to the high price of gasoline, the tariff became 25,000 pounds, which is Less than the taxi fares in Sidon, which amounted to 50,000 pounds.
The Lebanese woman added: “I am encouraged by people’s sightings in the street. Everyone wants to take pictures with me and display them on social media sites, and everyone wants to try the idea and move through the tuktuk and try to encourage me.”
And she continued, “The people of the city are waiting for me every morning to take them to their workplaces. Praise be to God, the work has improved, perhaps because of the new phenomenon. Only taxi drivers felt the competition.”
Regarding reconciling work and home duties, Hala said: “It became more difficult, my daughter prepares food and I spend my daily driving.”
She concluded: “I encourage every woman to help herself, especially in the difficult crisis that the country is going through. The important thing is that I am paying the rent for the house without difficulties.”
#Lebanon. #housewife #tuktuk #driver