Enab Baladi – Linda Ali

Seventy-something-year-old Abu Laith leaves his home every day at six in the morning to work on a taxi he rents monthly from one of his friends. He roams the streets of Latakia, looking for passengers, but finds few due to the high fares caused by the frequent rise in gasoline prices.

Abu Laith, a father of five sons and two daughters, lives with his wife and two of his sons in their home in the suburb of Saqoubin. He suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, yet he cannot leave his job because his retirement salary is no more than 290,000 Syrian pounds ($19 USD), an amount insufficient for his medication and family food.

The worst suffering for the seventy-something-year-old man is the heat in summer and the severe cold in winter, as he cannot turn on the air conditioner in the car to avoid consuming more expensive gasoline.

Abu Laith said he works from six in the morning until around eight in the evening, often without a break. He takes his lunch to eat in the car. Although he needs a nap at noon, he prefers not to go home to avoid wasting more gasoline.

However, sometimes he is fortunate enough to take a small nap if he finds a passenger whose home is near his suburb. He drives them home, then goes to his house to rest briefly before resuming work.

The harsh living conditions faced by most Syrians have forced the elderly to continue working, as their retirement salaries are insufficient. Most parents do not want to burden their married children, who are barely able to feed themselves and their families.

Elderly people resort to all kinds of available jobs, with many working on stands selling vegetables, household items, and even sweets. Some even engage in strenuous jobs like construction and portering, despite often earning only enough for daily sustenance.

Working to eat

Hasna, an eighty-something-year-old woman, works on her small plot of land, which is ten minutes away from her home. She plants parsley and other summer vegetables like zucchini and beans. Although the land does not yield much, it provides her daily food, according to her.

Grandmother Hasna uses a cane to get to her land, collect vegetables in the morning, and take what she needs. She gives the rest to the small shop in her village of Fadra in Latakia’s countryside, where they sell her produce, and with the money, she buys essentials like rice and sugar.

Hasna has six children, all of whom are married. Two of her sons live nearby and sometimes their children help with her work.

She said she prefers to obtain her food herself, even though her children do not favor this idea. As long as she can work, even with a cane, she will not seek help from anyone because she understands the harsh living conditions her children face.

Hasna considers herself very fortunate not to suffer from any diseases except for joint pain that worsens in the winter. No medication or painkillers help, and her only option is a joint replacement surgery costing about 70 million Syrian pounds, a sum she and her children can only dream of affording.

The elderly woman endures her pain and continues working, just like many Syrians who have to work to survive.

Suffering across Syrian geography

The work of the elderly is not confined to any specific area in Syria. The deteriorating economic and living conditions shadow all regions of Syria.

Sixty-something-year-old Khadijah works in daily agricultural labor in western rural Daraa, earning up to 30,000 Syrian pounds for five hours of work.

Khadijah was forced to work to support her family of eight, including her grandchildren, after three of her children were killed in fighting against Syrian regime forces and the Islamic State over the years.

She suffers from physical exhaustion but is forced to work. Employers sometimes complain about her presence on the team due to her health condition. They prefer younger workers who are stronger for the job.

She mentioned that she sometimes misses work when her health deteriorates.

Sixty-five-year-old Raed al-Maajoun works on a water tanker delivering water to villages in northern rural Deir Ezzor to support his family and the family of his brother, who was killed in an International Coalition airstrike on the town of al-Buleel in eastern Deir Ezzor in 2017.

Sixty-something-year-old Nahla al-Saleh lives in the Kuwaiti camp north of Idlib. She supports her family, displaced from Maarat al-Numan in southern Idlib, by cracking walnuts, earning 50 Turkish liras (21,000 Syrian pounds) for cracking 50 kilograms.

She is forced to work despite having diabetes, which resulted in the amputation of her leg. She has a heart condition, has undergone 12 surgeries on her foot, and suffers from bone degeneration. She hasn’t been able to get a joint replacement for her leg so far.

The worsening economic conditions have forced many elderly people to struggle for decent work, sometimes selling their assets to meet their basic needs. According to a United Nations report on northwestern Syria in February 2024, 59% of elderly northwestern Syrians felt a decline in respect within their communities. Their exclusion from the workforce marginalizes them, causing their mental health to deteriorate.

Moreover, elderly people with disabilities face difficulties in earning respect or appreciation.

Nearly 417,000 elderly people are classified as the most “vulnerable” in northwestern Syria, especially those living in poverty and caring for other family members, in a region with a population of 5.1 million.

Harsh life for the elderly

Elderly people in Syria face economic, social, and health difficulties, while 90% of Syrians live below the poverty line, and 12.9 million people suffer from food insecurity.

With the increase in youth migration from Syria, many expatriates look for someone to care for their elderly relatives, as the dire security, living, and economic conditions have forced young people to leave for years.

Syria has seen a rising number of elderly people, estimated at 7.2% of the population in 2015, equivalent to 1.7 million people, according to estimates by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

ESCWA expects this percentage to reach 13% by 2050, equivalent to 5.7 million people.

Elderly care homes are distributed in areas controlled by the Syrian regime, with 20 licensed private care homes and two government homes: Dar al-Karama in Damascus and Dar Mabra al-Awqaf in Aleppo. They are managed in cooperation with the community and rely primarily on donations.

The annual cost of residing in these homes has risen to about 18 million Syrian pounds per resident, excluding medication and surgical expenses.