On the northern coast extends Lebanon’s second-largest city called Tripoli, which has long been nicknamed The Mother of The Poor.
As Lebanon endures financial hardships like never before, the hard-working, low-income families of Tripoli are feeling the pinch at an intensified rate.
But The Mother of The Poor disregards no one and leaves no one behind. Residents in Tripoli watch out for each other like family.
That’s why the owner of Al-Amira supermarket, located in the Muharram neighborhood, has decided to drastically reduce his prices.
He brought them down back to the “normal” rate in hopes to help struggling families secure food on the table.
For example, he’s selling 1 kg of tomatoes or cucumbers for 1,500 LBP, 1 kg of onions and potatoes for 1,000 LBP. You can’t find prices like this anywhere else across the country these days.
In response, large crowds flocked to the store and waited in line, risking their lives during the pandemic, just to secure food for their families.
While some people criticized the crowds that gathered during the lockdown, others commended the generous efforts of the store-owner.
With the crowd expanding at his door, he feared for the people with the ongoing pandemic and took a step further to ensure they don’t put their health at risk.
He decided to stand outside his store and deliver to the people in their cars what they need of goods so they won’t have to gather in front of the store.
He even posted on his Facebook page a message pledging to stand by the people while urging them to adhere to the preventive measures:
“By God, my family, and my beloved ones, we will not leave you and we will not abandon you, night or day. Your grief is our grief, and your tragedies are our tragedies. But we must adhere to the health, ethical, and humanitarian controls, especially in these exceptional and difficult circumstances that our country is going through.”
This is Tripoli, The Mother of The Poor, the Lebanese capital of the North where traditional culture is still entrenched in everyday interactions, and where the belief that “we fall together, we rise together” is still very much alive.
Al Amira Market, like Tripoli bakery Afran Ayyem Zamen, is a striking reflection of that and how the Lebanese nation survived through history their harshest of challenges; together.
