Al Baqa social
housing project
Since 1998,
fishermen families from the city of Tyre organized
themselves into the cooperative Al Baqa.
Through their
partnership with ADR they were able to join efforts with the
Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Tyre, the Spanish Agency for
International Cooperation, and generous Lebanese locals and
expatriates to support a social housing project.
The project aims
to provide housing to eighty families of young fishermen and
at the same time to provide public spaces that serve as a
platform for developing other productive, social as well as
educational activities
Why the fishermen?
Fishermen of Tyre belong to one of the most marginalized
socio-economic groups in the country. Their families have no
access to health and social insurance programs, or retirement
support schemes.
An
obsolete technology coupled with military and security
considerations limit the possibility of fishing far beyond
seashore and thus result in serious over fishing. A continuous
drop in the catch has yielded a systematic decline in the
average income of many fishermen (15 US$ per day decreasing to
less than 7 US$ during the winter season and bad weather).
Why housing?
The fishermen’s families in Tyre were incapable to benefit from
the construction boom that the region witnessed during the last
three decades, due to lack of financial resources or urban
regulation and constraints in the old city quarters.
Their small, old and humid houses have become overcrowded.
Doctors testify to the high levels of asthmatic and
rheumatic problems amongst the members of this community.