The Story of Zeina

Zeina was born in Tripoli, Lebanon and now lives in Bhamdoun, Lebanon with her husband. She is a retired chef who still passionately cooks for her husband. Zeina claims that these past couple of years have been really rough for her and her husband because they are unable to get their money out of the banks to pay for things. She says that their children, who now live in America,  help pitch in to allow them to live comfortably throughout the year. She is able to buy enough food, water, etc. to keep her and her husband living with the bare necessities. She added that she is fortunate to have children who can help her out because she knows many elderly couples who have no help. With regards to her dilemma, she only has access to power a few hours a day and is unable to do basic daily tasks. For example, she states she has to manually start her stove with a lighter, due to loss of power, most of the time before she starts cooking. Furthermore, she must always be conscientious about loss of power that could cause food in the refrigerator and freezer to spoil. Despite all these struggles, she still finds joy by calling her children and grandchildren every week on her iPad to see their faces. In one of her final remarks, she states “I can’t wait to see my children and grandchildren again, God willing.  I love them so much!”