Refugee sews low-price masks for protection

BEIRUT－In her modest tent in a camp in Khiam valley in southern Lebanon, Awatef Haykali, a 50-year-old Syrian refugee, owns an old sewing machine dotted with fabrics, pins, thread, zippers and buttons.

Nicknamed "the refugees' tailoress," Haykali has found a new job for her machine amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak: sewing masks.

"I started sewing masks since their prices have increased in the Lebanese market due to little supply and an unprecedented high demand among refugees and local communities," she said.

She started her work by visiting a pharmacy close to her camp, where she bought different types of masks to check their sizes and material.

"I asked a doctor who used to visit our camp for advice, such as the necessity of using masks amid the spread of COVID-19," she said.

After a week of experiments, Haykali started to produce masks from good fabric, which can be washed with soap and water, sterilized under the sun and then ironed to be re-used, as opposed to regular masks which should be changed constantly.

Haykali's masks sell for between $1 and $1.5 each, while masks in the Lebanese market are normally priced at least $5 each.

Haykali explained that she may have to increase her daily production to 50 masks as the current daily number of 30 cannot meet the demand.

Jamila Abu Dheini, who came to buy masks for her children, said that she is trying to protect her children.

Ajwad al-Samra, a sergeant in Al Mari town in Hasbaya District, said that Syrian refugees fear the spread of the coronavirus in their communities which would constitute a real disaster.

"We have not yet heard of any COVID-19 cases in our camps so far, but we have been witnessing severe cases of flu," he said, adding no local or international health authorities have taken any patients for virus tests but refugees have been using masks for protection.

Lebanon is hosting 1 million registered Syrian refugees according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, while the government estimates the true number of Syrian refugees in the country at 1.3 million, most of whom reside in more than 1,400 camps in different parts of Lebanon.

Xinhua