The Lebanese Hussein Hamada, 51, spends his day searching for something to help him overcome a protracted economic crisis, as he cannot find a job that enables him to support his family of 4.

Hamada lost his stable carpentry job and fell ill, requiring expensive medicines.

He also used to catch fish and sell it for extra income, but he said that customers in his poor coastal area near Beirut airport can no longer buy fish or they don't buy it, because frequent power outages mean it can't be kept in the refrigerator.

Like many Lebanese, Hamada's family lives an exhausting life full of tension that makes him disoriented and unable to plan for the future.

"Today is his day, we have no future," said the Lebanese man, while his two daughters (9 and 13 years old) were studying their lessons in the dim light coming through a window in an unlit one-room apartment.

Following the collapse of Lebanon's financial system in 2019, there was a currency crash, which the United Nations says has pushed 4 out of every 5 Lebanese into poverty.

The Hamada family lives on aid, as it receives about $200 from relatives and the government's social assistance program, in addition to good neighbors who do not stingy to help when they can.

A charitable organization bears the bulk of the tuition fees for his two daughters, and part of his medication is subsidized by the government.

Hamada said, "Today we have lunch.. we live, meaning salvation, tomorrow we leave it for tomorrow. Before we were planning for a month, for a year, for two years, for 10 years, we had a strategy, now (and now) we have lost the strategy."

He added that seeing restaurants full in the upscale neighborhoods of Beirut fills him with sadness.

The Hamada family teeters on the verge of destitution (Reuters)

A country that lives on aid

By the admission of senior politicians, the crisis was the result of decades of "wasteful spending and rampant corruption", which led to the collapse of the financial system, a major lender to the government.

Economists say the crisis will worsen as long as politicians delay approving reforms agreed with the International Monetary Fund that are needed to secure billions of dollars in aid.

Basic government services collapsed while subsidies were lifted on all goods and tens of thousands of Lebanese left their country, in search of jobs abroad, in the largest wave of emigration since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The World Bank described Lebanon's crisis as a "deliberate depression" orchestrated by the political and financial elites, while the government says it remains committed to implementing reforms that will pave the way for an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

However, people's pressure for reform declined to a large extent after it reached its peak in the 2019 protests, and after the Beirut port explosion in 2020, and the parties that ruled the country for decades continued to win a large majority of seats in the parliamentary elections that took place last May.

"The Lebanese people accept - and adapt to - all economic, political and security circumstances," said Muhammad Shams al-Din, a specialist in politics and research at the Beirut-based "Information International Consulting" company.

He mentioned that many families have adjusted their situation according to the situation by living on aid and a few hundred dollars sent to them by expatriate relatives every month.

He added that while Lebanon has long relied on remittances from workers abroad, those flows have increased with the emigration of about 200,000 people since 2019.

Meanwhile, basic government functions are supported by international donors who seek to prevent a complete failure of the state.

The World Food Program alone supports a third of Lebanon's 6 million population with food and cash assistance, while the costs of treatment, education and even the salaries of workers in the security services are largely funded by international donors.

The economy has become divided between two classes, one of which can obtain hard currency and is called the "fresh" dollar layer, which can afford to go to restaurants or send its children to high-end schools, while the second gets its income in local currency and cannot afford anything but basic expenses.