Next to the River Ibrahim in Jabal Mousa nature reserve, a Syrian man named Ahmad checks on a stack of wood before burning it to create charcoal.
The family live in two tents made from wooden poles and blue plastic sheeting, rugs spread inside. It’s about a 3-hour walk through the forest from Yahshoush village to their home.
. Nahr Ibrahim, LEBANON. REUTERS/Alia Haju
Ahmad has been in Lebanon for 5 years. About a year after he arrived Ahmad sent for his family from Idlib because of the situation in Syria.
“We thought it would be safest to come and join him here,” said Salwa, his wife.
. Nahr Ibrahim, LEBANON. Reuters/Alia Haju
Ahmad took his older children, Aya and Zeineddine, on a visit back to Syria two years ago. The younger two, 4-year-old Yousef and Salim, about a month old, were born in Lebanon.
. Nahr Ibrahim, LEBANON. Reuters/Alia Haju
The ground nearby is covered with charcoal powder. A small fire for cooking burns next to a clothesline.
Sanitation seems basic. The children look dirty and dusty but that soon changes when they come out of the river after swimming.
They fish using a rod made from a stick of bamboo.
. Nahr Ibrahim, LEBANON. Reuters/Alia Haju
Ahmad works on privately owned land that’s part of the nature reserve. The owner allows him to work there in return for a share of his profits from the sale of charcoal.
After cutting wood and leaving it to dry, it takes Ahmad two days to stack the wood in a round structure with a hole in the middle. The slow burning process that creates charcoal takes another few days.
. Nahr Ibrahim, LEBANON. Reuters/Alia Haju
Normal-sized charcoal fetches about $1 a kilo, while smaller charcoal used in shisha pipes, for smoking tobacco through water, brings in around $3.
Ahmad transports the finished product by donkey from the river to the top of the mountain where he sells it.
