Beneficiary: Elias Bakhash
Fund Date: 06/2021
Age: 36 years old
Family members: 8
Skills and experience: 2 years of taxi driving experience
This is the story of Elias, a young man who was living with his parents in “Al-Midan area”, which was very dangerous during the war, where their rented house was hit by a mortar shell, that’s why they were displaced to another place in another area that is a little bit safer.
When war started it brought suffering, death, emigration, and a lot of tragedies that affected lots of people, and that’s exactly what happened to Elias's family. His father “Jean”, was in a traffic accident and got deeply injured in his leg, so Elias had to take full responsibility for helping his family with their daily life requirements. While his brother got hit in the back with a gunshot, which made him paralyzed, and left him with a walking disability for the rest of his life. In addition to all that, his sister's husband disappeared during the crisis in Aleppo, and hasn't returned till now, that’s why she moved back to live with her parents.
Before the war, Elias worked in a printing center as a worker, where he got his 10-years of experience working on huge printers, unfortunately in 2011, this center shut down because of the deteriorating situation in Aleppo.
Elias traveled to Lebanon for 5 years between 2014 till 2019, where he worked as a taxi driver. Later on, he got married and had an adorable baby boy, then in 2019, he returned to Aleppo, and stayed with his parents at their house, along with his sister and her children. As the financial situation got worse, his family expanded, and the house became very crowded, Elias moved from his parents’ house to a rented apartment.
Elias is co-working with his father, driving the same taxi, exchanging shifts. That’s why this car became the only income resource for these three families. He applied in the Hope Center for a Taxi, so he can continue the job that he worked in for more than six years, and be able to reach his financial independence.