Death / Fear / Hope

July 15, 2020 | VG

Amund Bakke Foss

Gorgan, Iran – June, 2020. Maryam, 34, is a daily-paid worker at a charcoal packaging workshop. She, who is a mother of two, has been working there since eight months ago. She described coronavirus pandemic as a total disaster. “My husband, who is a construction worker, was out of work for two months due to coronavirus outbreak and if I along with my co-workers did not plead with our employer, I would be out of work too and would not know how to make a living,” Maryam said. “Poverty and unemployment kill us far faster and worse than coronavirus does,” she added.

This manual charcoal packaging workshop that employs ten workers, six of whom are women, has been in business for four years. The workshop had been closed as many other businesses had due to coronavirus outbreak. “After the workshop had been closed for three days, the employees were continually calling and asking to return to work; thereafter, we started working again at the request of the employees,” the workshop manager said. Image by Hamed Barchian / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Tabriz, Iran, May 6, 2020. The worker has put the corpse inside the grave while having a mask on his face and he asks the dead man’s relatives to take some distance, thus he can provide the deceased an Islamic burial ceremony. Iran was amongst five of the countries with the highest spread of COVID-19. Iran’s government began an official lockdown on March 15, 2020, the quarantines in place are for those who do not exhibit symptoms but have been exposed to the illness. For the large number of Iranians who live on a day-by-day income, staying home means having no money to pay for essential things such as food. Therefore, they must take their life in their own hands and work in order to survive even at the risk of getting infected, spreading the virus in society at large, and even getting fined for breaking the quarantine. For them, choosing either path has extreme consequences. Image by Jalal Shamsazaran / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Gorgan, Iran - June 6, 2020 : Mehdi Alaie, 39, while instructing music to his trainees, is using a protection shield since three children in the Behkoush center have been died so far because of the coronavirus infection. Although he does not have any permanent job and working as a music instructor for children provides him with only an approximate hourly wage of four dollars, he has been working with the Behkoush center as a permanent instructor for almost five years. The Behkoush center is one of the most celebrated educational centers for mentally ill people in Iran which instructs these people in varied areas and improves their abilities for the better life. Boys aged 10 years and older diagnosed with any types of mental and physical disabilities are accepted here and would be instructed in a variety of fields from basic learnings such as shapes and currencies recognition to professional learnings as mathematics, carpet weaving, woodworking, playing musical instruments, and theatre acting. Then they would be introduced to the job market in order to find a convenient carrier. Although three trainees passed away due to the coronavirus infection, the Behkoush center has resumed opening with almost less than ten percent of its capacity to provide services to the ones who are in immediate need. Image by Mahdi Barchian / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Azarshahr, Iran - April 24, 2020. The man in the fair does business by buying and selling cows and also, he uses his truck to transport while having a mask on his face. Iran is amongst five of the countries with the highest spread of COVID-19.

Iran’s government began an official lockdown on March 15, 2020, the quarantines in place are for those who do not exhibit symptoms but have been exposed to the illness. For the large number of Iranians who live on a day-by-day income, staying home means having no money to pay for essential things such as food. Therefore, they must take their life in their own hands and work in order to survive even at the risk of getting infected, spreading the virus in society at large, and even getting fined for breaking the quarantine. For them, choosing either path has extreme consequences. Image by Jalal Shamsazaran / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

AjabShir, Iran, April 24, 2020. Mohammad is 41 years old. He is waiting for other family members in order to irrigate the land in which he has planted wheat with their help. His family’s economy depends on the income from this land. Image by Jalal Shamsazaran / NVP images. Iran, 2020.

Iran - April 2020. Roghayeh, 65 years old. She is going to her shop while having a mask on her face. The economic situation in Iran in past four decades left no choice for Roghayeh but to become one of the breadwinners of the family. Therefore, in the early years, she made money by sewing. But in the past 15 years, she became a small women’s clothing importer from Turkey.

During her last trip to Turkey, the border between Iran and Turkey was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and her merchandise remained on the other side of the border and after two months of such hassle, yet she still has not been able to get them delivered to her small shop in city of Tabriz.
Despite the quarantine days in Iran, she kept her shop opened to be able to manage her economic conditions and pay the installments of her bank loans and rent. It has been two years since her husband died of cancer. The cost of cancer treatment and the cost of funeral ceremonies in Iran are high enough to affect an average family with economic problems. And she has not yet been able to get rid of the debts that were imposed on her in those days.

"If things get better, if coronavirus doesn't come back and the borders are reopened, if I get rid of all my debts, I won't work anymore and I will manage my life with the my husband’s pension,” Roghayeh said.

She added: “When I think about my past, I see I've never had a chance to think about my dreams. I've always been working and running. My life has been ruined on buses, behind sewing machines, and waiting at the border. I don't know, maybe that is life. Now that things are getting better in my life, I’m not in the mood for anything. Maybe the love of my children and grandchildren has kept me going.” Image by Jalal Shamsazaran / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

This Turkmen lady in the city of Aq Qalla is checking the quality of the vegetable dyed wools for weaving Turkmen rug. This is a traditional source of income for Turkmen females in the northeastern part of Iran to help the family and bring food on the table. Turkmen rugs are a type of handmade floor-covering textile traditionally originating in Central Asia, including Iran. They are normally a collective task and usually four women works on a single rug. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the practice of social distancing, no more than one person is allowed to work on a single rug. Therefore, there are less people benefiting from this job.

On the other hand, as the economy is slowing down during the coronavirus outbreak, the demand for the rug started to decline, and as a result, the price of the rug has dropped. Therefore, many of these ladies started to look for another source of income. Turkmen rugs normally were produced by nomadic tribes almost entirely with locally obtained materials, wool from the herds, and vegetable dyes, or other natural dyes from the land. Image by Mahdi Barchian / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Tehran, Iran – April, 2020. Manijeh Kamandloo, 43, from Tehran, working as a beauty specialist under heavy protection during the coronavirus pandemic. She has been a hairdresser for almost 20 years and only recently ran a beauty salon of her own in the east of Tehran. She is a mother of two and the sole provider for her family. She had an income of about eight million Iranian tomans ($470) before the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, but since March she has been made to close her salon for public safety. Nowadays she is back to work again, however, the number of her customers has significantly decreased causing her income to be near a shocking amount of 2 million Iranian tomans. “I’m spending most of my earnings on disinfectants, masks, and clothes, thereby almost little money will be left at the end of the month,” she said. Experiencing a financially tough time, she is thinking of closing her salon. Image by Yasaman Dehmiyani / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Gorgan, Iran - April 21: Mohammad, 42, is from Gorgan. He turned to night selling to meet his living needs. With the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), he has lost his sales before the New Year and his sales have almost been reduced to zero. Iran is amongst five of the countries with the highest spread of COVID-19. Iran’s government began an official lockdown on March 15, 2020, the quarantines in place are for those who do not exhibit symptoms but have been exposed to the illness. For the large number of Iranians who live on a day-by-day income, staying home means having no money to pay for essential things such as food. Therefore, they must take their life in their own hands and work in order to survive even at the risk of getting infected, spreading the virus in society at large, and even getting fined for breaking the quarantine. For them, choosing either path has extreme consequences. Image by Kianoush Saadati / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Sara Motamedi, 34, from Tehran. She is the sole provider of her family and lives in Tehran along with her nine-year-old son. She has been working in the hair color market for almost five years now with an average monthly income of eight million Iranian tomans ($470) which held true before the outbreak of the coronavirus disease. It has been three months since she last earned a wage and as a matter of this upsetting fact spent all her savings during this period. The most profitable time of the year for her to conduct business is the Eid-e Nowruz (Iranian New Year), the busiest time for most of the businesses running in Iran, however this year Sara spent that golden time entirely in quarantine. Although it has been two weeks since she was back at work, owing to a lack of customers she is not capable of covering her son's living expenses as well as her own. Image by Yasaman Dehmiyani / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Pegah, 30 years old, from Tehran. She has been working as a nail technician in a beauty salon for about two years. While living with her parents, she is financially independent. Before the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, she had earned a monthly wage between five to six million Iranian tomans ($350). However, she was not able to make a decent living during the coronavirus pandemic. Nowadays she is only working three days a week, sadly because of an obvious lack of customers.  Image by Yasaman Dehmiyani / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Due to the decrease in traffic on Iranian roads as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the practice of self-isolation, Ali —55 years old and a one-year contract manager at the scale company—has nothing to do but to watch his favorite programs on TV.

TouzinGostar scales (weigh-bridges) are located on Buin Zahra-Qazvin road and operate around the clock to weigh the trucks for determining the amount of their cargo in two stages, full and empty. The Buin Zahra-Qazvin road is one of the busiest routes due to its location on the Iranian transit highway, which has become semi-closed these days as the prevalence of the coronavirus has intensified and the income has dropped to about 1/20. Image by Mehran Mafibordbar / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

A truck driver is paying for the service of scaling his truck by the Touzin Gostar scales (weighbridge). Arash, who is working a 24-hour shift, wears an N95 mask and every time after any transaction has to spray alcohol on everything on the counter to avoid any contamination. This place used to be very busy, but now time stands still for Arash.

Touzin Gostar scales (weigh-bridges) are located on Buin Zahra-Qazvin road and operate around the clock to weigh the trucks for determining the amount of their cargo in 2 stages, full and empty. The Buin Zahra-Qazvin road is one of the busiest routes due to its location on the Iranian transit highway, which has become semi-closed these days as the prevalence of the coronavirus has intensified and the income has dropped to about 1/20. Image by Mehran Mafibordbar / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Gorgan, Iran - May, 15: Hamid, 61, from Gorgan, sustained a spinal cord injury and he has turned to the night market to make a living and pay off his debts. His average income is 85,000 tomans, about $6. Image by Kianoush Saadati / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Gorgan, Iran. Musa, 45, is from Gorgan. He sells fruit leather and damson at night. His nightly sale has dropped to zero and he has faced the problems of paying rent and living needs. Iran is amongst five of the countries with the highest spread of COVID-19. Image by Kianoush Saadati / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Karim, 54, is from Gorgan. He sells folding chairs at nights. His nightly sale is 70,000 tomans, about $5. Image by Kianoush Saadati / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Maragheh, Iran - April 24 , 2020. It’s a cultivation season. This man is selling saplings on the way to the gardens while having a mask on his face. Iran was amongst five of the countries with the highest spread of COVID-19. Iran’s government began an official lockdown on March 15, 2020, the quarantines in place are for those who do not exhibit symptoms but have been exposed to the illness. Image by Jalal Shamsazaran / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Tabriz, Iran, April 26, 2020. They are disembarking the waste from the car. The main job of many suburb dwellers of Tabriz is the waste trade and they are living in this way. For the large number of Iranians who live on a day-by-day income, staying home means having no money to pay for essential things such as food. Therefore, they must take their life in their own hands and work in order to survive even at the risk of getting infected, spreading the virus in society at large, and even getting fined for breaking the quarantine. For them, choosing either path has extreme consequences. Image by Jalal Shamsazaran / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

Tabriz, Iran, April 25, 2020. A young carrier is standing ready for a job, to be called to carry someone’s goods, while having a mask on his face. Most carriers are not insured and are paid low in respect to the inflation. For the large number of Iranians who live on a day-by-day income, staying home means having no money to pay for essential things such as food. Image by Jalal Shamsazaran / NVP Images. Iran, 2020.

For the full article by Amund Bakke Foss examining the state of COVID-19 in Iran and profiling the photographers whose work is featured above, please visit VG's website. At the end of May, Iran was hit by a second wave of the coronavirus. These photographers have looked around different corners of the country to depict the difficulties of everyday life during the crisis.

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