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What is it like to live through the collapse of your country, in a city you love and cannot bear to leave? Lina Mounzer is a writer and translator living in Beirut, and this is a question she wrestles with, both in her writing and her daily life.

Lebanon has been in crisis since 2019 when the country鈥檚 financial system started to collapse - many people lost their life savings overnight. The 2020 Beirut port explosion then only increased people鈥檚 suffering.

鈥淲alk down any street here,鈥� says Lina 鈥渁nd you鈥檒l hear talk of price hikes, as well as shortages of food, fuel, medicine, the free-fall of our national currency, and plans to leave for good. I want to take you around my Beirut so you can listen in on these conversations.鈥�

Lina speaks with her friends, family and neighbours to hear how they are coping and trying to keep the spirit of the city alive.

Producer: Viv Jones
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Sound engineer: Rod Farquhar

(Photo: Anti-government graffiti on a temporary barricade blocking access to the parliament building on 19 August, 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon. Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)