Scraping by in Dubai: The Portacabin Scrap Dealers eking out a living on the city's fringes.
Section 1
A sense of humor helps.
Section 2
When creativity pays off.
Section 3
They have it all.
Section 4
Having the right tools for the job means everything.
Section 5
Sometimes you have to think outside the box.
Section 6
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Portacabin scrap dealers in Dubai:
You don't need to look hard to find people struggling to get by in Dubai. Just take a drive down any of the city's main roads and you'll notice plenty of abandoned construction sites and half- built skyscrapers, remnants of Dubai's aborted property boom in 2009-2010. But perhaps the most visible sign of how some people struggle in this glitzy city are the scrap dealers that work on its fringes, scavenging abandoned building sites for recyclable materials that they can then sell on to local recycling companies.
Investing in portacabins to set up scrap dealerships on the city's fringes, Ghanem and his brothers work seven days a week in the hope of making ends meet in one of the world's richest cities.
How hard do you have to scrape to make a living in Dubai? Pretty hard, as it turns out, if you're making your money by dealing in Portacabin scrap... (etc.)