Lebanese Nizam Hussein Shalak has been living inside Jose Joaquin de Olmedo airport in Ecuador for over 40 days now an we unfortunately wouldn’t have heard about his case if it wasn’t for the foreign media outlets.
The man visited Ecuador two months ago, but on his way back to Lebanon he stopped in Barcelona where he was detained after losing his papers and credit cards and was sent back to the Ecuador. He is now living off food coupons that airlines offer to him and gets to shower every few days when he is allowed to do so.
What’s puzzling though is that the Lebanese consulate in Ecuador didn’t know about Shalak until the media there reported about him, so I think the ministry of foreign affairs here in Lebanon doesn’t have an idea about the matter as well, and chances are he will have to wait several more weeks until they figure out how to issue new papers for him.
His situation is not unique by the way and many other people ended up somehow living inside airports around the world after they lost or got rid of their personal papers (check here), with the most notable case being that of an Iranian man who lived in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris for around 18 years!
