Christiana Sings her Thanks

Christiana David Began is a 30 year old, widowed mother of two children from Ghana. Christiana contacted This Is Lebanon in May 2022 seeking help to get her passport that had been illegally confiscated by her employer and to return home to her family. 

Christiana’s journey in Lebanon started in a house where she slept in the bathroom. 11 months into this ordeal, she could no longer tolerate the working conditions and asked her employer to take her back to the recruitment office. She was then placed in a second house, where she was physically abused by her employer’s brother-in-law. When she asked to be taken back to the recruitment office, the agent refused. Christiana’s employer kicked her out. It was August 2020 - the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and when Lebanon was dealing with the aftermath of the Beirut blast. 

Christiana’s employer was unwilling to return her confiscated passport. This Is Lebanon got involved and assisted Christiana in obtaining an ETC (Emergency Travel Certificate). We bought her a plane ticket and she returned safely to Ghana on 28 September, 2022. Christiana made a very sweet video expressing her gratitude.

This Is Lebanon was established in 2017 with the aim of working towards abolishing the kafala system in Lebanon. Our goal has been to raise awareness about the dangers of the kafala system  by exposing the horrific conditions under which migrant domestic workers live and the  perpetrators of abuse as well as advocating with and on behalf of Migrant Domestic Workers. Ultimately, This Is Lebanon gives a voice to workers and encourages witnesses of abuse to come forward.

Kafala (the Arabic word for sponsorship) refers to the set of regulations and  administrative practices used to sponsor and employ migrant workers in Lebanon, mostly women from African and Asian countries working for private households. Domestic workers are excluded from  Lebanese labor law and lack basic protections. The kafala system protects abusers and denies domestic workers of basic human rights.  The high degree of control over workers’ rights provided by the kafala system has led to cases of modern slavery,  human trafficking, and exploitation.