These women are desperate to return home. But after being abandoned — usually without pay — they can’t afford a plane ticket home, and there is little prospect of further income. “There’s no money or jobs here,” said Genet, an 18-year-old Ethiopian woman. She’s sleeping on concrete, cushioned only by a thin blanket. “I suffered too much, even before becoming homeless. I just want to return to my family.”
Since May, thousands of domestic workers of various nationalities have been abandoned by their Lebanese employers who claimed they were no longer able to afford to pay them. Under Lebanon’s notorious kafala system, through which visas are sponsored by individual employers, these workers have little to no rights and no means of redress.