Forgotten voices: Migrant workers left scrambling for survival following Beirut explosion

Lebanon houses over 250,000 domestic workers, mainly coming from African and Asian countries working as cleaners and nannies. The situation of these workers began to deteriorate drastically as coronavirus began to affect Lebanon, making employment for these workers much more complicated than it was. Alongside the virus, Lebanon’s economic crisis hit the population of workers hard as many employers could no longer afford to sustain their workers, kicking many of these women on the streets. Lebanon’s economic situation has left much of the Lebanese population financially struggling, the country had already been in grave disarray before the explosion. It has left thousands of people into the poverty line with daily currency drops ruining businesses and bringing families into a panic. Prices of imported goods rose by 56% with the cost of food rising by 190%, emphasising that if financially stable Lebanese families have been struggling to sustain themselves, how would minimum wage domestic workers even stand a chance of survival. Due to this, before the explosion, much of the domestic workers were found helpless on the streets of Beirut, already financially struggling.