Former migrant workers in Lebanon are fighting to prevent other young people from traveling: “slave-like system” .

Here’s the flour, when you came last week the piles of food were much bigger, you couldn’t even move, says Tsigereda Brihanu, who shows me around among the dry goods they keep in white sacks on the walls of their premises. Rice, white flour and red lentils. We help more than 45 people every day, she says. And it has become more difficult for us too, it is very expensive, she says.

Girls who travel here think they should make money and have a better future, they have no idea of reality, she says. Seven years ago, when she was 18, she came from Ethiopia to work for a family. When she left, she thought she was going to study. After seeing how bad many other domestic workers were, she started an organization in 2017 with several other women from Ethiopia.

– The girls have a lot of stories. They call and say they haven’t been paid for two or three years, they don’t even want money, they just want to be able to go home but they don’t get it because they don’t have the right papers.

There are so many stories from the girls who come here. You call and tell them that they haven’t been paid for several years. They don’t even ask for money, they just want to leave the house and go home to their country, but they don’t get it, they don’t have their own papers, she says.

English | May 4, 2021

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