The 21-year-old lives in a small room in the Lebanese capital with six other Ethiopian women. When the devastating explosion of Beirut struck on Tuesday night, it blew out its door and all its windows.
“We were not home at the time, so we are safe,” Hanna said, speaking to CNN on condition that her full name was not used. But now, she said, “anyone in the street can walk through the door and find us sleeping. We are scared.”
Hanna and her six roommates are just some of the thousands of strong mainly African domestic workers living in Lebanon. Some of them were spotted in the blast that left a 10-kilometer circle of destruction in Beirut.
In the aftermath, law firms warn that this vulnerable group is facing difficult situations because many of them are stranded in the country and unable to go home.
Lebanon’s economic crisis was exacerbated by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and domestic workers were largely considered spending, with some outside their countries’ embassies dumped by their employers, who could no longer pay their salaries. to pay.
The truth of the video was confirmed to CNN by Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who is the chairperson of the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, a government bureau that oversees diaspora affairs.
She told CNN that the women had been reached for the explosion and were in a safe location.
For many migrant workers in Beirut, Tuesday’s devastation added another reason to leave the country.
Aster Kidane, an Ethiopian migrant working as a domestic worker in Beirut, told CNN she was sweeping the floor when the explosion broke windows. Glass shards had her cut and killed, but she was treated at home because hospitals in Beirut are so overwhelmed.
“Glass cut my arm in two places, I was bleeding everywhere,” Aster said.
Tsigereda says she has visited hospitals to check on injured domestic workers.
“They bandaged people outside because the hospitals were full,” Tsigereda told CNN. “I met wounded Sudanese and an Ethiopian.”
One Ethiopian has died so far after the explosion and nine others have been injured, including “one woman who is in intensive care fighting for her life,” Consul General Temesgen Omer of Ethiopia told CNN.
‘Endless stream of trauma’
Egna Legna Besidet was founded by Banchi Yimer, a former domestic worker who now lives in Canada.
In April, Banchi launched a crowdfunding initiative that raised more than $ 125,000 to help domestic workers in crisis.
The vast majority of migrant domestic workers with work permits are women from Ethiopia, Amnesty said in a report with figures from 2018. Accurate figures for all workers are hard to reach because some of the domestic workers, who are mostly women , are trafficked or brought into the country illegally.
Many have been abused under the controversial kefala system, a form of imprecise servitude that tied a woman’s immigration / residence status to a live-in employment contract.
Aster said under a previous employer, she was not allowed to eat more than one egg a day. “The kefala system allowed them to treat me like a pet or a toy. They could use me, hit me and take them away if they wanted to,” she said.
She eventually switched to her current employer, who she says treats her better. Domestic workers are often prejudiced in Lebanon, activist groups say – which could make it even harder to gain access in a year tainted by crisis.
“They live under racism and discrimination,” said Farah Salka, of Lebanon’s Anti-Racism Movement. “They are running from one escalating situation to another and it is an endless stream of trauma. They have to get Covid, economic crisis, closure of the airport, restrictions in quarantine in often hostile conditions and they want to go home.”
No easy way home
But for Ethiopian workers, finding a way home is not easy. To be returned, Salka says the women are required to pay $ 600 for the flight plus $ 140 per night for 14 days of quarantine upon arrival in the country.
“Who has this money? In this country that is in full crisis?” Frege Salka.
With prospects bleak and unable to pay return tickets at home, many domestic workers have chosen to work in homes for free to prevent homelessness and hunger on the streets of Beirut, according to Yimer. Others were abandoned by their employers outside the doors of the Ethiopian consulate in Beirut.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday tweeted a message of sympathy for the Lebanese people and called on Ethiopian citizens to contact the consulate for assistance.
CNN has reached out to the Ethiopian government for comment on the repatriation complaints.
Billene Seyoum, the press secretary for the prime minister’s office, referred CNN to the foreign ministry when reached out for comment on complaints about repatriation. The ministry has not yet responded to questions.
“There were no tweets when Ethiopians pleaded for rescue almost 11 months ago,” Yimer said.
“Most Ethiopians sit in this predicate because the government refused to evacuate its citizens.”
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