Abandoned and left to die: The untold story of women caught in Lebanon's crossfire
A group of Kenyan domestic workers stranded in Lebanon demands repatriation after a blast in Beirut that led to job losses. They have been sleeping on mattresses outside Kenya's honorary consulate in the country.
What you need to know:
- Hundreds of domestic workers were abandoned in Lebanon by their fleeing employers as Israeli airstrikes pounded the country.
- Many were left stranded without passports or money due to the restrictive kafala labour system.
- The crisis exposed the vulnerability of migrant workers, with women like Lina and Vionnah Kerubo trapped in empty homes or sleeping on streets as bombs fall, while flights to Kenya have doubled to an unaffordable $500.
As explosions flashed across Beirut’s dark sky, Lina sat in an apartment block tucked away in the southern part of the city. She was alone and frightened, clutching her phone for safety.
The 29-year-old housekeeper has worked in Lebanon since 2022. But when Israeli strikes began hitting the country, her employer packed up and left, leaving her to fend for herself.
“They said they would be coming back later in the evening,” said Lina, from Kenya, who asked to be identified only by her first name. “That was three days ago.”
The Hamas-led attack on Israel, last October, has triggered a mounting regional conflict, including an Israeli ground offensive and deadly airstrikes in Lebanon. In a matter of weeks, Israel’s bombardment has killed more than 2,300 people and displaced roughly 1.2 million, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Migrant workers
Yet as families here flee in search of safety, the low-paid migrant workers who clean their homes and care for their children are being left behind. The conflict has once again highlighted the vulnerability of the country’s foreign workforce, already working under conditions that rights groups have long said allow exploitation and abuse.
“I feel abandoned and left to die,” said Lina, in a panicked voice.
There are roughly 177,000 migrants living in Lebanon, according to the International Organisation for Migration, a United Nations (UN) agency, though the real number is thought to be much higher. Most come from Africa and Asia and many are women who work in private households.
Early October, UN officials said most of the country’s nearly 900 shelters for displaced people were full, expressing concern for the tens of thousands of mostly female, live-in domestic workers being “abandoned” by their employers.
While some, like Lina, were left behind, others were taken to temporary shelters but later kicked out to make way for Lebanese nationals, according to media reports. Many said they have simply been turned away. With no alternative, workers are now sleeping on the streets or in parks.
Although there are no reliable figures, Banchi Yimer, founder of Egna Legna, a community-based group, which supports Ethiopian domestic workers in Lebanon, said they have witnessed a “huge” number of abandoned migrant workers. In just three days, her small team collected a list of more than 1,000 people in need of help, providing emergency assistance such as food, sanitary pads, mattresses, blankets and transportation.
Nowhere is safe
Only a handful of embassies had organised shelter for their citizens, among them Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, said Yimer, adding that she was now receiving reports of migrant workers being sexually and physically assaulted while sleeping on the streets.
“The amount of discrimination we’re facing, it’s unbelievable. Nowhere is safe, especially for the women.”
By then, Lina was one of the luckier ones. A fellow Kenyan migrant worker put her in touch with a local organisation that helped her find shelter in Beirut. But even if she wanted to leave, she was unable to do so – her employer still had her passport.
Due to the country’s kafala labour system, it’s a situation many found themselves in. Foreign workers are bound to a local sponsor and cannot change jobs or leave the country without their permission. In practice, employers have almost total control over workers’ lives, often confiscating passports, preventing cell phone use and depriving them of time off, rights groups say.
Vionnah Kerubo, another Kenyan domestic worker, was trapped inside her employer’s house in northern Lebanon. She wanted to go home, but her employer was refusing to let her leave, she said. The daily bombings were taking their toll.
“I am ready to finance my departure but my employer says I am bound by the contract and will not release me or return my passport,” she said.
Embassy buildings
For most, the cost was also a barrier. Flights from Beirut to Nairobi were around $500, more than double prior to Israel’s bombardment and unaffordable for women whose average monthly salary is roughly $200.
For those who’ve lived in Lebanon long enough, these are depressingly familiar scenes. During the pandemic, employers left women they employed in front of embassy buildings because they could no longer afford to pay them as the economy imploded.
But when migrant workers turn to their consulates for help, they’ve historically been “unresponsive, corrupt and problematic,” said Salma Sakr, communications manager at the Anti-Racism Movement (ARM), a non-profit based in Beirut.
More than one in four migrant domestic workers in Lebanon are from countries that do not have embassies there, relying instead on honorary consuls – unpaid representatives that provide limited and inefficient support, according to a report by ARM.
“When shit hits the fan… no one will help them be repatriated,” said Sakr.
Now, like before, women turned to each other for support. In one WhatsApp group, viewed by The Fuller Project, women shared updates on their situation, contacts and resources to help those in need across the country, including in Beirut, the Beqaa Valley and southern Lebanon, which was under constant Israeli bombardment.
“I don’t want to die here,” said Sharon Akinyi, a 31-year-old caregiver who had been working in Lebanon since 2020.
“The explosions, and sounds of gunfire are frightening. I wish the Kenyan government would step in and repatriate us.”
Some countries had started arranging evacuation for their citizens, including Bangladesh and the Philippines. Roughly 4,000 Kenyans had registered for evacuation by then, according to Roseline Njogu, the country’s Principal Secretary for Diaspora Affairs, and about 100 have already left.
As the country lacked a formal labour agreement with Lebanon, the Kenyan government had also warned its migrant workers against travelling to the country because it was unable to guarantee citizens’ rights or provide clear migration pathways.
For those who now slept under the roar of Israeli jets, that message was of little help.
“I had fled poverty only to find myself trapped in this war-torn landscape,” said Lina. “I am in a nightmare with no way out.”
This story is published in partnership with The Fuller Project
