Lebanese employers enslaved us : African women cry.

African girls who turned out to be maids in Lebanon have been sacked by their employers after huge explosion in the capital Beirut. The subsquente words of this text are from the horse's own mouth; from a song composed by african women stranded in Lebanon.

                    There is a time in our country when things are not easy

                   To be fed is a problem 

                   We are homeless and naked

                    So we have to go to the Middle East to find jobs

                   There we find ourselves into slavery

                  They will beat us

                   They will kill us

                   There is no one to help us..........

 

 Many African girls or women move to Lebanon and other countries in the Middle East to be caught in what they call Kefala system - which connect their immigration status to their employment, a status which is mostly sustained and protected by their lebanese employers. In other words, they become illegal immigrants when sacked or are without the job. 

Amid tuesday's explosion in Beirut, many African domestic workers in the capital have lost their jobs. Employers who lost their houses have resorted to laying down domestic workers. Most of these maids were engaged in cleaning and cooking in the respectives houses they were employed.

A woman who was affected, Lucy Turay told BBC focus that some of her fellow domestic workers had received calls from their employers to be told they have lost their jobs because the houses had been destroyed. 

However, some african women are not unhappy about the news, since they prefer to be unemployed and roam on the street than to be treated bad by their employers. According to Ms Turay she left her job as a maid and childminder in february after her  employer threatened to kill her.

Ms Turay now lives in a safe hosue kind courtsey an indian woman who found her on the street of Beirut and gave her the phone number of Turay´s country consulate. 

In a safe hands now, but neither the consulate nor her has the money for flight home. She says the only way she and the compatriots have to raise money is from a song she wrote - Thewanthdean // Bye and Bye which is on youtube now. The song is a warning to younge Africans whose ambition is to get  maid job in the Middle East. 

To the young Africans, please let's stay back and put pressure on our leaders to make Africa a better place for us all. You may move to study oustide or to expand your business but not to submit yourselves to slavery. 

By Stephen Amanor