BEIRUT LETTER
Like thousands of foreign domestics in Lebanon, Maïssa has been waiting weeks for the phone number of her consulate to appear on the screen of her smartphone. It will be the signal for the much-desired departure, the green light to return to his homeland, Ethiopia. Strangled by the economic crisis ravaging the land of cedars, the young thirties resolved to join the repatriation program set up by the Ethiopian representation in Beirut. " Life in Lebanon has become too hard, my salary has been cut in half, prices have gone up 30% or 40% and since the employers no longer give us dollars, we can no longer send money to our parents. "
First sacrificed
Only six months ago, this young woman could not imagine packing her bags. In ten years in Beirut, she had learned the language, found a decent job as a cleaning lady and had set up a pleasant home in a small apartment shared with three compatriots. But the collapse of the Lebanese lira against the dollar, from September and the liquidity control measures put in place by the banks, gradually changed everything. Both businesses, deprived of a green ticket, and families, at half-mast purchasing power, had to cut spending drastically.
Immigrant workers, handy in Lebanese society, adjustment variables, as easy to hire as to fire, were the first to be sacrificed. If no official figure is available, as this sector suffers from a lack of regulation, it is admitted that tens of thousands of foreign domestic workers, out of a total of 250,000 present in Lebanon, have suffered redundancies or salary reductions. They are the invisible victims of the Lebanese crisis.
"I was earning 400 dollars a month before the crisis and today I only get 200,000 Lebanese pounds", says Maïssa. An amount equivalent to 130 dollars at the official rate, and 80 dollars, at the black market rate, which prevails in everyday life. “Even the kg of tomatoes has become too expensive for my budget. I gave up buying gifts for my family. I hope to return to Ethiopia in the next two weeks. Life is no longer tenable here. "
Under guardianship
Embassies count that more than 2,000 Ethiopian, 1,500 Bangladeshi and 600 Filipino women have already been sent back to their countries of origin since the start of the year. Many more may follow in the coming weeks. The waiting list of the Bangladeshi representation includes 8,000 names and that of its Filipino counterpart 3,000 others. Not to mention that many women leave the country without referring directly to their consulate. "We haven't seen that since the 2006 war, between Israel and Hezbollah", says an Ethiopian embassy official.
