AFP Forum

'I worked day and night': Ethiopia under pressure to rescue maids in Lebanon

RAW - ETHIOPIA - LEBANON - LABOUR - RIGHTS - WOMEN - ECONOMY
After she flew to Lebanon in 2017 to work as a maid for a family of eight, Birtukan Mekuanint managed to call her own relatives in Ethiopia only a handful of times. Like thousands of other Ethiopians, she worked in strenuous conditions and says her 'hands were bruised from the hard work'. When the coronavirus pandemic struck, dozens of these Ethiopian women were kicked out by their employers and unceremoniously deposited in front of the Ethiopian consulate in Beirut. Birtukan and Almaz Gezaheng, another woman who made it back home, tell AFP their story. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES