{"id":77838,"date":"2018-05-29T14:25:20","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T21:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=77838"},"modified":"2018-05-29T14:25:49","modified_gmt":"2018-05-29T21:25:49","slug":"being-dark-skinned-in-beirut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/05\/29\/being-dark-skinned-in-beirut\/","title":{"rendered":"BEING DARK SKINNED IN BEIRUT"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span class=\"cb-author\"><a class=\"author url fn\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" title=\"Posts by Priya Guns\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gal-dem.com\/author\/priya-guns\/\" rel=\"author\">PRIYA GUNS<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Courtesy gal-dem.com<\/span><\/em><\/span><i class=\"fa fa-times\"><\/i><\/h2>\n<div id=\"cb-featured-image\" class=\"cb-fis cb-fis-block-standard\">\n<div class=\"cb-entry-header cb-meta clearfix\">\n<div class=\"cb-post-meta\">\u00a0<i>Adesh, Adesh?\u201d\u00a0<\/i>shouted the first driver in the line-up of five cars beside me. As I walked on the sidewalk, drivers shouted, How much, how much?\u201d It was only my second week in Beirut, and I had been told the slang for maid was Sri Lanki.\u201d I wondered if the accosting had something to do with the fact I\u2019m Sri Lankan.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"cb-entry-content clearfix\">I\u2019ve lived and travelled the Middle East for years. The first time I moved to the Gulf I was soul-ridden from seeing the migrant domestic workers (MDW) that looked like members of my family and the community I grew up in. There was the Sri Lankan maid who\u2019d knock on my door asking if I wanted her services, the Filipina women pushing strollers, running after Arab children, and the Bengali woman sweeping close to the table I sat at with my white and Arab friends. I\u2019d always smile, almost embarrassed if I was wearing short shorts in front of an aunty, guilty for my company with white expats and the Arab majority. I knew while the organisation I worked for held my passport for three months, theirs were held for years.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-cb-759-500 size-cb-759-500 wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.gal-dem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7839.jpg?resize=759%2C500\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 759px) 100vw, 759px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.gal-dem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7839.jpg?resize=100%2C65 100w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.gal-dem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7839.jpg?resize=260%2C170 260w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.gal-dem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7839.jpg?resize=759%2C500 759w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.gal-dem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7839.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=759%2C500 1518w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.gal-dem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7839.jpg?zoom=3&amp;resize=759%2C500 2277w\" alt=\"\" width=\"759\" height=\"500\" data-attachment-id=\"18600\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.gal-dem.com\/moving-to-beirut-as-a-dark-skinned-woman\/img_7839\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.gal-dem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7839.jpg?fit=2533%2C1844\" data-orig-size=\"2533,1844\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1527590628&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_7839\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.gal-dem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7839.jpg?fit=300%2C218\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.gal-dem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7839.jpg?fit=1024%2C745\" \/><\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>My maid\u2019s stupid. She knows nothing. She can\u2019t do anything. She\u2019s useless,\u201d a Lebanese woman shared with me. In Lebanon having a maid is a status symbol.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the International Labour Organization\u2019s (ILO) 2016\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ilo.org\/beirut\/publications\/WCMS_524149\/lang--en\/index.htm\">report<\/a>\u00a0on Lebanon, there are over 250,000 migrant women in domestic work. The majority are Ethiopian. Sri Lankan women were once the most popular after other Arab women in the early 70\u2019s, hence the term Sri Lanki.\u201d Currently, Bangladeshi women\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ilo.org\/beirut\/publications\/WCMS_524143\/lang--en\/index.htm\">earn the least<\/a>, and there\u2019s more likelihood to obtain Ethiopian women due to high supply. Filipina women earn the most because they usually speak English and have had experience in domestic work.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.migrant-rights.org\/campaign\/end-the-kafala-system\/\"><i>Kafala<\/i><\/a>\u00a0is a sponsorship system in the Middle East that ties an employee to their employer. It gives employers reign of their employees\u2019 movement and work hours, inhibiting them from leaving their sponsored work. It\u2019s a form of slavery, sitting within a structure of an\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gal-dem.com\/need-discuss-colourism-middle-east\/\">endemically racist capitalist system\u00a0<\/a>which affects MDW, but also working class Lebanese and Arab communities\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfam.org\/en\/research\/poverty-inequality-and-social-protection-lebanon\">who suffer as part of this<\/a>. Despite the fact that some countries in the Middle East have reformed or abolished Kafala,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.migrant-rights.org\/2017\/02\/qatars-new-law-one-month-on\/\">power still remains in the employers\u2019 hands<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It sits within a structure of an endemically racist capitalist system\u00a0which affects migrant domestic women, but also working class Lebanese and Arab communities\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>At Beirut Airport, it\u2019s common to see an immigration officer with a queue of Ethiopian women waiting to be numbered. This is usually the point when their documents and passports are taken by their sponsors. Although I am Sri Lankan, when I travel I\u2019m able to embark on my journey freely, thanks to my Canadian passport and the life that comes with my upbringing in the West.<\/p>\n<p>Madams (female employers) are known to shower and bathe maids when they arrive, using lice shampoo, teaching them how to disinfect the bathroom after use, as many perceive their maids as dirty\u201d. Many of the migrant women arrive with little or no English, Arabic or French skills making it difficult to connect with their employer and their family. The MDW tend to feel isolated. The ILO states almost half of MDW aren\u2019t given their own rooms. They sleep in the kitchen, the parlour or in a glass-enclosed veranda.<\/p>\n<p>Some MDW are locked indoors, as employers worry they will run away, or fear what they\u2019ll do, as they\u2019re responsible for their actions. There have been cases such as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thisislebanon.org\/general-abuse\/ibtisam-saade-wife\/\">Halima<\/a>\u2018s, a woman who was locked away\u201d for ten years without receiving wages. While minimum wage in Lebanon is $US450, this doesn\u2019t apply to MDW \u2013 the average wage for migrant women is just\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ilo.org\/beirut\/publications\/WCMS_524143\/lang--en\/index.htm\">$US180<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Ethiopian women\u00a0<i>returning<\/i>\u00a0from working in the Middle East have\u00a0psychiatric morbidity rates\u00a0that are two to five times more than those remaining\u00a0in Ethiopia\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>On a flight to Ethiopia from Beirut, there were many Ethiopian women either returning or visiting home. There was one woman I noticed who was despondent to those around her, as were the flight attendants. 40% of Ethiopian women are bipolar \u2013 I read a study. Our maid used to throw plates on the floor,\u201d said the Lebanese woman beside me on the plane. If I was a MDW, I\u2019d throw more than just plates. I researched her claim and learnt that Ethiopian women\u00a0<i>returning<\/i>\u00a0from working in the Middle East have\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ajp.psychiatryonline.org\/doi\/full\/10.1176\/appi.ajp.2015.15101281\">psychiatric morbidity rates<\/a>\u00a0that are two to five times more than those remaining in Ethiopia.<\/p>\n<p>Though some MDW work for caring families, there are those who endure verbal,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thisislebanon.org\/general-abuse\/eleanore-couture-runs-a-house-of-horror\/\">physical<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.migrant-rights.org\/2014\/04\/ethiopian-domestic-worker-disciplined-by-rape-in-lebanon\/\">sexual<\/a>\u00a0abuse. My first six months were horrible. I ran away. They don\u2019t treat us like women. We\u2019re slaves. I still don\u2019t have my passport. We really suffer here,\u201d said a 27-year-old Ethiopian woman I spoke with. She explained that some women feel pressured after running away and look for sex work. She also said that the authorities often stop women, knowing that they\u2019re unlikely to have their documents. Some of these men will ask for money and knowing the women don\u2019t have any, they demand sex. They see us as bitches. That\u2019s what we are to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A few weeks prior, I was followed by a uniformed officer into my building and through the secluded stairwell. He wanted my phone number for sex. I was able to tell him off in English in my North American accent, my privilege spraying as potent as pepper spray. It\u2019s because you\u2019re Sri Lankan,\u201d said the Filipina maid who works in our building as she pointed to my skin. Even with my privilege as a Sri Lankan from the West, with a white Arabic speaking husband that looks Lebanese, I notice how people avoid speaking to me when I\u2019m with him, even when English is spoken. I can\u2019t help but wonder if some of the stares we get when we\u2019re together are out of curiosity by the nature of our relationship. Did a Lebanese man marry his Sri Lanki?<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>If, with my privilege, I feel the obvious racism in the power imbalance between migrants and locals, I can\u2019t imagine what it\u2019s like for a MDW. They leave their families and children, often working for the sole purpose of sending money back home. For every case where a vulnerable woman is subject to such terms of oppression, this is often accompanied by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/newint.org\/features\/2017\/11\/01\/kafala-lebanon\">violence, control<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irinnews.org\/feature\/2017\/05\/15\/slave-labour-death-rate-doubles-migrant-domestic-workers-lebanon\">death<\/a>. There are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.armlebanon.org\/\">organisations<\/a>\u00a0of some\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kafa.org.lb\/\">Lebanese in solidarity<\/a>\u00a0with some of these women, and those run by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thisislebanon.org\/\">former workers themselves<\/a>. We can support their efforts to force the Lebanese elite to abolish the Kafala system, and put pressure on employers who are exploiting their workers. Let\u2019s strive towards justice and change, rather than sit by and watch.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PRIYA GUNS\u00a0\u00a0Courtesy gal-dem.com \u00a0Adesh, Adesh?\u201d\u00a0shouted the first driver in the line-up of five cars beside me. As I walked on the sidewalk, drivers shouted, How much, how much?\u201d It was only my second week in Beirut, and I had been told the slang for maid was Sri Lanki.\u201d I wondered if the accosting had something [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}