‘No one cares’: Lebanon’s financial crisis and domestic workers

As Lebanon’s economy and currency collapse, foreign domestic workers struggle to make ends meet.

Beirut, Lebanon – Sabrina, a Bangladeshi domestic worker, is barely 127cm (4 feet 2 inches) tall and extremely thin. Her shoulder blades protruded from under her clothing as she scrubbed the floor in a house she is employed in. She looks ill and yet she works long hours for meagre pay to earn a living. Sabrina arrived in Lebanon more than 10 years ago in search of work. Bangladesh, a developing country, had too many mouths to feed and too few job opportunities. The move to Lebanon paid off. The Lebanese currency was pegged to the dollar at the rate of 1,500 pounds back in 1997 and used interchangeably on that basis. Sabrina would earn in dollars, save, and send her remittances back home where her family would convert the dollars into Bangladeshi takas and pay their expenses.