Coffee with Lola
As part of our permanent Black Pearls series, we are following African Migrant workers in Lebanon. The Kafala system, the economic crises, and the Beirut Blast have led to extreme conditions for these workers. Under the current system, workers’ migration status is tied to their employer's household. With few protections, they are open to exploitation of earnings but also subject to physical and mental abuse. These workers are sometimes afraid to report to the authorities, fearing imprisonment or deportation. With the Lebanese pound dropping in value, the country is experiencing a huge financial crisis, as such families that can no longer afford to pay their staff and continue to end their employment without warning. These women are being left in the street or deposited at consulates- often they are injured and unwell.
In the last few weeks, Action for Humanity with Lovette Jallow @action4humanity_se has managed to repatriate Gambian workers. Raising the funds to fly these women to Senegal, she then managed to hire a bus to take them home across the border. For women of other communities, the struggle continues. Kenyan women are currently posted outside the consulate as the government refuses to help them. Instead, they have been told to prostitute themselves to raise the money to go home. The stories are repeated across Beirut as workers gather outside their consulates but help is not forthcoming. NGOs such as are providing vital frontline care, but it is not enough.
In this film, Oliver Marsden interviewed Legasse (Lola) Kindane Tieke during an Eritrean coffee ceremony. They discussed her life before coming to Beirut, her life living in the capital for 40 years, and the future.