Yesterday morning, I went with the photojournalist Matthew Cassel (Just Image) to the Ethiopian Full Gospel Church, in Sebtiyeh, just outside of Beirut, for Sunday services and the funeral of one of the congregants, Hany Gebre, who died in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 last Monday.
If you are looking to understand the plight of Ethiopian domestic workers in Lebanon, look no further than the fact that this service — six days after the incident — was the first time the Ethiopian community could reliably get time off from work to gather. About 150 women — and they were ALL women — were there, and many cried for the entire three hour service, which was conducted through song and spoken word, wholly in Amharic. Representatives from the Ethiopian Consulate stopped by to pay their respects and distribute their personal mobile numbers, which everyone in attendance dutifully wrote down. They, too, left in tears.
The ceremony itself was spectacular — haunting in its beauty and sorrow. I’ll try to say more about the experience later, but have a listen to a few minutes that I recorded, and jump over to JustImage.org for Matt’s beautiful photographs from the service.
(tabarek, gita; tabarek, yesus: “Bless you, God; Bless you, Jesus.”)
top photograph: Joshua Hersh // bottom photograph: Matthew Cassel, Polaris.
Follow me on Twitter: @joshuahersh
More on these topics:
Beirut, christians, church, domestic workers, et409, ethiopians
Dounia says:
Thank you and Matthew Cassel for the article and pictures.
Everytime i see pictures of the Ethiopians grieving for their friends and family who were aboard the pain, my hearts breaks into small tiny parts.
It's sad to see how much these women suffer, and their Lebanese bosses don't even make it easier for them. They just add more sorrow and misery to their lives.
lebnene says:
you know what, this is getting ridiculous, at least try not to be so biased in your articles, yes there is racism in Lebanon against people of darker skin like everywhere else unfortunately. However there is no more racism in Lebanon then a place like the US for example it's just that the lebanese gvt hasn t put in place laws to protect people against discrimination based on their color. It s funny how foreigners think that they can come to a country take a few cases of foreign workers being subject to violence or intimidation and then make sweeping generalizations such as all "lebanese are racist" or even most of "lebanese are racist"
Yes there is a problem with racism in Lebanon and yes the lebanese gvt is not doing enough to protect migrant workers but do you even bother to mention how many organizations there are in the country to defend the rights of these workers and lobby the gvt to modify the laws.
And after all what i will say might sound shocking to some but no one is forcing ethiopians or any other nationality to come work in Lebanon and if they think that the situation there is that bad, then they should simply not go.
layman says:
I appreciate the commitment of the writer of this article to bring into attention the hardship faced by the voiceless, who seldom has anybody lending them ears. At times, I think our (I am Ethiopian) own government has failed to do anything visible despite many complaints about the (mis)treatment of many domestic workers and primarily Ethiopians in middle east. Many poor Ethiopians (and many other foreigners) are likely to give it a try to make ends meet, as the saying goes "The grass is greener on the other side". I just hope that this incident, and articles such as this one, would give many Lebanese in position of hiring a domestic maid and the government of the responsible countries a reminder. I believe this article is not blaming anyone at all, it is just stating some fact to make things better for people often ignored. Hope things would change for the better in Lebanon.
Hat's off to Jousha and RIP to ALL ET-409 victims.
YesMan says:
there are times when the truth is inconvenient. No one has accused all Lebanese of being racist. Reality is, the number of abuses that many migrants workers live under is more than the occasional misconduct that could happen anywhere in the World. This situation is also not welcome with the Ethiopian which is criticized for not protecting its citizens, not providing jobs, or even barring travel/employment in problem areas.
I am sure many Lebanese groups are lobbying their govt for enshrining of equality laws and proper enforcement, like anything of significance, it will take time IMHO. I would encourage more discussions on this and other 'taboo' and 'inconvenient' topics.
Kagnew says:
Thanks Joshua for doing these revealing articles on the situation of Ethiopian domestic workers in Lebanon. The crash of the Ethiopian airlines plane had led the light to shine on this issue. I feel that most Lebanese people are not informed of or do not realise the extent of the plight of domestic workers in their country. I have also read of the difficulty most domestic workers faced during the Israeli-Lebanon war of 2006. It is really time that all governments concerned do something about the abuse that goes unnoticed in the domestic service sector.
lebnene says:
This has nothing to do with the truth being inconvenient, cases like these happen all over the arab world, however only in Lebanon is the media allowed to freely report about them, most of the sources that people use to cover these cases are coming from lebanese newspapers or Beirut NGOs. Lebanese are well aware of these unfortunate cases that are and remain exception, there are tens of thousands of foreign workers in Lebanon but the media in general only runs behind sensational stories and want to make it seem that abuse is far more widespread than what it really is.
Basing yourselves on a few cases of domestic abuse to allow you to make judgments on lebanese people and society has as much value as me saying that all americans are ignorant rednecks that know nothing about the world around them after all how smart can they be when they elected George Bush as president for two terms instead of one.
Joshua Hersh says:
Hi lebnene -- thanks for writing. I appreciate your thoughts, and your criticism, and I think you are right about much of what you say. Normally I'm not in the habit of defending myself too much, since who really cares what I think, but take another look at the first post I wrote on this subject:
http://thefastertimes.com/lebanonandsyria/2010/01/27/ethiopian-air-409-crashes-near-beirut-the-coverage-so-far/
You'll see there that my point was very much like yours: it's one thing to point out that the Ethiopians (and others -- Sri Lankans, Indians, Filipinos, etc) are sometimes treated horrendously in Lebanon, and quite another to suggest that all Lebanese are racist. This is surely not the case, and claiming it only makes it harder to advance the cause of those domestic workers -- something that needs the help of the Lebanese if it's ever going to happen. My next post is going to be on this topic too: about some of the impressive efforts by Lebanese nationals to help the domestic workers here.
AND: Thanks also to Kagnew and Dounia and Layman and others for your kind remarks. I hope you'll all keep reading.
Josh
Ayele says:
I have read entries about racism in Lebanon concerning migrant/domestic workers. I wonder, however, if it is truly racism or a simple case of slavery? Perhaps in this case these two words go hand in hand. I wonder if there are any Lebanese domestic workers and how they are treated by the Madames.
jay says:
Hi YUP.. i have been reading the same thing all over the place without having to look for it it’s all over the news, and I think it is really good it is being highlighted. I don’t believe this is an issue of where individuals come from or the colour of their skins, its to-do with what their profession happens to be. I am certain there are cases of abuse in Lebanon to native Lebanese domestic professionals. This shows society in Lebanon and all over the middle east has a lot of maturing to do.
Thomas says:
First of all I would like to extend my great appreciation to Joshua Hersh for bringing the issues of migrant workers to be discussed around the world. You have great admiration and respect among all the Ethiopians reading your writings about migrant workers. I don’t want to sound like nationalist since everyone comes here tries to defend their county but I felt so sorry for those poor ladies working as domestic worker. I’m certain that all Lebanese are not a racist but I believe there are some bad apples and those poor ladies needed to be protected from the bad apples.
sam says:
To Joshua and Lebnene,
While there is a strong point behind what lebnene said, what is forgotten is that the difference between Lebanon and a place like the US, where arguably there is more racism to people of color, is that in the US there is a very large segment of society that has long since begun self criticism. In Lebanon this does not happen. So it goes beyond the idea that laws exist in the US (or elsewhere) and not in lebanon. I think the greater problem is that Lebanese are racist and don't admit it, and this is almost a social condition. Whereas in the US and other such places, there has been a reflection and struggle on this topic - not by everyone. Of course, the reasons for this are historical and the Lebanese fight other struggles. But it does not excuse them from recognizing this one. I think discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon, for example, comes from the same place as discrimination against domestic workers. Same symptoms of a wider problem.
Thomas says:
Some people here tried to compare racism in the Lebanon with racism in the US. It almost sound like the US is a moral reference to the rest of the world according to some of the commentators here. This matter should not be compared with any country, object or person. It is a question of morality and integrity. It is immoral to treat people based on their color religion or ethnicity whether they are in US or Lebanon. The US is not better than any other country to be taken as a moral reference for other countries.
lebnene says:
Sam the treatement of the palestineans is a completely different story than the discrimination against foreign workers, this is not the right place to go into that but it has to do with the role palestineans played in the civil war and the fact that they are still armed and live in camps where the official lebanese security forces are not allowed to enter.