Isatu, welcome to the interview. This interview is to get to know you and your story. Please feel free to start whenever you want.

I served in Lebanon; it was not easy for me. I served there for almost 5 years. They called the police on me, and they locked me in prison and deported me.

How old were you when you went to Lebanon?

I left Sierra Leone at twenty-three years old, hoping to support my mother and her two children.

How many children do you have?

I have two children — one girl and one boy.

Were they both born before you moved to Lebanon?

Yes. My daughter was four, and my son was eight when I left.

Who else is in your family?

Just my mother.

And you went to Lebanon for better job opportunities?

Yes. I wanted to send money home every month to support my children.

Can you talk about your experience as a domestic worker in Lebanon?

Lebanon was not easy for me. There was just too much happening. When it was time for my salary after the first month, I expected to be paid on December 23rd. Instead, they would delay it until December 30th or even January 1st. When I told the madam that I needed to send money back to Africa for my children, she told me it was not her concern. In my final month, they did not pay me anything at all. And when they were done with me, they threw me outside.

Can you tell me a little bit about the Madam?

The madam was an older woman. She refused to give me food until late at night. When I told her I was hungry, the madam told me it was not her business.

Did you get any days off or free time?

No. I worked every day and stayed inside the house.

Can you tell me the process of you going to Lebanon?

My friend told me that there was a madam in Lebanon who needed someone to work for her. I said okay, no problem, because I wanted to take care of my children. My friend told me that when I arrive in Lebanon, I will have freedom and everything I need. But when I got there, it was not easy. I had nothing. I called my friend and told her, you said I would have everything. You said Madam would give me food. But every day, by four or five o’clock, I don’t have any food. My friend hung up the phone on me.

Was that a close friend of yours?

Yes.

Can you describe a day as a domestic worker? What did you do from morning until night?

I watched the children and took care of the madam. If the children did not sleep, I did not sleep. I cooked, cleaned and washed dishes. I would sleep in the kitchen.

How many kids did the family have?

Six — three boys and three girls.

You told me you used to sleep in the kitchen. Did you have any mattress, blanket or pillow?

No. Only a small blanket.

Did you get to use the shower or take care of yourself?

I showered only after finishing work at midnight.

Did the madam take your passport away from you?

Yes.

How long was your contract?

Two years. I completed it but never received my passport back.

Did you discuss the payment before you started working?

I was told I would receive 200 dollars, but the madam paid me 150.

Did you ask her why?

I asked her why she took 50. She told me that when the work was finished, I had to pay for the food I ate and the electricity I used. I said to her that we had agreed she would provide those things for me. She said no — the 50 was for her.

Before starting, did they tell you your working hours?

No. I asked her, madam, why do I work from 6 in the morning until midnight? She told me it was because she had children, and that was the reason I was getting paid. I told her no, I also have a life. I want to rest, and I need to rest.

I called my agent, and he told me that she had the right, so I had to get up at 6 in the morning and finish at midnight. In the end, I had no choice, so I said okay.

Who is this agent?

A Lebanese man living in Ghana.

And how did you meet the agent?

I met him at the airport when I arrived in Lebanon. He took me straight to madam’s house.

You told me the madam kicked you out of the house. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

I wanted to visit my friend. The madam told me there were too many Africans outside and threw me out.

Was there a lot of conflict between you and the Madam?

Yes. When the month ended and I asked for my salary, she told me to go outside. When I stepped out, she closed the door on me. When I asked her, madam, please let me inside, she told me, this is not your place. Go outside. I told her that I didn’t know anyone outside, but she said that was not her business. Then another girl rescued me. I lived with her until I was arrested.

Why did the police arrest you?

The police arrived and asked for my documents. The madam had kept my passport and refused to bring it even when the police called her.

What happened then?

The police took me to the airport.

How long were you in prison?

One month.

How was that experience?

They gave food only once a day.

Did you share the cell with many people?

Yes. Twenty-six women from Lebanon, the Philippines, Kenya, and other countries.

What are your thoughts on the Kafala system?

It’s not comfortable, but I did not have any choice. Even after returning to Africa, the madam refused to give me my passport or luggage back. She even told me to call the police on her if I wanted my stuff.

Did you ever call the police on them?

No. Even when the police asked the madam to bring my passport, she ignored them.

How was life when you came back to Sierra Leone?

I started attending an organisation for domestic workers, where I am learning small skills, like making jewellery and accessories. They only pay for my transportation. I have no money.

How are your kids doing now?

I live with my mother. My daughter is with me at the organisation today, and my son stayed with my mother.

How do you feel now that you came back to Africa?

I feel good; I get to see my sisters (friends). I’m much happier now because in Lebanon I did not have my mommy or father. I did not have my children.

Would you like to start by telling me about your story? What brought you to choose to be a domestic worker?

I am a 28-year-old young woman from Sierra Leone. I chose to work as a domestic worker because life was very difficult at home, and my family did not have money. I decided to go to the Middle East so I could help them. But when I went there, things were not easy at all.

Which country in the Middle East did you go to and how did you travel there? Which year did you move?

I moved in 2018. I went to Oman by flight.

Did you pay for the flight yourself?

No, they paid for everything.

Who paid for it, the family that hired you?

No, we paid an agency in Sierra Leone.

How did you get in contact with the agency?

I did not meet the man from the agency directly. It was one of my friends who connected me to him. I also had other friends who were doing the same kind of work. My friend told me that this man helped people travel outside Sierra Leone, so I agreed to meet him. I was interested because things were not easy where I lived; there was no job, and my family was suffering.

My friend took me to the man, and he explained that I would be working in a hotel. He told me my salary would be 500 dollars, and I was very excited because I thought that once I got there, I would be able to support my family, and they would no longer suffer. But when I arrived, things were completely different. The work was extremely heavy, and I worked 24 hours a day without rest.

Were you living inside the house of the family you worked for, and were you legally employed?

There were eight people in the house, the children, the mother, the father, the daughter in law, and the daughter in law’s two boys. I was living in the house and I was illegally employed.

Were they providing food and help if you had health problems?

No. If I was sick, they told me they would take money from my salary.

Did you become sick while in Oman? What happened?

Yes. When I told my boss I was not feeling well, he said he had to take money from my salary, so they reduced my pay or did not pay me at all. I worked there for a year and two months, and because of that excuse, he only paid me for five months and kept the rest. I stayed in Oman for two years. When I left the house where I had been working, I met a lady called Julie. She was American, and she was helping us.

What kind of work were you doing for the family in Oman?

I cleaned, cooked, and did the laundry. The man tried to abuse me sexually, but I did not give him the chance. For example, when I woke up in the morning and went to the kitchen, I would immediately return to the room as soon as he came into the kitchen. Then he would take time to leave the house.

After that, both he and his wife would shout at me. The wife screamed at me all the time.

What happened to your passport?

I did not have access to my passport while I was in the house. They took it from me, and I never saw it again. I have been trying to find it, but I could never recover from it. The lady was very aggressive and treated me badly. I do not have a passport.

Who was this American woman? Was she working for an international organisation?

I think so, yes. She was just helping us. We wanted to go back to our country because things were very bad. By then, the Coronavirus had started as well, so we were not working and we were suffering.

How did you meet her?

When I ran away from the house, I met a Sierra Leonean friend who asked me if I wanted to go back to Sierra Leone. I said yes. Then she asked me if I wanted to join prostitution, but I said no.

One day we met a man from Uganda. I think his mother had also been a domestic worker. He was only helping Ugandan people. He gave us the number of the lady, and she told us that she would find us an apartment. She was the one giving us food and everything else for eight months.

There were people from Sierra Leone, India, Bangladesh and Nigeria. The apartment was in the city of Al Mabilah. In total there were 18 people there, and 15 were from Sierra Leone.

How did you manage to return to Sierra Leone?

Only two people in the apartment had passports, so the lady had to arrange boarding passes for the rest of us. That was not easy because the Ambassador of Sierra Leone was not in Oman; he was in Saudi Arabia, so there was no embassy in Oman.

The lady spoke to him, but he told us we had to identify ourselves as Sierra Leoneans. We did everything we could, but we could not communicate properly to prove it. Later, the ambassador was able to speak to us directly, and he recognised us as fellow Sierra Leoneans. He said he would try to help us get passports, because we had no documents to prove who we were.

The police never came to the apartment because the girl had told them that there were people there who wanted to go back to their country. When the Ambassador finished arranging the boarding passes, he sent them to the girl. After that, the police took us to the airport, and we returned home.

How was the apartment organised?

We could not go out because it was during Corona. We cooked for ourselves. We also could not leave because there was a camera in the apartment. They told her to put the camera there so they could make sure nobody went out. The police told her that if they caught any of us outside the house, she would be taken to jail.

We did not have proper access to healthcare for COVID. She provided us with everything, including food. There were 18 people living in that apartment. She arrived in Oman in December 2018 and left in May 2020. Once she got the boarding pass from the Ambassador, the police brought us to the airport. I think the police knew that the ambassador was speaking to us.

What did you do after returning to Sierra Leone?

Of course, life is still not easy, so I started using my main skill. I took classes in Sierra Leone and began working from home. I am not fully qualified because I did not do a master’s class, I did not have money for that, and I still do not have money now to start one.

Do you make enough money to live and help your family as well?

I am still struggling and I cannot save money. I have one child who is four years old and she is going to school. I pay for her education. I put her in a private school because education is very important, especially because she must learn English and many other things. You know, government schools are not very good in terms of education. I want her to have a good education.

I was in public school, but I dropped out at 12 to help my family.

What did you do after dropping out of school?

I worked as a domestic worker in Sierra Leone, on my family’s farm.

How many people are in your family?

We are 10, and I lost my father last year.

Which year did you move to Oman?

I moved in December 2018 and came back to Sierra Leone May 2020.

Can you maybe start by telling me about the work of the organisation and your position as the advocacy officer?

Our organisation helps women to learn skills so they don’t get enslaved again, making sure they can depend on themselves and support their families. We teach skills like tailoring, computer and IT, catering, hairdressing, and soap making. We also advocate for the rights and dignity of migrant workers, especially women and girls, raising awareness of the Kafala system so future girls do not get traumatised like us.

What led you to decide to work abroad?

I lost my father in 2019 and had to drop out of school because we could not fund it anymore. This is when I learned about a program helping people find jobs in Oman that pays a good salary, so I can help my family financially. I went to the agent who shows pictures of other ladies that are doing well. My mother then sold our property and gave the agency the money, we had to use all the money to pay for visas, travel, and other necessities. The agency promised me I would be paid 400 dollars monthly when I arrived in Oman.

What was your experience once you arrived in Oman?

Once I got to the airport, they took all my documentation and introduced me to the family and home I had to take care of. They made me work every day with no rest or breaks, I even had to work when I was sick. They would use a bamboo cane to beat me if I was resting. I did not have a phone because they said I was here to work, not to communicate with my family. They only paid me for 2 months, but I was there for 8. When I asked to get paid fully, they said they are not spending money on me because it was COVID. I was not allowed to sit on their chairs, they wouldn’t give me medicine when sick, and would not allow me to eat or drink water. I had to drink bathroom water to survive. I also had to sleep on carpets and did not have a closed door, basically having no privacy. One day, I managed to get in room where my passport and other documentation was. That evening, I slept in the garbage bin so I could escape. When I found people to help me, I was taken to the hospital and counselling because I was very sick and traumatised.

What happened when you returned home?

When I returned home to Sierra Leone, my family rejected me because I didn’t have the money to give them while they sold their land for me. They didn’t believe me when I said the program was slavery. I said it was very difficult experience but they still kicked me out when I couldn’t give them the money they asked for. I said it was a slavery, but they still rejected me. When I went to my friends for support, they made me feel ashamed and a community disgrace and would laugh at me. I was so ashamed and traumatised and didn’t know where to go. Another friend told me about an office, and the head of the officer was Lucy.

Lucy was the only one that supported and helped me. Every time I went there, she would help me, they would cook for us so I could eat, and I could sleep there. The office helped migrant workers who had no lawyers or family. We bought computers to learn IT skills, that’s where I started taking computer class and now I am the advocacy officer as a job that allowed me to return to my family with the money I earned. I reunited with my family again. Most of the victims when they come home they are traumatised, so I decided to go to the university to do a nursing course on my own. It is difficult because I am paying for it myself and am trying very hard. I want to help other victims.

Can you shortly explain what the Kafala system is?

It is a system in a lot of Asian countries where they have control over employees and workers. It gives them the power to do whatever, usually as a chain work with agents and different connections. It doesn’t give rights to workers and we are left with no control over ourselves or our belongings.

It is also more dangerous for women and girls. They would put us in a single room because we can’t pass in the airport. They put maybe 20 girls in a single room when we are travelling. We are also supposed to take care of our family, so I don’t think it’s a good thing for us to go in an Arab country and be treated like this.

What message would you want the government, international community, and civil organisations to hear in order to prevent future exploitations and better protect migrant workers?

We choose to migrate because the situation is bad in our home country, maybe you finish school or university but do not have any job. So that’s why most people migrate to another country looking for a job. So I am appealing to the government, to anybody that wants to help, please, let migrant workers have their own rights in any country. They need to stop treating migrant workers like slaves and let their rights and voices be heard. We have rights, the right to rest days, medication, to be treated humanely, to be paid for our labour, the right to seek justice, control over our own documents, and to receive payment on time. We went there to help with their families, we are there to find something for our family, to support our families, we are begging for our rights. They should stop belittling migrant workers, they are not slaves, please treat us like family.

Maybe if we are not okay with the house or the job we are working, let us choose to go to another home. Because some agents they cannot allow that. Every time you want to change they say no and start beating you for that.

Thank you for trusting us with your story, Fatima. Can you start by telling us who you are and why you decided to work abroad?

I am a young woman of twenty-eight from Sierra Leone. Before I left for Lebanon, I was studying Business Administration at home. When I heard about the chance to work abroad and earn money, I took it. I thought it would be better to pause my studies and earn something, so that I could support my mother and go back to my studies later on. I never imagined that what was waiting for me would be so traumatic.

Take us back to how it all began. What were you told the job would be?

The agency that recruited us painted a certain picture. They told us we would be doing administrative work, that we would work for one family, and that we would be paid 200 dollars a month. That was what I agreed to. Even before I left, I had to take out a loan to pay for my visa, which was my work permit, and to book my flight to Lebanon. I paid that money to the agency in Sierra Leone, out of my own pocket. The contract I signed with the agency in Lebanon was written entirely in Arabic. None of us spoke Arabic, so we had no idea what we were signing. They simply pointed to where we should put our names. It was completely closed to us, and they even took the contract away with them, leaving us with nothing. We knew only what they told us we were agreeing to. But it was work, and I needed the money for my mother, so I signed. They told me the contract ran for two years.

So you signed something you could not even read. What happened once you arrived in Lebanon?

The moment I landed, everything changed. They took me to a hotel along with other workers from Sierra Leone, and they took our passports away from us. Then I was sent to the first house. I had been expecting to work for two people. Instead, I was working day and night, with no days off at all. It was not only the owners of the house I had to look after. There were their children and their grandchildren, the neighbours, family members who came to visit, and the parents of the owners, whose homes I also had to go to. Very often the owners had several houses of their own, which was never something I had agreed to. By the end, I was working for twenty people rather than two. They would even wake me in the middle of the night to work. On top of all that, they cut me off from my family. They turned off my internet. And they paid me 150 dollars instead of the 200 we had agreed on. Their excuse was that the family gave me my food and water.

Twenty people, when you had only ever agreed to two. Did you at any point try to leave?

After six months, I wanted to go home. The work in that first house was heavy on me, in my body and in my mind, and it was nothing like what I had agreed to. But when I went to the office, they told me my contract was two years long, and that if I stopped now, I would have to begin the two years all over again with a new family. I still wanted to go home. The agency refused and told me I had to stay until the contract was fulfilled. And, of course, they were holding my passport. I was not ready for that, and I had not expected it. There was simply no way to leave without my passport, so I went on to the second family.

You mention going on to a second family. Was that one any different?

The trouble was just the same as in the first house. When I eventually moved families again, starting the two years over one more time, the third family at least paid me the 200 dollars. But this time they gave me no food and no water. I had to sort all of that out for myself.

It sounds as though each move brought the same troubles with it. Were you treated differently in other ways too?

Yes. Whenever I went out to buy things, and especially when I bought a SIM card so that I could have internet, I was made to pay 15 dollars instead of 10. And it carried on like that with everything I bought, all because of the colour of my skin. I was treated differently for how I looked, and I was made to feel worthless, while I was working day and night as a domestic worker for five or six dollars a day. They would often say that African women are very strong and that we can work hard. But they used that against me, to keep me working at weekends, on holidays, in whatever free time I had, even while I was sleeping.

Being kept working even while you slept must have taken a real toll. When you needed a doctor or medicine, were you able to get it?

Whenever I asked to see a doctor, the agency and the families would become angry. Even after asking many times, and even when they did eventually take us, the simple act of asking again and again for basic care wore me down, in body and in mind. My colleagues went through exactly the same thing. When I went out and paid for my own medicine at the pharmacy, out of my own salary, the family would still be angry. They were angry even at being asked for medicine.

You were already carrying so much. What were your final months in Lebanon like?

The last house I worked in, in 2024, was in the south of Lebanon. By then, we were already ten months into the war, with heavy bombing between Israel and Lebanon. Finding food was hard, and staying safe was harder still. I was terrified. All I wanted was to be home. My thoughts were with my family the whole time. I kept asking myself why I had ever come to Lebanon. I had come to earn money, and now here I was, frightened for my life. I would far rather have been at home than die in a country where my family would never even see my body. The agency did not care about any of my fears and would not listen to me. They gave me no voice at all. So, I made up my mind to leave that fourth house, down in the south, in the middle of the night.

Leaving in the dark like that took real courage. Where did you go after that?

I went to the consulate. I rang Caritas and I reached out to NGOs in the area, but they told me that because I had a work contract, there was nothing they could do for me. So, I ended up in a camp in Beirut, together with other colleagues. They had lived through much the same things I had, and we talked about how hard it all was, and how badly we wanted to go home and be free of the nightmare. I had seen blood everywhere. I could not believe what I was seeing. I was in shock, and I was frightened. The fear of not making it back in one piece, of dying in Lebanon rather than reaching home, weighed heavily on me. In the end, IOM came and worked to get people out of the area, and I was one of them. I was so grateful. I had come to Lebanon with 20 kilos, and I went back to Sierra Leone with 15. I fought to stay alive.

And thankfully you made it. You got home. What has life been like since you came back?

Even now, I am still carrying the trauma of it, and at the same time I am more than grateful to IOM and grateful to be home safe. It has been almost two years, and I am still struggling to find my feet. There is a belief across Africa that when someone goes abroad, they come back rich. For me, it turned out very differently. I came home traumatised, with my studies unfinished and no way to find steady work. For now, I get by through trading, selling water, juice, clothes and shoes, so that I can support myself, my family and my mother. What I really hope for is the chance to go into skill training and get certified, so that one day I can also employ other women like me, but the machines for tailoring and fashion design are very costly here, and support is hard to find. What happened to me is not an easy thing to forget.

Thank you for your bravery in sharing all of this, Fatima. If there is one thing you want people to carry away from your story, above everything else, what would it be, especially the young women thinking of doing what you once did?

It is not a bad thing to leave home to earn money. I was only in my mid-twenties myself. But you must be informed about the work you are taking on, and about the papers you are signing. You need to know that there are proper safety measures in place, that your rights will be respected, and that you will be treated as a human being, whatever your background or the colour of your skin. Ask how people are treated in that country. Ask whether your employer has anything in place to keep you safe. Ask what your contract actually says. Do not take up an opportunity before you have done your research and truly thought it through. Be resilient and be strong, but do your due diligence as well.