RESPONDING TO HUMAN NEEDS

Lebanon and Jordan. According to the latest figures from the International Labor Organization in 2019, there are 24.1 million migrant workers in 12 states in the Middle East.

The workers, often from socioeconomically depressed countries in Africa and Asia, commonly enter a legally binding contract — for an initial two-year period, in the case of Jordan — which grants the employer full control over the employee’s working and living conditions, including work hours, time off, the terms for resignation and their movement within the country.

At face value, the system seems adequate. For example, an employer will cover living and travel expenses, with most domestic workers living in their employer’s home. After the first two years, the employee has the right to renew their contract, find new employment or return to their country of origin. However, human rights groups say this system has created ripe conditions for physical, mental and sexual abuse, exploitation and racism.

Jordan’s labor laws stipulate that foreign workers are entitled to one day off per week, that passports should not be confiscated and working hours should not exceed eight per day, but routinely the legislation is violated. Employees are often trapped in jobs in which they are overworked, restricted from communication with the outside world, limited in their access to food and denied personal time.

Ms. Fernando recalls wrapping up leftover bread and hiding it in the trash can to eat secretly at night.

It was usual for her “madam” and “boss” — the terms she uses to refer to the wife and husband respectively who once employed her — to shut her inside the house if they went out. They would lock the windows and doors and activate the security alarm. When cleaning the windows one day, she began wondering how she would escape in an emergency. Would she break the glass and jump the two floors down to the street?

“I never left the house,” Ms. Fernando adds, except to accompany the children. She was forbidden to talk to anyone on those outings. If she did, the children would report back to their parents. During that time, Ms. Fernando turned to prayer, asking for courage from God to endure the hardships and find strength to continue working to support her parents back home.