Panicked African workers prevented from leaving Lebanon

“I want to go home,” Kenyan Eulita Jerop tells the BBC from Lebanon, where she is employed as a domestic worker.

However, the terms of her employment make it difficult for her to leave, despite fears of an all-out war in the country.

She has been terrified by the unfamiliar sounds she has heard overhead on the outskirts of the capital, Beirut.

The 35-year-old has been working there for the past 14 months.

“It was so scary. We were told it wasn’t bombed, but it was [planes breaking] the sound barrier,” she says. “But the sounds were hitting so hard.”

Her panic is shared by many others in her WhatsApp group of fellow domestic workers, she adds.

The loud booms in the sky came from fighter planes. There are fears that they could foreshadow a full-on war.

Israel and Lebanon-based group Hezbollah have traded near-daily fire across the border since the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel. It prompted the Israeli invasion of Gaza, to eliminate Hamas.

Hezbollah, a political movement and Iran-backed militia, says it is attacking Israel in support of the Palestinian people.

The shells have mostly fallen in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, but there are concerns that the rest of Lebanon could get caught up as the conflict transforms into a wider regional struggle.

The US, UK, Australia, France, and Canada have all issued official advice for their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.

But getting out is easier for some than others.

Ms Jerop said it was common for employers to take their passports on arrival in Lebanon.

Even with a passport, domestic workers still need an exit visa to leave - paperwork which their boss must approve.

This is allowed to happen under the country’s “kafala” (sponsorship) system for foreign workers – which employs an estimated 250,000 people.

“Kafala” gives individuals or companies permits to employ foreign workers. This means that their immigration status is entirely dependent on their employer and they have limited rights.

Employers can take advantage of their position and many women are overworked, underpaid, and physically abused – though this is not the case for Ms Jerop.

Despite calls for significant reforms, the system continues in several Arab states.

Daniela Rovina, communications officer at the International Organization for Migration, told the BBC that under international law a person must be allowed to leave a country if a conflict occurs.

In Ms Jerop’s case, her employers want her to continue working in Lebanon.

"They are saying the situation has been here in Lebanon for many years, and there is nothing to worry about,” she says. “But for us the tension is high. We are not used to these kinds of [bombing] sounds.”

But even with papers, Ms. Jerop and her fellow domestic workers face other challenges to leaving.

“Few flights are available and they are very expensive,” she says.

Flights to Kenya cost up to $1,000 (£770).

Banchi Yimer, who founded an organisation supporting the rights of Ethiopian domestic workers, says the average monthly salary used to be $150 but since the cost-of-living crisis, which hit Lebanon hard, “many are not getting paid at all”.

“Every day we receive calls from women panicking… they ask us if we have any [evacuation] plan, if we can do anything about it.”

Chiku, another domestic worker from Kenya, whose name we have changed to protect her safety, cannot pay for the flight.

She has been living in Baabda, in the west of Lebanon, for almost a year.

“I personally would like to go back home. But the tickets are so costly,” she says. “And my mum and dad also can’t afford that money.”

She has been living in fear for the past few weeks, but like Ms Jerop, her employer has told her to stay.

“They say I can’t leave because I haven’t finished my contract,” Chiku says. “But is this contract more important than my life?”

The Lebanese labour ministry has not yet responded to a BBC request for comment.

The Kenyan authorities say that if war does break out, they will put an evacuation plan in place.

Roseline Kathure Njogu, in charge of diaspora affairs for the Kenyan government, told the BBC the department can issue emergency travel documents for those without their passports.

She assured that the Kenyan government would be able to provide emergency flights.

“We have around 26,000 Kenyans in Lebanon, and 1,500 have registered with us for evacuation,” she said.

But many want to leave right now.

Ethiopian government spokesperson Nebiyu Tedla told the BBC they are “preparing contingency plans to evacuate diplomats and citizens from Lebanon if necessary”.

However, Ms Banchi makes the point that even before the Israel-Gaza conflict, there were already many Ethiopian women stranded in Lebanon desperate to leave.

A collapse in Lebanon’s economy in 2020 left many Ethiopian domestic workers out of a job.

“Many cannot even afford rent or medical assistance, let alone a flight home,” she says.

While foreign embassies continue to work on evacuation plans, many feel they have been abandoned by their governments to fend for themselves.

Chiku is trying to set aside money to pay for a flight home.

“But what about the others who can’t?” she asks.