Domestic Worker Burnt by Lebanese Employer Finally Loses Battle to Stay Alive
The poor treatment of immigrant workers in Lebanon has reached an ultimate low with this Lebanese family (whose name is yet unknown). According to Face2Face Africa, Mary Kibawana Kamajo, an African domestic helper, alleges that she was burnt by her Lebanese employers.
It was April 17 when her Lebanese employers randomly attacked her with a gas cylinder while she was doing her usual chores. Kamajo told reporters “my clothes and lower body immediately caught fire before it spread to my chest. I managed to run to the bathroom where I passed out.”
She also told reporters that her employers prevented her from contacting her family. Even when she begged to be able to talk to the Kenyan embassy, the people in the hospital would ignore her. Only when it was evident that she wouldn’t be getting any better was she permitted to return to her home in Kenya. The damage was so bad that even after three months of suffering and trying to recover in hospitals in Lebanon and later in Kenya, Kamajo did not make it out of the hospital alive. Her sad death came last Friday after enduring months of excruciating pain, according to Face2Face Africa.
We don’t understand how this all started, as the story doesn’t add up, especially with the situation happening out of the blue while Kamajo was doing her chores, but whatever it was, this was a human life we’re talking about, and it paid a very hard price; the hardest. On July 29th, four children lost their mother who, if she’s like most immigrant domestic workers, left her home in hope to provide for her family from Lebanon. Unfortunately, it is no sweet dream for these women, and they will receive no shining medal of glory for their courage and independence. They will not be admired for their willingness to survive as someone’s ‘property’ and face some level of discrimination day in and day out.
WE SAID THIS: This makes me so angry and we should really start a #JusticeForMary! Today, we should not be proud to be Lebanese.
