Trajectories of Young African Domestic Workers to Lebanon: From Social Imaginary to Reality

This research paper examines the trajectories of five young African women that partake in a journey to become domestic workers (DWs) in Lebanon, working under Kafala, “an inherently abusive migration sponsorship system” (Amnesty International, 2019, p. 5). The paper studies the lives of the women through a timeline, starting from when they migrate from their countries until after they arrive in Lebanon. It seeks to answer the question: What are the self-narrated journeys and experiences of African domestic workers in Lebanon? After recording the narrative of five women that have worked as domestic workers in the country, I present several aspects of their stories in chronological order. The aspects are migration decision; experience upon arrival in Lebanon; experiences of the Kafala system; resistance, activism, and community support. From social imaginary to reality in Lebanon, the paper highlights the oppressive nature of the Kafala system through the individual stories of the women, centered around their resistance. The paper looks for the intersections of gender, race, age, and education in the migration narratives. I conducted online storytelling meetings with participants, using a free-flowing interview with guiding questions and a flexible methodology to ensure the agency of the participants in narrating their own experiences. The purpose of using storytelling is to stir away from classical empirical methods that might not put participants at the center of the research.