By Alhaji Haruna Sani
As the Israel-Hezbollah conflict rages on, with bombings and violence tearing through Lebanon, Sierra Leonean domestic workers find themselves trapped in a foreign land, abandoned by the system and forgotten by their homeland. Those women, who left Sierra Leone in search of a better life, are now enduring unimaginable suffering, with no escape from the chaos unfolding around them.
Lebanon, already crippled by years of economic turmoil and political instability, is now a battlefield. The recent escalation in bombings between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants has turned the country into a dangerous war zone. Amid the destruction, foreign domestic workers, including over 40 Sierra Leonean women, are some of the most vulnerable.
The situation for these women is dire. Having traveled to Lebanon with hopes of supporting their families back home, they now face a ugly reality—homelessness, hunger, and constant fear.
One such worker, Ishatu, shared her story with Concord Times, painting a devastating picture of life on the margins of a war-torn country. She, along with her fellow Sierra Leonean workers, is crammed into a single, overcrowded room, with no food, no proper place to sleep, and no hope of returning home.
“We have no food, no space to sleep. Sometimes we sleep on the streets or beaches when there’s nowhere else to go,” Ishatu said, her voice trembling with exhaustion and despair. These women have been forced to live like refugees in a foreign land, their lives hanging in the balance as the bombs continue to fall around them. With no income, no legal status, and no access to medical care or shelter, they have been left to fend for themselves in one of the most dangerous regions of the Middle East.
The promise of employment that initially lured them to Lebanon has been shattered by the war. Many of those workers were abandoned by their employers as the conflict worsened, leaving them without the means to survive. Cut off from their families and with no support from the Sierra Leonean government, their situation is desperate. Videos and messages sent by some of the workers reveal the horrifying conditions they are enduring—sleeping in the open, hunting for food, and living in constant fear of the violence surrounding them.
Lebanon’s conflict has exacerbated the already challenging plight of foreign workers. The country’s borders are effectively closed, and economic hardships make returning home almost impossible without external assistance. For these Sierra Leonean women, there is no safe passage back to their families, no government intervention to bring them home, and no way to escape the horrors of war.
This tragic scenario is a reminder of the human cost of international conflict and the price paid by those on society’s fringes. The Sierra Leonean government has, thus far, remained largely silent on the plight of its citizens stranded in Lebanon. Despite the ongoing pleas for help, no significant efforts have been made to repatriate these women or provide them with the necessary aid.
For many in Sierra Leone, the fate of those domestic workers is a distant concern, overshadowed by the country’s own internal struggles. Yet, the crisis in Lebanon reveals a broader issue—the vulnerability of Sierra Leonean migrant workers who leave the country in search of better opportunities but often find themselves in a risky and dangerous situations abroad. As conflict zones flare up across the globe, Sierra Leonean workers in foreign lands remain exposed, unprotected, and forgotten.
The lives of these women are a call to action for the Sierra Leonean government to urgently address their plight. Diplomatic channels must be activated to ensure the safe return of domestic workers. Additionally, there is a need for a stronger framework to protect Sierra Leoneans working abroad, particularly in conflict-prone regions. These workers, like Ishatu, should not have to face such devastating circumstances alone.
As bombs continue to rain down on Lebanon, the future for Sierra Leonean women grows increasingly uncertain. They remain caught in the crossfire of a war not of their making; abandoned by the very system they trusted to protect them. Their stories serve as a chilling reminder of the forgotten casualties of conflict—those whose cries for help often go unheard.
