Collective Action
Egna Legna Besidet assist abandoned Ethiopian domestic workers
As the sun rises on a humid Sunday morning in Beirut, a handful of masked women are busy offloading huge sacks of rice and flour from the back of a rickety pickup truck.
These Ethiopian domestic workers, part of the feminist collective Egna Legna Besidet, are spending the few hours they have off in the week packing and distributing food assistance to fellow “maids” across Lebanon – nearly all of them women who have been left unemployed and in many cases homeless by the current economic crisis.
“You have no idea how many calls we get each day,” says Banchi Yimer, the organization’s co-founder. “Sometimes it can be over 100. Not just from Beirut, but all over Lebanon. These women are literally begging on the phone just for food and medication.”