Lebanese Subul Alkhair Organization

Anti-Racism Initiative; Orphan Sponsorship Program

Migrant workers come to Lebanon within the kafala (sponsorship) system, which hands protection of the workers to the kafeel, or sponsor. The kafeel dictates the salary, leave, days off, mobility and working conditions of the migrant workers under their control. Kafala relationships normally result in passports being taken from the worker. On top of this basic denial of legal and occupational protection, those in the kafala system are unable to leave an abusive sponsor, although the sponsors themselves are able to ‘trade’ their workers – a system which can be defined as modern-day slavery. Recent efforts to re-write the ‘standard unified contract’, which dictates basic employment conditions such as a minimum wage, days off and working hours, and the right to change employers granted to the workers themselves, was overturned by the syndicate of employment agencies who earn vast sums of money importing and trading migrant workers, with profits being shared by the private sector and the State. In Lebanon, men are more often employed by supermarkets, petrol stations, rubbish collection, security firms and the construction industry, and women mainly recruited by private sponsors as domestic labour. Race permeates the system – paler skin migrants, such as from the Philippines, tend to be more expensive than darker skin migrants such as those from Sub-Saharan Africa. Some are officially brought to the country, while others are trafficked.

Immediately after the blast, Subul Alkhair-Al Makan launched the “From the People to the People Initiative”, which taps into and offers assistance in many dimensional aspects: rehabilitation of homes (aluminum, glass, and wood), renovation of small businesses and shops, relief money, medications and food, and psychosocial care support.

An innovative communications strategy is being implemented alongside the solidarity response, to showcase the motivations and spirit of the volunteers themselves, instead of focusing on the misery of the disaster affected people.

The “From the People to the People Initiative” has made special effort to track down and interact with migrant-led initiatives, recognizing the extreme vulnerability and marginalization of migrants in Lebanon. They are understandably defensive and mistrustful of outsiders, and so it has taken time to build rapport with them; but Subul Alkhair-Al Makan has gained access to a number of migrant groups with the help of International NGO, Concern Worldwide in particular, and have initiated their own BeingHuman initiative. The poverty and marginalization of migrants in Lebanon means that they are far less able to respond in a meaningful way than the Lebanese volunteer groups.

At Subul Alkhair-Al Makan, we believe in the human being and in being human. We have already started and we need your help to continue serving our friends in the migrant domestic workers’ community. This is not only our opportunity but our obligation to highlight and tackle the racism and extreme vulnerability our friends have experienced, and continue to do so, by providing them with a true and real humanitarian assistance thru our shelter ‘AHLAN’ and other needed services. We do that with compassion and beauty and by simply BeingHuman.

In addition, Subul alKhair-Al Makan is responding to the needs of the most vulnerable population (Orphans) in Lebanon especially in Beirut and its suburbs where these people face many problems, such as: poverty, health problems, lack of skills and shortage of social and educational services, etc. In fact, their needs increased considerably with the onset of the Syrian crisis, as both the Syrian refugees and the host community were equally affected by the calamity.

Based on the conventional definition of livelihood, which includes food, shelter and clothing, Subul alKhair-Al Makan is developing projects related to health care, education, socio-economic development and seasonal projects, which also lead to the improvement of the living conditions of those who urgently need it.