Being Dark Skinned in Beirut

Being Dark Skinned in Beirut

May 30, 2018

أخبار ومستجدّات

هذا النص متوفر فقط باللغة الإنكليزية. يرجى الضغط على زر اللغة لقراءة المحتوى.

“Adesh, Adesh?” shouted the first driver in the line-up of five cars beside me. As I walked on the sidewalk, drivers shouted, “How much, how much?” It was only my second week in Beirut, and I had been told the slang for maid was “Sri Lanki.” I wondered if the accosting had something to do with the fact I’m Sri Lankan.

I’ve lived and travelled the Middle East for years. The first time I moved to the Gulf I was soul-ridden from seeing the migrant domestic workers (MDW) that looked like members of my family and the community I grew up in. There was the Sri Lankan maid who’d knock on my door asking if I wanted her services, the Filipina women pushing strollers, running after Arab children, and the Bengali woman sweeping close to the table I sat at with my white and Arab friends. I’d always smile, almost embarrassed if I was wearing short shorts in front of an aunty, guilty for my company with white expats and the Arab majority. I knew while the organisation I worked for held my passport for three months, theirs were held for years.

Full piece by Priya Guns

دلالات :
language,عنصرية,sexual harrasment,testimony
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