The children of migrant women domestic workers partake in the first activity of the newly founded MWDW syndicate

The founding committee of the migrant women (MWDW) syndicate organised last Sunday an activity for the children of MWDW.  The event was held at the headquarters of the union of workers and employees as a symbol of support to the newly founded syndicate and in commemoration of the international children’s day (October 1st).  The activity included a drawing context in which 15 children of ages ranging between 3 to 16 years participated.  These were divided into three age categories as follows: first category included ages from 3 to 6 year-old, the second category included ages from 7 to 10, and the third category ages from 11 to 15 year-old.  The event was attended by painter and activist Karen Bossni who was a member of the judges’ panel that also included representatives of the union, ILO, the MWDW syndicate, and foreign diplomats.
According to Sri Lankan national, Malani Kenda Aratcheji , the initiator of the event, the contest aimed at providing the children with a space to express their feelings.  She added that this may also be an opportunity for them to improve their living conditions.  The event showed that Lebanon appears to be beautiful through the eyes of the children whilst some of them writing comments in Arabic saying: “I love Lebanon”, Lebanon is my country, I was born here, all my friends are here”, and “life here is very nice”.
The coordinator of the project “Promoting Rights of Women Domestic Workers” (PROWD) at the ILO, Zeina Mezher, told Al Akhbar newspaper that this activity is an indirect way to support the founding committee of the MWDW syndicate which was initiated by the ILO project.  The idea of the activity came from the MWDW themselves who wanted to introduce the Lebanese to their culture.  Mezher noted that the idea reflects the priorities of women everywhere as they thought about their children before thinking about themselves and organised this activity rather than a seminar about their rights.  The President of the National Federation of the Workers and Employees Unions Castro Abdallah noted that this activity is a message to decision makers from the syndicate leaders, Embassies, local and international civil society organisations to remind them that children have the right to legal papers as well as to non discrimination in schools. Abdallah also noted that the issue of MWDW is very complex and covers many elements including training of MWDW, documenting their narrative under the supervision of the ILO, and contacting consular representatives and inviting them to interface with and hear the suffering of their compatriots.  This he said is not only relevant to migrant women but also to migrant men who also suffer from similar problems.
Source: Al-Akhbar, The Daily Star 14 October 2013