Asian workers fear losing jobs more than Israeli raids
"Of course I am scared, but leaving is a luxury. Going back to Sri Lanka is a greater risk for our lives. The war here is much better than dying from hunger at home," said Sri Lankan domestic worker Shampa.
"What will I do in the Philippines?" cried Filipina Cynthia Madrigal.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "I cannot leave. I am the only bread-winner for my mother, two young children and two nieces," she said, sitting on the balcony of a mountain house to which she fled with her employers in northern Lebanon away from the Israeli strikes.
As wealthy nations dispatched their final ships to evacuate citizens in Lebanon on the 15th day of relentless Israeli bombardments, less fortunate authorities across Asia have struggled to reach their nationals stranded in the war-torn country.
Amid complaints of slow evacuations, Asian countries like Sri Lanka have even asked nationals to stay put. But with the largest contingent of expatriate workers in Lebanon, only a fraction of the 80,000 Sri Lankans in Lebanon has asked to be evacuated.
Filipino officials, facing sharp criticism for failing to do enough for their 30,000 stranded nationals in Lebanon, have conceded they are unable to carry out evacuations and have asked foreign governments for help.
The International Office of Migration (IOM) said it is to airlift some 450 Filipino workers from Beirut via Damascus after President Gloria Arroyo issued an appeal to the international community for help with repatriation.
But many Asian workers are prepared to ignore the chance of rescue and stick out the bombardment, even though they are painfully aware that several compatriots have been killed in the south when their employers' houses were hit by Israeli missiles.
Filipino Merle Lincieno's employers wanted to take her with them to Geneva, but she had to stay behind because she could not board the French boat which evacuated them to the neighboring island of Cyprus, even though she had a travel visa.
She was staying with her employer's cousins who live in a house perched on a cliff overlooking a thick pine forest in the summer mountain resort of Brumana, east of Beirut.
So far, she has been away from the bombardments but she could still hear and see the explosions in Beirut's suburbs further down, especially at nighttime.
"But I am all right, I do not really want to leave because I need to work. I have five children to feed and I need to pay for their schools," said the 40-year-old woman.
"We are in the mountains, we are safe, but it is our parents at home who are getting hysterical," she said.
Mary, a Filipina who works at a pastry shop, has registered her name to be evacuated, but has since changed her mind.
"What will I do back home, there is no work. Who is going to pay for my return once all goes back to normal? I need to pay for my son's high school," she said.
At the Catholic Miraculous Medal church in Beirut, Father Augustine Advincula runs a meeting point for Filipinos who want to be evacuated.
"Most Filipinos want to stay put. So far we have evacuated 700 people and only 1,500 have registered themselves to be evacuated. They are taken by bus to Syria from where they fly back home. The government pays for the trip," he said.
"Our main problem is to be able to evacuate the Filipinos who are stranded in the south and cannot flee because of the bombardments," he said.
"We have also had a few cases where employers exerted pressure on domestic workers to stay. We call them and tell them that they have to let them go for security reasons," he said.
"Many employers feel that they have moved with their domestic workers to safe areas and so there is no danger and do not want to lose costly contracts," he said.
Advincula also said that dozens of Filipinos who had been detained in jail because they did not have legal residences have seen been released by Lebanese authorities in order to allow the embassy to evacuate them.
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