- Title: LEBANON-MIGRANT PLAY Play highlights struggles of migrant workers in Lebanon.
- Date: 23rd January 2013
- Summary: "Shouting Without a Listener," a play by Ethiopian workers in Lebanon, raises the voice of migrant workers in the country. SHOWS: BEIRUT, LEBANON (JANUARY 20, 2013) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. STAGE CURTAIN OPENING 2. VARIOUS OF PLAY SHOWING LILI, A FOREIGN WORKER, SERVING HER EMPLOYERS 3. AUDIENCE 4. LILI TALKING ON THE PHONE ASKING FOR HELP TO RESOLVE HER NEIGHBOUR'
- Embargoed: 7th February 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Lebanon
- Country: Lebanon
- Reuters ID: LVACXHSLNDIX0NRA19EPMVG0IER4
- Story Text: A new play highlighting the plight of migrant workers has been staged in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
"Shouting Without a Listener" - written, produced and co-directed by Ethiopian domestic worker Rahel Zegeye - was shown to the public on Sunday (January 20).
In just 40 minutes, the play illustrated some of the challenges migrant workers face, which can include daily abuse at their employers' houses, in employment offices and even embassies.
It tells the story of Lili, played by Zegeye, a migrant worker employed by a Lebanese couple. The woman treats Lili very well and supports her in helping her friends, but she has no clue that her husband is sexually abusing Lili. The play follows Lili through trying to help both herself and Mona, her neighbour's domestic worker - but she fails to make any headway, not even at the employment office nor the embassy. The struggle continues until Lili runs away after she finds out that she is pregnant. Both Lili and Mona disappear without a trace.
Thirty-two year old Zegeye has been living in Lebanon for the past 13 years. She suffered abuse during the first few years of her stay and is now a staunch defender of workers' rights. Her previous modest acting career in Ethiopia helped her take on the lead role.
"I want to pass a message, how can we bear what is going on? If you watched the play attentively, there is a question, at the end we don't know where the girls went, where Mona went, where I did, we don't know, this is a question for everyone: what is going on? This is the message," Zegeye said.
When asked about her current employer Pierre Koutoujian, Zegeye said it's as if God sent her another father six years ago when she first moved to work at his house.
Koutoujian was the opposite of what she experienced in her first few years in Lebanon, Zegeye said. He even supported her in staging the play, corrected the script and helped her go through the needed preparation.
"There is a problem with the girls. She (Rahel) is trying, in her own way, to highlight this problem and help the girls as much as she can. Bravo! I supported her, she is completely responsible for the housework and I let her do what she wants within reason, and I told her to do what she can without exaggerating," Zegeye's employer Koutoujian said.
Zegeye is one of the country's many foreign workers who help out in NGOs like the Migrant Workers Task Force (MWTF) on their day off. MWTF's teachers and students worked with Zegeye on "Shouting Without a Listener."
"We met Rahel about two years ago when she started writing the text of this play, then Ibrahim, one of her teachers in the Task Force, helped her to turn this work into a play. All the actors in the play are the Task Force's students and we have been working on it (the play) for about seven months because they can come only once a week to rehearse, on Sunday which is their day off," said MWTF's Omar Harfouch, who also acted in the play.
The cast of "Shouting Without a Listener" contained many foreign workers and some Lebanese citizens, all amateurs supporting the migrant workers' cause. The play was a one-time performance with all the proceeds going towards healthcare for migrant workers in Lebanon.
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