[Published here October 21, 2021]
From beatings to unpaid wages, migrant workers face regular abuse in the Gulf – with hundreds of African workers forcibly deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) earlier this year.
Continue readingAuthor: Maya Gebeily
‘Wage theft’ in UAE robs African deportees of future
[Published here October 21, 2021]
Arrested before payday, deported without papers and now stonewalled by their former bosses – hundreds of African migrants thrown out of Abu Dhabi are struggling to start over without key documents and crucial cash.
Continue readingLebanon’s crisis pushes mental health services to the limit
BEIRUT, Oct 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Lebanese psychologist Bernard Sousse started offering online therapy sessions when patients said surging fuel prices meant they could no longer drive in to see him – but then the power cuts began.
Continue reading‘Doxxing’ activists dole out virtual justice for Lebanon collapse
[Produced with my colleague Timour Azhari and published here on October 5, 2021]
Livestreams of politicians being harangued at restaurants and screenshots of bankers’ addresses: frustrated by the lack of accountability for their country’s collapse, Lebanon’s digital activists are doling out their own form of virtual justice.
Continue readingCameroonian migrants deported from UAE face conflict or exile
[Published here September 17, 2021]
BEIRUT, Sept 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Just months ago, Cameroonian migrant Wilfred Christopher had a home and stable job as a pastry chef in Abu Dhabi.
Now, the 26-year-old fears for his life after authorities in the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) deported him to Cameroon – where his home region is mired in conflict.
Continue readingBBC Interview | Africans detained, deported en masse
As Lebanon’s economy unravels, dollar bills and connections pay off
[Published here September 7, 2021]
Ibrahim al-Masri wipes sweat from his brow as he queues behind two dozen other cars outside a Beirut gas station. It could take hours to replenish his depleted tank – but with no spare cash to bribe the pump attendant, all he can do is wait.
As Lebanon’s deepening economic crisis causes shortages of basic goods including fuel, medicine and even bread, a privileged few are finding ways to beat the queues and rationing by wielding personal connections, or wads of banknotes.
Continue reading‘They told us they hate Africans’: Hundreds detained, deported from Abu Dhabi
[Published here September 2, 2021]
Kabirat Olokunde, a Nigerian migrant worker, planned to spend her birthday with friends in the city of Abu Dhabi. Instead, she turned 28 in a frigid prison cell, one of about 700 Africans imprisoned by Emirati authorities without charge.
Continue readingAmid Lebanon blackouts, dark comedy offers glimmer of light
[Published here August 26, 2021]
Without electricity for air conditioning or fuel to reach the beach, two comedians are keeping cool in crisis-hit Lebanon by splashing around in an inflatable pool – in their living room.
“When the generator comes on, we’ll crank up the light to get a tan,” one of the women quips, part of a new wave of Lebanese opting to laugh in the face of disaster.
Continue readingClimate science struggles with ‘blind spots’ in developing nations
[Published here August 20, 2021]
This month’s hard-hitting report from the U.N. climate science panel sounded the alarm on the surging impacts of global warming – but its authors and independent researchers said it did not provide enough insight on threats in poorer parts of the world.
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MAYA GEBEILY 