Alem & Asrat Screening at Nasawiya Cafe

Nasawiya Cafe will be holding a screening of “Alem & Asrat” a film by Vanessa Bowles, about domestic workers in Lebanon.

It starts from the personal experience of the film maker, who like so many others in Lebanon grew up cared for by various maids, Asrat being the current one employed in her family’s household. Most of these women come to the Middle East from countries such as Ethiopia, looking to support their families in their home countries. Once arrived, they have no formal rights or regulated working conditions.

Alem Dechasa’s story is one of a search for opportunity that ended in violent and tragic loss. Her case rose to prominence after an anonymous bystander took a video of Alem being beaten by her agent Ali Mahfouz in front of the Ethiopian embassy in Beirut. The video went viral, causing an uproar both in Lebanon and in Beirut. Two days after the video was made public, Alem committed suicide. What drove a mother of two to do this?

The film maker visited Alem and Asrat’s families in Ethiopia to find possible answers, encountering the pressures to succeed in their new lives that these women face, the grief of Alem’s family and a group of activists working on awareness an raising funds to alleviate the suffering of Alem’s bereaved relatives. Back in Beirut, she interviews Alem’s agent, the perpetrator of the violent attack against her, who is unrepentant. Through these encounters, the film shines light on a social injustice that is still accepted unquestioningly by most in the Middle East.