By J.D. Long-García | November 6, 2008 | The Catholic Sun

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Day after day, Bernadette cleaned two houses and three shops for $150 a month.

She worked for a family that didn’t allow her to leave the house except to clean their shops or on Sundays. The family took away her passport when she arrived from the Philippines — a common practice with domestic workers in Lebanon.

One day, the mother of the family — “the madame” as domestic workers call them — accused Bernadette of stealing a ring. That was Aug. 24. Bernadette has reason to remember the date.

“You took it, now give it back to me,” the madame said. The madame then choked Bernadette and kicked her legs until she fell down.

When the father of the house — “the mister” — learned of the missing ring, he stabbed Bernadette all over her body and slashed her.

Bernadette — who didn’t reveal her last name — pulled back her string rosary bracelet and pointed to cuts on her wrist, knuckles, lips and sores on her back and arms.

“They were then feeling sorry, ‘Bernadette, forgive me, because I’m crazy,’” her madame said. The family later found the ring.

Five days later, Bernadette ran into a Filipino priest at one of the shops she cleaned. She poured out her troubles to him.

“Your name is also said across the world,” the priest told her, referring to St. Bernadette and the Blessed Mother’s apparition in Lourdes. “Maybe you can also make a miracle.”

In a way, she did.

In September, Bernadette contacted Caritas Internationalis — a social justice effort supported by Catholic Relief Services in Lebanon. She is now in a safe house with other victims of trafficking.

“We receive them here if they need any help,” said Colette Nagm, who works with Caritas. She said the house protects tortured migrant workers.

The workers arrive legally, but since the family takes their passports, they are unable to renew their visas. After their employment-based visas expire, they are trapped.

Caritas offers medical attention, vocational training and counseling to the workers who manage to escape. It also promotes awareness about worker rights and, perhaps most importantly, Nagm said, provides legal assistance.

Most of the women who live with Bernadette feared giving their name.

One said she was paid $700 for a year of work, with no days off. Another said she was locked up in the house for one year and five months and was beaten almost every day.

“Every time I asked for my salary, I was beaten,” she said.

Some of the women at the safe house wanted to work for another employer. They took out loans to get to Lebanon, loans which they need to repay.

Many came to Lebanon to earn money for their families still living in their home countries. Some came from countries in Africa, others from India and the Middle East. When they arrived, many of their employers denied the women time to talk with their families.

While the women at the safe house busy themselves with craft projects, they often linger on their memories.

Caritas in Lebanon began efforts to defend the victims of trafficking in 2004 and has continued developing the outreach.

“It’s despite the fact that the society appears wealthy,” said Denis Viénot, former president of Caritas Internationalis, of families exploiting domestic workers. He said Lebanon is still suffering 35 years after a civil war which destroyed the family structure.

“The economic situation creates a high rate of unemployment,” he explained.

Caritas responds to the situation, offering health care through traveling clinics, a migrant center and the safe house.

“If they experience what I experienced, I don’t think they should come,” Bernadette said of other Filipinas considering domestic work in Lebanon. “I don’t want that for them.”