While the obstacles, problems, and injustice towards female migrants and refugees who work as domestic workers in Egypt are overwhelming, many of these women refuse to accept defeat.

 

According to Refuge Egypt, a refugee office at the All Saints Cathedral in Cairo, older female refugees and migrants work in Egypt with the motive of providing for their families. Younger female refugees and migrants, on the other hand, work in Egypt to pursue and continue their education.

 

“I will withstand employers’ ill-treatment because I was deprived of receiving an education in my own country but found it here. I will do everything in my power to work and earn money and then use that money to pay for my education. One day, I will graduate and get a good job and this will all just be a bad dream,” explained Hajar Abdelrahman Mohamed, a 23-year-old refugee from Sudan who majors in Business at Cairo University and works as a domestic worker in an Egyptian household.

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These young adults do not want to reside in Egypt and work in domestic labor forever. Instead, they want to create a better, more fulfilling life than the one that was forced upon them.

 

“There is no land like your motherland. I want to stay in Egypt for one or two more years to make my money then return to my country once and for all and be able to provide for myself and my family,” explained Khadeeja, a 28-year-old female migrant from Nigeria who works as a housemaid.

 

Some local institutions in Egypt like Caritas, UNHCR and its partners, and entrepreneurial startups like MerMaid, all have the common goal of helping refugees and migrants create a better life for themselves in Egypt.