My name is Winnie Linet. I grew up in a big family in western Kenya. In 2013, I left Kenya for the first time to work in Lebanon as a domestic worker under the Kafala system. This is an exploitative system, that ties a migrant’s visa and work permit to their employer’s approval.
I want to tell you what this was like and what motivates young people like me to go and work abroad. Finishing school at seventeen I felt unstoppable, full of energy to pursue my dreams, to study at university and become a journalist. Life seemed uncomplicated and I believed that my dreams would become true.