This is Makdes, a 22-year-old woman who came from Ethiopia to Lebanon.

Photographer Myriam Boulos and I met her at the shelter where she has been staying for the past four months.

We sat in the living room with the broken door. Whenever the wind blew, it would slam shut, and Makdes’ heart would thump. When she told me her story, I understood her fear.

Makdes and I communicated with the help of my MSF colleague, Helen, who translates from Amharic to Arabic.

Whenever I asked Makdes a question, she would answer with a smile. But once Helen translated her words, it became clear that what Makdes was sharing was tragic.

Makdes told me that her employers neither gave her food nor asked if she had eaten.

The ‘madame’ (female employer) would hit her on the hand under the pretext of teaching her how to work.

She would constantly threaten and intimidate her, saying things like, "I’ll throw you out onto the street," or "I’ll take you somewhere where there are airstrikes."

She even forbade Makdes from calling her family in Ethiopia, because she was “just a maid.”

At one point, she cut Makdes’ hair without her consent — an act that could endanger her life back home in Ethiopia.

Sadly, Makdes’ story is not unique.

Abuse, exploitation, physical and emotional violence, and even sexual harassment are recurring realities in the lives of migrant workers in Lebanon.