All Norma Tactacon can do is pray as the sirens blare. The 49-year-old, who works in the Middle East as a domestic worker, is thousands of miles away from her home in the Philippines, where her husband and three children live. Stuck in Qatar, which is caught in the crossfire of the US and Israel's war on Iran, her only hope is that she makes it home to her family. I get scared and nervous every time I see pictures and videos of missiles in the air, she tells the BBC. I need to be alive to be there for my family. I'm all that they have.
As wealthy Gulf states turned into targets of Iranian strikes because of the US military bases they host, expats left in large numbers, while tourists and travellers have stayed away. But it has been especially hard for the millions of migrants whose futures have now turned uncertain. From domestic help to construction workers, they have long supported these economies to lift their families back home from poverty.
Tactacon had hoped to pay for her 23-year-old son to graduate from a police academy and for her two daughters, aged 22 and 24, to become nurses, a springboard for high-paying jobs overseas. That’s why she spent a good part of the last two decades working as a maid in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
What is still keeping her there is her salary. Filipino domestic workers in the Middle East earn a minimum wage of $500 (£370) a month, roughly four to five times more than what they would make in a similar job back home. I hope the world will be peaceful again and things go back to the way they were. I pray that the war will stop, says Tactacon in Qatar.
The war's mounting fatalities include Dibas Shrestha, a 29-year-old Nepali who worked as a security guard in Abu Dhabi, who lost his life in an Iranian strike. I tried to convince him to move back to Nepal, but he said he liked his job in Abu Dhabi, and that he had a good life, said his uncle. The conflict has also resulted in the death of Mary Ann Veolasquez, a Filipina caregiver, who was injured while leading her patient to safety during a missile strike.
Migrant workers, predominantly from Bangladesh, the Philippines, and other parts of South Asia, are crucial to the economies of Gulf states, sending billions back home. With around 24 million migrant workers affected by the ongoing violence, pressures mount for governments to ensure their safety and facilitate repatriation, although many still weigh their options, questioning if the financial stability is worth the risk.
As wealthy Gulf states turned into targets of Iranian strikes because of the US military bases they host, expats left in large numbers, while tourists and travellers have stayed away. But it has been especially hard for the millions of migrants whose futures have now turned uncertain. From domestic help to construction workers, they have long supported these economies to lift their families back home from poverty.
Tactacon had hoped to pay for her 23-year-old son to graduate from a police academy and for her two daughters, aged 22 and 24, to become nurses, a springboard for high-paying jobs overseas. That’s why she spent a good part of the last two decades working as a maid in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
What is still keeping her there is her salary. Filipino domestic workers in the Middle East earn a minimum wage of $500 (£370) a month, roughly four to five times more than what they would make in a similar job back home. I hope the world will be peaceful again and things go back to the way they were. I pray that the war will stop, says Tactacon in Qatar.
The war's mounting fatalities include Dibas Shrestha, a 29-year-old Nepali who worked as a security guard in Abu Dhabi, who lost his life in an Iranian strike. I tried to convince him to move back to Nepal, but he said he liked his job in Abu Dhabi, and that he had a good life, said his uncle. The conflict has also resulted in the death of Mary Ann Veolasquez, a Filipina caregiver, who was injured while leading her patient to safety during a missile strike.
Migrant workers, predominantly from Bangladesh, the Philippines, and other parts of South Asia, are crucial to the economies of Gulf states, sending billions back home. With around 24 million migrant workers affected by the ongoing violence, pressures mount for governments to ensure their safety and facilitate repatriation, although many still weigh their options, questioning if the financial stability is worth the risk.
