BEIRUT — “They called me a whore, an animal,” said Rosemary, who arrived in Beirut from Kenya four years ago. Her story, online at Anti-Racism Movement (ARM), is one of constant name-calling, verbal abuse and physical attacks, experiences that are probably familiar for every black woman living in Lebanon.
Rosemary, who withheld her last name, her Nigerian husband and their child vacated their apartment in early September after a string of abuse by their neighbors. Rosemary told Al-Monitor that she had come to Lebanon to work as a cleaner. She met her husband here, and they had a daughter. While Rosemary was pregnant in August 2015, the couple moved into a small apartment in the marginalized neighborhood of Nabaa.