Help Linda get home

We’re raising money to help our friend Linda, a migrant worker from the Philippines, get home to her family.  She was struggling before the Beirut explosion on August 4, now she is in desperate need of help.

Linda came to Lebanon from the Philippines in 1997 to work as a domestic helper. She scrubbed floors and cleaned homes to pay for her children’s schooling back home. 

She lived a precarious existence under Lebanon's 'kafala' system, which grants migrant workers no rights and leaves them vulnerable to abuse. 

She hoped to earn enough money to return home and start her own business, but she never realized that dream.  

Twenty-three years later, she is still here. She has only been home to see her family twice during that time. She has missed her children growing up, missed the funerals of her loved ones.


The little money Linda was able to earn has all but disappeared. Lebanon’s devastating economic crises meant that she lost almost all of her customers. Since the explosion in Beirut, things have got even worse. 

We’re hoping to raise enough money to send Linda home and give her a chance to earn a living there and finally be with her family again. 

With the money from this fundraiser, Linda will be able to open up a small shop in her hometown in the Philippines. 

Please give whatever you can, and help us send Linda home.

If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

Who are we and how do we know Linda? 
We are Richard Hall and Michael Downey, journalists who lived and worked in Lebanon until recently. Linda worked for both of us separately and became a close friend.  

How do we plan to send the funds? 
Once we have reached our target, we will transfer the money to Linda's daughter in the Philipines, who will purchase her ticket home and hand the rest to Linda once she returns. 

How will the money be spent? 
The money raised will go buy Linda's flight home and give her enough to open a small store in her family's hometown. Costs include:

- One way ticket to the Philippines 
- Building the store
- Buying a freezer and other equipment 
- Store permit 
- Money to buy start-up stock for the shop 

Note: Her full name is Encarnacion Linda, but she is Linda to her friends.