One of the victims, Tigist Tadess Woldemariam, is remembered as a trusted friend and beloved nanny who one day hoped to launch a farming project in her homeland.
Genet Ylimia holds up a picture of her friend and roommate, Tigist Tadess Woldemariam, an Ethiopian domestic laborer in Lebanon who died in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409. (Delphine Minoui / For The Times)
By Alexandra Sandels and Borzou Daragahi
Reporting from Beirut – The woman from the small Ethiopian village of Nazareth was never content to toil in the shadows as a maid or nanny, one of the thousands of poor migrant workers who make their way to Lebanon from Asia or Africa. Over the last decade, Tigist Tadess Woldemariam tried hard to set down roots here, winning the adoration of the family that hired her, becoming a respected member of her church and earning the loyalty of her friends. And it was that love and unflinching trust of friends that compounded the tragedy of her death when her jetliner crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last week on her first trip back to Ethiopia in seven years. Aboard the doomed Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, the 41-year-old carried not only her belongings, but also the labors and dreams of fellow Ethiopians who had entrusted her with envelopes full of cash, precious bundles of jewelry and carefully wrapped gifts to take back home. “She was like a sister, more than that even,” said Genet Ylimia, a 26-year-old Ethiopian who shared a room with Woldemariam. “She cared about everyone. Whatever you needed, she helped you out with.” The crash of Flight 409 during a ferocious storm has sent shock waves of grief throughout this small country of 4 million. More than 50 of the 90 passengers and crew were Lebanese. But also among the passengers were Woldemariam and 22 other Ethiopians on their way to their homeland. Their deaths shined a brief light on the often anonymous lives of African and Asian migrant workers in the Middle East, many of whom live in cramped quarters, lack basic legal rights and face economic exploitation. Read the rest of this entry »
