THREAD| Rowena is 54 & a domestic worker in Bahrain.

In April, her boss said that due to the pandemic, he could no longer pay her monthly salary of £240.

Instead, he would provide her & the 3 other women he employed with £20 for food every fortnight, to be split between them

Rowena was due to leave Bahrain that month anyway & return to the Philippines.

But a few weeks later, her flight out of the country was cancelled, & she found herself trapped.

In September, her employer stopped giving the women their food allowance, leaving them with nothing.

Back in May, Rowena had applied for a one off sum of £150 in financial support from @laborgovph.

By November, still no one had replied.

“I don’t want to make trouble,” she told me. “I want to go home.”

Rowena is one of more than a dozen Filipina women across Asia, Europe and the Middle East I've spoken with since April.

Most have lost jobs or had salaries cut by their employers during the pandemic.

Others have also found themselves suddenly subjected to physical abuse.

Today, Rowena is working odd jobs around the neighbourhood to earn enough money for food.

On 4 December, she received 75BHD (£147) in support from the Philippine govt, 7 months after she first applied.

The cheapest ticket from Manama to Manila costs more than twice that much.

My latest for @guardian and @FullerProject: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/27/domestic-workers-philippines-coronavirus-conditions

I'm also talking about this on today's episode of #TodayInFocus, which you can listen to here:

https://theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/jan/27/behind-closed-doors-filipina-workers-trapped-by-the-pandemic

Endless thanks to @MythiliRao, @AnushkaAsthana & @GuardianJessica for working on this with me (& as always to @Amie_FR & @KhushbuOShea at @FullerProject)