Filipino carer Mary Ann De Vera was the first victim of the war in Israel, while thousands of others remain in vulnerable positions across the Middle East
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irens warning of Iranian missiles blare out so frequently that Joycee Pelayo, a Filipino living near to Tel Aviv, doesn’t leave the house any more. Each time an alert sounds, she rushes to help the older man she cares for, supporting him into a wheelchair, then down the steps into a nearby shelter.
“Last night, there were three alerts. We received it at about 2am, in the middle of the night, and then 3am, and then 4am,” says Pelayo.
She is among 2.4 million Filipinos living across the Middle East, who moved in pursuit of higher wages and a chance to give a better life to families back home, but now find themselves living with a daily barrage of drone and missile strikes.
