Fourteen young workers and leaders of YCW Egypt gathered in Alexandria from August 31 to September 2, 2017 to live together and discuss their future. There were 10 young men from el Khranfish base group working in different sectors such as tuk-tuk drivers, gold makers, shop workers, and factory workers, three young women from El Sagood base group who work in the service sector as teachers and nurse in a private institution, and one person from El Osairin base group who is a student. They have been supported by former YCWers and collaborators.

Through the YCW methodology, young workers were able to analyze their past and current reality and to discover their own future. In the “see” part, they were tasked to draw what their future could be.  Most young workers found it difficult because they do not have the luxury to draw on the past and some of them have no future prospects.

As it does every year, the IYCW attended the 106^th session of International Labour Conference held in Geneva in June 2017. Below is the IYCW-WSM joint statement on labour migration, read by Antonio Zela, a YCW activist from Paraguay and continental coordinator.

“I thank you on behalf of the International Young Christian Workers (IYCW) and World Solidarity (WSM) for giving me the opportunity to make a joint statement to this Committee. We would also like to thank the Office for the report prepared for this general discussion.

“I am Fatima Hussain from Pakistan. I am 24 years old. I live in Lahore. I applied for many jobs in different factories but in vain. In our society, it doesn’t look good for a girl to have a job, people don’t like women workers.

I ended up deciding to work as a domestic worker because it is easier to get a job in this sector. But domestic workers are not paid well. They are paid PKR 1,500 per home (US$ 15). I was very disappointed by the low pay and the volume of extra work. I had to fulfill tasks that were not related to my job.

One day I met the YCW – that was a very beautiful day. In a meeting, I shared my experience as a domestic worker and the extra work.

We as YCW group wrote a letter to the Labor Council and requested it to increase my wage and make restrictions for no extra work for domestic workers. After a month, the management of the housing society where I work received a letter from the Labor Council saying that domestic workers had to be paid PKR 2,000 per home (US$ 20) instead of 1,500 and could not be given extra work. Now I earn PKR 8,000 for 4 homes. Although it is not enough to meet my daily needs, I am very happy and I attend the YCW meetings on a regular basis, hoping that I can do something more to change my life and that of other workers.