at the end of July I will be leaving the UK and heading off to Italy- on bicycle. The route will be approximately 1100 miles, and pass through France, Switzerland, and then finally Venice, Italy, sometime in mid-August.

I will be doing this adventure to raise money for Kalayaan, a London-based charity.

Kalayaan is a UK registered charity (charity number 1103847) which was established in 1987 to provide support to migrant domestic workers in the UK (MDWs). Migrant domestic workers are people who have entered the UK from overseas with an employer in order to work in that employer’s private household. The majority (84%) of MDWs are women who are predominantly from poor backgrounds.

Unfortunately the isolated conditions of living and working in a private household, together with the dependence on one employer for their work, their housing and their immigration status, as well as all information about life in the UK, means that MDWs are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Kalayaan has documented and worked with domestic workers who have routinely endured physical, psychological and sexual abuse, discrimination, low pay and long hours. It is not uncommon for MDWs to work 18-hour days, 6 or 7 days a week. In frequent cases domestic workers have been trafficked in what amounts to a 'secret slave trade', where employers have used passport retention as a means of control.

The isolated, dependant and unregulated nature of working in private households, combined with gender-based and racial discrimination means that domestic workers are vulnerable to these exploitative practices. Migrant domestic workers are often unfamiliar with the UK system and unsure of their rights in this country. Often they speak little or no English and are made vulnerable by their dependence on an employer for information about their status in the UK, their job, their housing and their immigration status.

Kalayaan works to support MDWs to understand their situation in the UK and learn about the options which are available to them. We provide free individual advice to workers on immigration and employment matters and take on cases in order to advocate for individual workers in cases where follow up work is needed. We also run workshops and classes to support workers with practical aspects of life in the UK.