Cici Brinces came to Lebanon as a domestic worker 14 years ago, married a Palestinian, had a son, survived leukaemia and was building a new life.
Then bombs began falling in Beirut and now she wants to go home to the Philippines.
"I feel that the end is near for me — worse than when I had cancer," said Brinces, 46, who fled her home near the airport two weeks ago and lived on the streets for days before moving into a shelter with her 10-year-old son.
Nazmul Shahin, 30, who works at a supermarket in Beirut's Achra-fieh neighbourhood, says explosions jolt him awake at night.
"My heart begins pounding, and it feels like something is gnawing at my entrails," the Bangladeshi, who has been living in Lebanon for about a year, said in a phone interview from Beirut.
Md Al Mamun loves the job he got at a Beirut bakery three months ago, but now he too wants to go home to Bangladesh.
"I really like it here — the pay and the environment are so much better — but since the bombing began, I have been badly missing home."
A nearly year-long conflict between Israel and Hizbollah has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel bombing southern Lebanon, Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley.
Lebanese authorities say at least 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced and more than 2,300 people killed since last October.
Most of the country's 900 shelters are full and people are sleeping in the open or in Beirut's parks. Among them are many foreign workers.
The International Organisation for Migration says Lebanon hosts over 177,000 migrant workers, primarily from Africa and Asia.
Human Rights Watch has quoted Lebanon's Labour Ministry as saying the number is around 250,000.
They mostly comprise women who work in the domestic and hospitality sectors, employed under the kafala system, a sponsorship model also common in Gulf nations where employers control the legal status of migrants.
Uganda-based activist Safina Virani, who is fundraising online to get food and shelter to African migrants, said many women had been cut adrift by employers, who fled when the Israeli attacks began.
"Many said their employers took their passports at the airport as soon as they arrived.
"They have no money, and their employers abandoned them as soon as the war broke, and they didn't give them their documents," Virani said from Uganda's capital Kampala.
"Most of them don't have bank accounts or documents that can identify them officially," Virani said, explaining that this made it difficult for relatives back home to send money.
"African migrants are being treated as second-class citizens, and this has a lot to do with racism, and that is why governments need to take the protection of the citizens seriously."
There are more than 11,000 documented Filipino workers in Lebanon. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has ordered the government to prepare for a safe and timely repatriation of its citizens.
Some 500 Filipinos have been repatriated since last year and by Oct 8, the Philippines embassy in Beirut had received more than 1,700 applications for repatriation.
The embassy has set up temporary shelters for Filipino workers, but Brinces said many were reluctant to use them as cellphones were at times restricted, so they could lose contact with home.
Among African workers, there are some 26,000 Kenyans.
The Kenyan government told Kenyans to register with the embassy in Kuwait for free evacuation. Almost 1,500 people had registered.
The government has also warned people to be aware of fraudsters offering fake evacuations for exorbitant fees.
About 150,000 Bangladeshis are also in Lebanon, working in petrol stations, supermarkets, garages and as cleaners.
Officials at Bangladesh's embassy in Beirut are providing medical care and advice and have started collecting information on those who want to return home.
Siddikor Rahman, who has worked as a supervisor in a factory for about 10 years, said: "Those of us who can afford to lend a hand are supporting our compatriots, either giving them cash, buying food for them, or providing them shelter.
"But my heart is sinking day by day and the only thing I hope for is to go home."
* The writers are from Reuters