Moors, Jureidini, Özbay, Sabban 161domestics of different religious backgrounds coming together for a great
variety of activities, religious or not. In Dubai, where churches were estab-
lished in the 1970s with the permission of the ruler, there are two huge
compounds. The Church of the Holy Trinity, belonging to the Anglican
Church, allows a large number of denominations to use its rooms;
plaques on the wall indicate that there are over seventy different churches
present, not only the mainstream protestant denominations but also
Pentecostals and smaller groups, such as the Seventh-Day Adventists, and
local churches, such as the Church of South India. Tens of thousands of
visitors come here weekly, including large numbers of migrant domestic
workers, who frequent the Christian resource centre: a small coffeeshop
where books and CDs are sold, and where support is given to migrant
domestic workers in distress. The nearby Catholic St. Mary’s Church is
said to perform 60,000 communions every week, and functions similarly
as a meeting ground. On Friday (the weekly day off in the Emirates) mass
is celebrated simultaneously at different parts of this huge compound
in Mayalam and in Arabic. These churches are not only frequented by
domestic workers, but by a broader section of the non-national popula-
tion, including their employers. This is also the case for the Hindu temple
in Dubai, a smaller building in an old part of the city, where Hindus of
various backgrounds come to worship.
hile in the Emirates churches are only frequented by nonnation-W
als, in countries such as Lebanon and Turkey there is also an indigenous
Christian population. Yet when migrant domestic workers frequent
the same churches as the local population, they generally do so at dif-
ferent times, at least in Lebanon. Moreover, because of language differ-
ences, domestics from different countries, in particular Sri Lankans and
Filipinas, often do not celebrate Mass together. Still, as meeting grounds
for domestics churches are highly inclusive. Non-Christians also frequent
these for some spiritual experience. For instance, at the al-Wardiyya
Church in Beirut, Buddhist women gather, some to touch the statues in
the small grotto constructed in the courtyard outside. In the much larger
St. Frances Church on Hamra Street, Filipinas gather not only to cele-
brate Mass but also, at the back, to trade in small items such as clothing
and homemade food, and to provide services such as manicures. In the
front and to the side of this church Sri Lankan women gather and male