Posted by
Ed
15 yrs ago
HONG KONG — It’s Sunday, and as usual the downtown parks and sidewalks are full of women, lounging on flattened cardboard boxes, massaging one another, painting toe nails, playing cards, chatting and napping. Hawkers wend through the rows and rows of women, peddling everything from discounted telephone calling cards to the word of God.
I share a bag of flavored peanuts with Susi Widyamti and Rita Wulandari, two women from Indonesia in their 20s, as they talk about how they miss their families, and how they’re overworked. But like many of the other women out here, they also betray a sense of pride in the financial support they provide for their distant families, and in the independence that they do not have back home.
Sunday is not just a day of reprieve from the toil of domestic work; it’s also a time to savor a new-found autonomy.
“In Java, we have to wear the headscarf,” Ms. Widyamti says. “Here we can do anything. My parents don’t know.”
Ms. Wulandari chimes in: “In Indonesia it’s very Muslim. There are so many things we can’t do. Here we can go to a disco during the day on Sunday. Here there is a lot more freedom.”
Ms. Widyamti and Ms. Wulandari are two of the nearly 271,000 foreign domestic workers — almost all women — who live and work in the homes of Hong Kong families, cooking, cleaning, taking care of children and the elderly. On Sundays, these workers are liberated from the confines of their employers’ homes; they flood downtown public spaces, their only refuge.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/opinion/02iht-edzittel.html
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Very interesting Mr Ed, but what does it have to do with "Providing answers and advice about employing a domestic helper or driver in Hong Kong" (your own words, not mine)?
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Ed
15 yrs ago
Thought it might be an interesting read...
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Interesting article, and unlike many from the foreign press at least somewhat balanced.
Still, they fell into the "damning the institution" trap with sentences like this: "On Sundays, these workers are liberated from the confines of their employers’ homes; they flood downtown public spaces, their only refuge."
Yes, it is true, many helpers do "flee" their employer' homes on Sundays because their employers are abusive in little and big ways. However, many others (including ours) sleep in or relax until it is time to go to afternoon mass, unbothered by their employers, who even tell their kids to stay quiet until nine so the helper can sleep.
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Some do "flee" as they can have some rest from their male employers who are abusive in little or big ways. This should be the worst kind of abuse for any FDH who are here just to earn a living to support their families back home.
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dnn
15 yrs ago
axptguy38 and viper342, could you be any more vague or unfair with your abuse accusations??
i mean, seriously. there's nothing like being able to "go to a disco during the day on Sunday" drinking and dancing in wan chai or tsim sha tsui to flee from an abusive employer right? get real.
after reading the OP, it in fact seems quite clear that for many women in the article, HK is in fact a land of freedom and opportunity, even if they have to work as a domestic helper here. undoubtedly that is the very reason so many helpers CHOOSE to leave their home countries and come to HK.
it would be nice if a few more of those helpers showed some gratitude towards HK and all it affords them and their families back home.
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dnn, I don't have to be vague. There are helpers in my building who have to work almost every Sunday morning, for example. That's abuse, right there. And illegal.
Are you seriously suggesting that helpers are not routinely abused in HK? Helper abuse is pandemic in HK. I see it all the time. Ask any helper who has been here for a few years if she or any of her friends has had a bad experience. Also, read this report from the HK Human Rights Monitor http://www.hkhrm.org.hk/english/reports/docs/2001CERDfinal.rtf . I quote from page 11:
"10. Baseline Research on Racial and Gender Discrimination
ƒ Objectives: To determine if there is discrimination against foreign domestic helpers, and if so, determine how significant it is and what are the indicators and patterns of such discrimination.
ƒ 2,500 foreign domestic helpers were interviewed
ƒ at least 25% experienced violations of contract (15.2%, primarily Indonesians, paid under the minimum wage of HK$3,670 per month, 22.1%, primarily Indonesians, did not get their mandatory weekly rest day, 26% did not receive all of their statutory holidays.)
ƒ over 25% experienced verbal/physical abuse, with a significant incidence of sexual abuses.
ƒ Mean average years with their employer 2.6 years "
As for the disco comment, what are you talking about?
Yes, HK can be a place where they can find more freedom. And HK certainly is a better place to work than most other alternatives for this kind of work. However, it is hardly all good. I think most helpers are grateful that they can make enough to support their families. However there are many who are paid below minimum, not given the mandatory days off, sleep on the kitchen floor, and are abused verbally and physically in their workplace. I don't see why they should "show more gratitude".
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totally agree with dnn. especially about the showing some gratitude part. most helpers can't even be bothered to pick up the mounds of rubbish they leave strewn everywhere after their 'Sunday in a Hong Kong Park'.
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I don't understand. Should helpers show some sort of unspecific gratitude towards HK itself for being able to work here? Wouldn't it more depend on the specific employer? If a helper is treated fairly and paid decently, she will probably feel good about working. If she is abused, she will probably not. Just like any other worker.
As for trash, there are helpers who pick up their trash and those who don't. Just like locals or any other group of people. You can't just accuse helpers in general.
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The artical is just a typical journalists view of cardboard city in Hong Kong on a Sunday, which doesn't give a good representation of the vibrant city HK really is. Nobody forces these girls to come here, and they are not prisoners, and can end a contract any time and go home.
Maybe the journalist should look on this forum to get the other perspective of employing these girls, which is sometimes very costly and a very bad experience, there is always 2 sides to a story.
The fact they congregate and sometimes block the streets of Hong Kong, and other major towns in the "East" I suppose is intringuing to readers in NY who haven't experienced life out here.
As far as I am concerned, the City looks very untidy, becomes very noisy with over excited adults, and is like trying to negotiate your way round a football gathering /zoo on a Sunday, so I avoid it. Down town is not their only refuge, they could gather in smaller groups of 5 or 6 good friends and have a picnic on the beach, go for a walk, and lots of other things, all over Hk and its Islands I don't understand why they like to gather in thousands like sheep, like they do in Central.
The journalist would have got a much better story back home in NY, going to the cardboard cities where the down and outs live, where they don't block up major streets/walkways, now they would have some interesting stories to tell him/her, about how they ended up there and the lives they lead.
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Susie1, they do all those other things. They have picnics and other events on the beaches, in their thousands. They barbecue in the public barbecue areas. There just isn't enough room in public areas to quietly absorb all the helpers out on a Sunday.
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axptguy38, whenever you post re FDHs I concur 100% with your thoughts, but I guess others just don't get it.
dnn, as the vast majority of us on AsiaXpat are, like FDHs, workers in a foreign land, what do we do to show our gratitude towards HK and all it affords us and our families back home? (Above and beyond the obvious helping-the-economy answer, which is a given - and for which we generally get paid pretty handsomely for doing it.)
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The rubbish issue is a stale and obsolete one. In fact, it won't require more than common sense to answer the question of why there are so much rubbish. Basic supply and demand theory should answer that.
As for gratitude, what the helpers get we work for, it was not given to us on a silver platter. Good , honest service is gratitude in itself. And I would like to challenge anyone who would say that having helpers here does more harm than good toward HK society as a whole.
As for Susie1, you write well. But please, humour me ( or anyone who is interested) how would you write said article differently? I take it you know a lot more than the writer.
As for the original article, it's a good write up for an afternoon with the helpers, but yes it lacks depth. I could write it, not better in terms of writing but more in depth, more damning as it is poignant.
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who in their right mind would choose to be a helper! Hello, everyone commenting on the above - were you born into circumstances of poverty with so much inherent corruption in your country, guided by the wonderful fictional character called 'God, et al' - have some compassion. There are lots of great helpers out there who meet great families. There are lots of horrible employers out there who treat helpers like slaves. Let's remember that they are called foreign domestic helpers not slaves. That's right helpers! get it! They are there to help - not wipe your fridge shelves out everyday and sleep on the floor. If you can name one outdoor public space after some kind of event that doesn't have rubbish left around I would love to go there.
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who would choose to be a helper? well, according to the OP article, apparently something like 271,000 FDHs living and working in HK. they were not forced to come here, they chose to. and they are free to leave anytime.
presumably those FDHs chose to come to HK to work as helpers because by doing so they can earn more than they could ever dream of earning at other jobs in their own countries. good for them! perhaps they should be a little bit grateful for their opportunites in HK. i am.
i wasn't born into circumstances of poverty, nor do i come from a country with much inherent corruption. i do believe in God. what's your point? does that make my opinion less valid than yours in some way?
true, there are lots of great employers out there, and perhaps some bad ones. but can't the same be said for helpers? there are some great helpers, and some bad ones. some helpers are honest, and some don't hesitate to lie, steal or deceive. some helpers are thoughtful, polite and courteous, whilst some are selfish, rude and disrepectful. let's be fair.
finally, i didn't realize that a helper's day off was considered an event of any sort, but, even if it was, i don't think that's a valid excuse for littering the public parks, beaches, sidewalks and fly-overs of HK. the city which provides quite well for many.
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Nellie, this event is every week, not once in a while like say a pop concert. If for example another group of people- eg teenage girls gathered in the same numbers, did exactly the same things, as these ladies do every Sunday, a bit of partying, music, lively-loud chatter,blocking walkways and roads , leaving some rubbish behind, would this be tolerated by Hong Kong government?
Only a very tiny minority of these helpers, of the thousands here are poorly treated, their employers do deserve to get in trouble for this, and should be exposed as an example of what you shouldn't do.
The majority of helpers have a room on their own with a comfortable bed, yes sometimes it is compact, some have televisions, video player, computers etc etc,they are paid the recommended wage and food allowance or over, and in general are quite happy and content with their lot in life, and very proud to be able to send money back home to help their relatives, and their employers are happy with them too. Some also feel liberated.
There is also a small amount of bad helpers, who will steal, get into debts with no intention of paying it back- and sometimes this money is loaned from other helpers and will do all kinds of nasty scams, that is what keeps this forum ticking over.Do they learn how to wheel and deal of other like minded ladies on a Sunday when they meet? It has to start somewhere, because there is a certain pattern to problems which you read about on this forum almost like the ones who know how to work the system, school willing candidates.
There is good, bad and ugly in every society, not just helpers, the original artical did not portray a full rounded story of helpers lives here in Hong Kong in Cardboard city on a Sunday, people who read it and have not experienced or seen it, will just think 'Oh they do that in HK, every Sunday, glad its not here, and throw the newspaper in the bin", no interesting impact.
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