"I pray to God and the burdens on my coronary heart are lifted." I am visiting with a few workers from the Philippines who have amassed at the side of thousands in their countrywomen in Hong Kong's Statue Square. There are corporations playing every other's corporation anywhere you look. Some are eating, travelling, playing playing cards, styling each other's hair and buying and selling romance novels. Others are praying, reading their Bibles and making a song hymns. There are an predicted one hundred twenty,000 lady workers from the Philippines dwelling in Hong Kong. Most are employed as maids for the city's rich families. These 'helpers' ( the not unusual time period for domestic employees in Hong Kong) are predicted to work twenty four hours a day, six days a week, however government regulations dictate they need to be given twelve consecutive hours of free time every Sunday. Since the ladies can't come up with the money for to go to movies or eat in eating places on their break day, they acquire in Hong Kong's train stations and parks or out of doors public buildings.
One Sunday morning I went all the way down to the heart of Hong Kong's enterprise district to spend a while speaking with the Filipino ladies in a significant plaza there. One group conveniently agreed to allow me take their photo and once I told them I became writing a tale for a magazine they were satisfied to answer a few questions.
The ten women I spoke with all come from the same rural location inside the Philippines. They work in houses in distinctive sections of Hong Kong however on Sundays they meet at St. Joseph's Cathedral located inside the Central district. After mass, which St. Joseph's celebrates in Tagalong, the language of the Philippines, they acquire at the porch of the near through Hong Kong regulation courts building. They unfold newspapers on its cement floor to take a seat down on, and then spend the afternoon eating and traveling. They tell me they're devout Catholics and their faith in God is what allows them live on the separation from their families inside the Philippines and the now and again cruel and indifferent treatment of their employers. "I pray to God and the burdens on my coronary heart are lifted" one female tells me passionately, as she lifts her arms and eyes heavenward.
As we go to I find out some of the girls inside the organization had been right here for as little as four months at the same time as others have lived in Hong Kong for as long as twelve years. Most have younger youngsters at home and are college educated. They are nurses, teachers, physiotherapists, pharmacists, computer programmers and enterprise ladies. They talk numerous languages. However they can make three times extra cash in Hong Kong than they are able to working towards their professions within the Philippines. They tell me they want money to pay for their children's schooling. "To provide our children wish for the destiny", one female says. They all ship a huge component of their revenue domestic to their households.
There are many exclusive church businesses and agencies in Hong Kong which are seeking to serve the Filipina women operating inside the city. I spoke with Sue Farley who's at the board of administrators for an outreach application operated via the American Baptist World Evangelism agency. They open the premises of a nearby Bible College on Sundays so the Filipino girls can meet there and take part in Sunday School classes and a worship carrier. They have a fulltime director, a female from the Philippines, who develops relationships with the girls who attend and acts as an advocate for them whilst vital.
Not all employers deal with their Filipino maids as they must. "They in reality have great power over the girls" says Farley. She tells me that every now and then the home helpers have already been taken advantage of by way of unscrupulous middlemen in the Philippines who price them exorbitant fees for work visas and transportation to Hong Kong. As a result they arrive within the city already owing a huge amount of money. If they wind up with an company who is not kind they hesitate to document them to the government. They want to hold their task to pay again their journey mortgage and ship money home to their households who are depending on them. "It is not that difficult for employers to break their contracts with Filipino girls", Farley informs me. "And they can't live right here in Hong Kong unless they have got full time employment." It is straightforward to see why frequently girls tolerate the abuse of their employers in place of take criminal movement against them.
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