中環,一個聚集了銀行總行、商業大廈、各地領事館等重要建築物的地方,亦是本港的金融政治中心和交通樞紐。銀光閃閃的大廈高聳入雲,名牌商店琳瑯滿目。工作於這區的都是西裝筆挺的白領,走在此地連身份地位也好像霎時高人一等。這個是普遍香港人對中環的印象,也是大部份時間的中環給人的印象。然而,每到星期天,都有一大群人對中環有著完全不同的詮釋。
在另一個星期天,我參與了由家‧傭同行、移民工牧民中心合辦的走進外傭群體活動,由家傭帶著我們一起遊走了星期日的中環。一班香港青年人和外傭圍在一起,有一起互相了解認識的機會。有一位參與者問外傭她們最為重視的是什麼?在討論中,她們得出的結論第一要緊的是被尊重,第二是私隱,合理的工作量是相對頗次要的期望。可見這一班外傭表示她們是願意努力工作的。
Since the 1980s, countless hundreds and even thousands of Filipina domestic workers have gathered every Sunday to picnic in the parks, sidewalks and streets of Central, Hong Kong – a modern phenomenon perhaps not seen in any other city in the world. They sprawl across cardboard mats purchased at dawn for five dollars; have their […]
In Shek Tong Tsui, the New Life Fellowship Church is as much a centre of worship as it is a thriving community centre. Amid lively events from Wednesday to Sunday, 600-700 attendees and 450-500 bonafide supporters – 99% of whom are domestic workers from the Philippines – remember and celebrate life back home. That has […]
Kartika Puspitasari’s supporters met on Saturday to show solidarity with the former domestic worker, who is still fighting for compensation nearly three years after her abusers were jailed. Campaigners and concerned members of the public squeezed into the Bethune House Refuge where she was being sheltered, offering food and words of comfort as her civil […]
Migrant domestic workers talk about their hopes for the future in a collection of interviews by University of Science and Technology students. Working in cooperation with Open Door and Mission For Migrant Workers (MFMW), the students are investigating how these workers are being mistreated on a daily basis. Their interviews uncovered issues ranging from poor […]
Hundreds of migrant domestic workers peacefully marched from Victoria Park to the Central Government Offices in Admiralty on Friday, demanding the government take action on a range of issues, primarily a minimum wage of HK$4,110 which has lagged behind inflation. “We are now a federation which includes every organisation here,” said Phobsuk Gasing, chairperson of […]
One of the most significant efforts to explore how foreign domestic workers’ (FDWs) rights can be respected under the law took place on Saturday. Nearly 100 non-profit and NGO chairs and leaders, general consuls and their representatives, lawmakers and professors, met at the University of Hong Kong as part of a Roundtable on Domestic Workers. […]
Open Door joined several Hong Kong protest groups to demand an apology from Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, after she cited complaints from expats about Filipino domestic workers seducing their husbands. Doris Lee, Open Door’s chairwoman, said her comments promoted hatred against maids and she must apologise. http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1774282/protesters-demand-regina-ip-apologise-comments-about
Selma is a movie about US civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King, at the height of struggle for equal rights for African-Americans, in the 1960s. In Hong Kong, we seem to have less racial conflicts, yet there are deep divisions and inequalities among groups in society – and migrant domestic workers are one example […]