Maid in Hong Kong part 2 of 3

Domestic helpers in Hong Kong are expected to work six days a week. By law, they have Sundays off. Helpers have very few possessions and certainly have no personal space to call their own other than the small bedrooms they occupy inside their employers’ homes. So on Sunday, the helpers –during all times of year and in all kinds of weather- congregate in any and all public spaces.

When our family is out and about on Sunday, we see helpers everywhere; after all, there are 250,000 of them that take to the street. Literally. They fill up parks, plazas, and the steps of nearly every municipal building. The business districts of Hong Kong are abuzz with activity Monday through Friday, but on Sunday, like most financial districts, they are ghost towns. These areas make a natural gathering place for helpers. In many instances the short, side streets –with the full blessing of the local authorities- are occupied by helpers who have camped out for the afternoon. They spread out their blankets in the middle of the street and have picnics on the blacktop with their fellow helpers. It is not uncommon to see a hundred-yard stretch of road filled with 200 or more helpers clustered in groups of five or ten.

It is really interesting to see hundreds –thousands- of women take to the streets and form little impromptu communities that have no men and children among them. We’ve seen groups of helpers playing music on their large radios, dancing, and having church-style sing alongs. It is not uncommon to see the women doing each other’s hair or giving each other a manicure.

There is talk in Hong Kong about expanding the pool of helpers to include women not only from Thailand, The Philippines, and Indonesia, but to start drawing women from mainland China as well. Based on the letters to the editor I read, this plan is very controversial for fear that it might be an way for Hong Kongers to get family members out of China and into Hong Kong. But the even bigger fear is that love might blossom between Hong Kong men and the imported Chinese helpers. Can’t have two governments sanctioning and running an inadvertent mail-order bride service now, can we?

Apparently, the temptation emanating from the Filipino helpers is negligible enough that it’s okay to invite in over 100,000 of them into the country. But if and when a helper does become pregnant, her employment is generally terminated immediately and she is sent back to her home country.

-Jack