Living martyrs in the foreign land

Hong Kong red bus in Des Voeux Road West

Hong Kong is a no strange place for me. It is known here in South East Asia as shopping centre and the Disneyland. It is two hours away from Manila, the capital city of Philippines. So, when I was called to come to Hong Kong for a meeting, I was excited for the fact it would be my first time to visit the state that have gained economic boom and prosperity even surpassing the milestones Philippines have showed decades ago. I wanna see it for myself. And it is a reality now, as I hold my return ticket.

Even if I had a short stay in Hong Kong and was not able to go around the state, I gained fruitful insights and learnings. I realized that unemployment in the Philippines is too high, that many of the Filipinos have to work abroad – majority of them are domestic helpers! And Hong Kong is one of their hubs. It is said to be that 100,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong work as domestic helper, or commonly known as DH.

Whilst I was walking in the streets of Des Voeux Road West, I see common faces who look “pinay.” When I was in the $10 store, there are two ladies speaking Filipino. When crossing the street of Belcher, I saw pinay waiting for a bus stop to pick up the Chinese looking kid who I assumed is the “alaga” of the pinay nanny. Everywhere are pinays toiling for the sake of their children and family in the Philippines.

My reflections did not stop there. I was seated beside a woman I will call in the name of “Manang.” She is 29 years old, with two kids and a partner. She is talking for 2 hours, the whole duration of the flight from HK – MLA. I chose to listen because I knew she needs somebody to listen to her emotions and hardships. She was a domestic helper. She has to go home because she was terminated after 10 months of verbal abuse, physical abuse, and psychological abuse she got from her “amo” or the family she was serving in HK.

She said, they faced many difficulties as DH. They have to adjust in the culture, language, and even in cooking since Filipino and Chinese dishes are not the same. Her “amo” even yelled and insulted her that she cannot speak English well! As I was listening to her, speaking English, I think she’s good enough to receive that kind of insults from her “amo”.

What made her so interesting to me were her remarks that she blamed the Filipino heroes and heroine for what the Philippines has become today – poverty. She said, if the national heroes and heroines were not rebellious against American colonization, there will be no more Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) for the country will be as prosper as Hong Kong which sought independence from British colony when they can stand alone.

Her statement was so striking since it was my first encounter to a Filipino who has that bitterness to the national heroes and heroines. I was trying to share what I know and experiences, but in the end I chose to listen again to her. Her disgust is a cause of hardships, difficulties, and disappointments to her country. I cannot blame her for that or even change her beliefs and stand in just 2 hours talk. She needed someone to listen.

She went on sharing her plans when she will be back in the Philippines. She will start a small business in the morning, tutorial to her children in the afternoon, and she is also planning to marry her partner in civil. She will also take the board examination for teachers and if she will pass, she would never work overseas again. She will stay in the country for she doesn’t want to experience again her bitter fate. But she will keep on working as DH if she can not pass the board exam, again and again for the sake of her children’s and family’s future.

For that reason, she will take any abuses in the foreign land, so long she received compensation than staying in their country without nothing to eat. She is just like any other OFWs I knew; living heroes and heroines – martyrs for their family, and even feeding their country of remittances.

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