A 22-minute television program produced by TVB, Hong Kong’s largest free television channel by audience, showed how some families are suffering from a shortage of foreign domestic workers.
A young mother named Jo, who used to work as a secretary in a foreign firm, has been taking care of her family since her family moved away from her father-in-law a year ago. Every day she becomes exhausted from doing housework, and the family has been reduced to eating frozen foods every day.
She said she had been searching for a domestic helper for several months but no candidate had come forward.
In another case, a couple who operate their own religious-products shop lost their leisure time when their domestic helper, Wisini, returned to Indonesia in October after serving the family for 14 years. Although their children now are old enough not to be a burden, taking care of the housework has put a lot of pressure on their lifestyle.
After their maid left, they found that they did not even know how to use many of their home appliances. The couple searched for a domestic worker near a church attended by Filipinos but they got no response after sending out 50 leaflets.
A couple named Joe and Vivian, who worked as a secondary-school teacher and a human-resource officer respectively, went into a panic after their Indonesian maid decided not to return to Hong Kong six months ago.
To take care of their five-year-old son and household chores, the couple are now paying a Hongkonger HK$14,000 a month to work from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday.
The Hong Kong government has failed to support working couples in the city, Lai Yuk-king, a professional consultant at the department of social work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, was quoted as saying on the TV program, which was broadcast in Cantonese on December 10.
There are about 360,000 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, who mainly come from the Philippines and Indonesia.
they are not good employer thats why nobody replied to them maybe they demand many things during interviews..
They dont appreciate us becoz they were thinking that we are juz only a helper and they can afford to pay us without realizing the importance of having a helper and most of the time they are taking advantage for us working telling that you need to clean the house before and after you take the holiday, and also about the meal allowance.
To all employer hope you realized how defecult without helper.you can pay your hongkong so helper for 14.thousand a month?how come you cannot pay your forign wokers even 7 or 8 thousand a month.?
Hope they may understand the stand of the maid sometimes .
now you realized our value and importance in your famly but many employers are so abusive treat thier helper like a slave..
We at Tuen Mun Filipino Baptist Churc always welcome your endosees (Filipinas who you refer to us) But it still is their choice if to stay, which mostly prefers to enjoy time somwhere else. New ones sppecially wants to see around first, have their kind of fun, but not church.In church they are tamed but more prefers to be wild.
I hope my employer know about this
You’ve missed the point Hong Kong – the rest of the world work just as hard and manage their chores , children and full time jobs with out a live in helper, or pay the going minimum wage and above for the services of cleaners and childminders.
I understand completely how some ladies here feel. I know I’m very lucky to have my DH & I do show my appreciation for her. She’s like a family member, eats what she wants, sits at the table with us. I give her proper time off & gifts on her birthday & Christmas etc. She in return looks after my family & my dog with great love & care. Its not easy being away from yr own family to look after another’s. They too are someone’s duaghter, wife, mother.There r many employers who r good to their helpers but unfortunately far too many who think of them as sub human. Its all about mutual respect but soe ppl just don’t get it. No compassion! Stay strong ladies, hope there will be changes soon.
Alaina Danae-lody Villanueva hi.she’s just saying it literally.i hope you got her meaning in "stupid" word.please read carefully.
I’ll always pray na sana maapriciate ni Popo ang kabutihan ko,na nandito para tulungan at alagaan sila,to make them love like my own grandparents.sana maramdaman at makita nya yun.palagi nlang kasing galit lahat ng gawin ko mali sa kanya.palaging dabog.kung kausapin ako para akong hayup. I believe in our Lord na kaya niyang baguhin ang lahat.to make possible the emposible.AMEN
Sooo sad I fmy heart bleed this people ????????????????????????????????
"Every day she becomes exhausted from doing housework, and the family has been reduced to eating frozen foods every day."
Spoiled nation of incompetent crybabies. Imagine being so pampered that you have to cry about frozen food ????????
If the Filipinos don’t like it they can do what they tell everyone who complains in the Philippines..
"GO BACK TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY"
It’s not that hard to do housework and they should be able to do it without a helper this is a ridiculous system. Children are growing up with no sense of responsibility or capability. I think we should be very thankful fro the helpers but they are there to HELP, NOT do everything. Learn how to do things for yourself.
Physical abuse is common to the domestic helpers in Hong Kong which is not strongly supported by Govt departments. I’m pleased that Japan opens its doors for foreign domestic helpers because Japanese are better employers and non abusive.
This is actually quite funny to me. We have been living in Hong Kong for 5 years now, and when we came we had 3 older children. My husband and I both work full time, and the first question we were asked was whether or not we would employ a helper. Haha! Why on earth? This is normal life in the US….both parents work full time AND take care of kids AND do household chores. It’s really not that hard! Hong Kongers seem to think it’s impossible, even if they don’t have kids. I had 4 kids in 5.5 years, worked full time nights, homeschooled and ran the househould. Really, people, you CAN cook a meal after work, and it doesn’t take that long on the weekend to clean your 500sf apartment. Toughen up a little! And please, if you do have a helper, treat her right. I see grown children treat helpers like they are lesser humans. So sad! I don’t blame them for moving where they get paid more than slave wages.
Jan Ravenna nag open lang saloobin..meron din kami sinusuportahan kaya gusto rin maitaas sweldo..lalo pa tumaas presyo ng mga bilihin..meron din kc kumukuha ng helper na hindi kaya pasahurin..so for what nag abroad..yun reason nag abroad upang kumita ng mas malaki..at meron din under paid at maltreated kaya meron nagrarally..