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.
Good to know that and the salary is the same as the Japanese wages..
And they even use thier day offs
Tama ka jan kbayan
You realized the importance of helpers yet employers could not even give a well deserved holiday for them? And you do not also provide decent food, food that will boost their energy, shame.
That’s way the employer should admitt that they are very lucky to have a person called "helper" in their life with that amount of salary, bellow 150 HKD Per day,or around 10 dollar per hour. It is very very very cheap if people compare to hire a Hong Kong people. The "Domestic helper" do 10 × more work than them.
The helper help your children the homework, it demand the helper should have enougj knowledge and good in language and communication.
Some of Domestic helper treat your children like their own children. Read them books, bussy thinking what will they cook for your children. Will the local people do that too?
Even, some of the employer still ask their domstic helper to do some work when they’re on holiday, :p.
So for all the employer who have good helper, be thankfull for God and them. Because of them you can work without worrying your children at home, because of them you can lie down when you back home after work, by hire the domestic helper instead of local people you save around $10.000 HKD.
Be thankfull of that situation, because maybe later it will not be there same situation anymore. Maybe later you will difficulty find a domestec helper as good as the one you have now.
Being a domestic helper was not an easy job for us,why? First, we have to leave our own family and work for another family which is some of us has loved, cared,mentor, adviced and even tought your kids how to pray and to be a good child. I haved worked for one family for 11 years and took good care of 3 lovely kids, i haved loved them as my own kids every moment i spent with them is always a blessing for me. What i mean is if you have a good employer who respects and treats you as one of their family member, I as helper wont hesitate to help them and more of my time and I wont even bother because of the love,care, and respect they have showed to me since i worked for them. Now, even they are far from me. They still send me some if their videos, even greet me during some special occasions. I wished them a goodluck and happiness for they have moved in Canada. And as for me, I am currently working and still being so blessed to work with a couple who is also very good and kind. I am half a year and still counting. “ A Helper Being Treated Well, Will Always Find A Way to Pay Back” just a simple quote for all of the employers who has helpers. THank you and may we all have a prosperous new year this 2017. God Bless Us All!!
There are a whopping 380 000 DHs in HK. Waiting around for your employers to have a change of heart is NOT going to happen. HK domestic workers need to have an organized no-work protest day on a WORKING day to rattle these families into common sense. Just like unions do. Yep- a planned no-work protest giving notice weeks in advance to teach the impact it would have on their families. The rest of the world would be watching, too. You have no other currency (power) otherwise. (Srry. Repeat post from other article!)
I hope this STORY will serve as an eye opener to HK employers. That the job of a DOMESTIC WORKER (com nanny, car washer, sometimes tutor of their children, etc) is not EASY. I’m praying that those EMPLOYERS who TREAT their HELPERS inhumane will have a CHANGE of HEART. For the HK GOV’T., may they COME UP for a better law to COMPENSATE the FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS JOB because WE are PART OF THEIR LABOR FORCE.
Employers have to realize as well how their domestic workers or helpers really felt pressured and suffer stress in everyday of the daily works.So echausted!!!There are employers also who got no kids and thought that their helpers have no work at all which sounds rediculous.l wish those employers will realize how hard is the work with or without kids because household chores are still there.Helpers always pressured about what kind of food to prepare the next day or what would be the situation the next day.Some employers never realized how hard the helpers sacrifices are which sometimes very disappointing to the helpers.
Tingnan mo yan
$14,000 8am to 8pm.samantalang masahol pa sa kalabaw at makina $4,410
Pag local pala mas mahal ang bayad as a domestic helper?
LV-Adanza Credo Ramos May binabayaran ka bang renta sa bahay at tax? Alam mo ba magkano ang bahay at tax namin residente? Palibhasa kasi mahilig kayo magkumpara ng sweldo ng iba, in other words, puro inggit imbes na trabaho at contentment. Kung gusto mong taas sweldo, sa ibang bansa ka ate. Wag kayo puro rally dito. Nakakahiya. Hindi nyo din nakikita ang hirap ng ibang tao, puro kayo lang. Sa tingin nyo ba wala kaming pamilya sa Pinas? Kaso di rin makauwi dahil wala din budget or dahil mahigpit din ang boss namin. Pero imbes na magreklamo, either gawin nlng or umalis diba? Ganun kasimple. Hindi puro reklamo, puro demand ng mataas na sweldo. Hindi napapasaya ng pera ang tao ng matagal.
If you want you hire my niece in the Philippines to xome here
Now they realized how’s the helper sacrifices for their family.. Domestic work is okay if the helpers treated well by the employers.. That’s the best return for the helpers, money is just a second things..
Alaina Danae Villanueva
I remember my boss we have a fight at morning he so angry with me but me im just relax bvuz i know the contract that i sign he told me you’re so stupid i answer him you also stupid????he rply you make me angry????i told him i don’t care????hahaha they think that im afraid no way as long as i do my work and obey the contract no problem????im still here in their house not surrender????
Exactly, and "we" donestic helpers sufferin a lot from employers bullying, and becoming their shocked absorver Everytime their not happy with their life…hmmmmm..
Be thankful guys because we are a loving and workaholic human that no matter how they treated us…we serve employers with all our heart with compassion and we treated your kids as our own. Even if your calculating our 32 dollars budget a day..hahaha.lmao. we love you
.happy 2018 EVERYONE ..more love from employers I guessed your life will be more HARMONOUS and awesome
Pls copy and paste this comment on local newspapers,,,, thank you
Maybe you can go to agencies, theres a lit of foriegn domestic helper who are looking for an employer.
Why stupid helper?don’t you know the importance of having a helper?don’t call us stupid..
Locals get minnimum wage at least. International DH don’t.
If you are asking if the government treats certain groups better/worse than other groups, of course.