Filipina domestic worker cast out of Hong Kong dies of cancer

A former Filipina domestic worker, who was reportedly driven out of the home where she worked in Hong Kong by her employer in the middle of the night last year, has died of cancer.

Joan, a 41-year-old single mother of three, succumbed to cervical cancer in her hometown of Guimba, Nueva Ecija, just north of Manila, on August 25, sunwebhk.com reported.

In May last year, a photo of Joan taken by a fellow domestic went viral on social media showing Joan, looking forlorn on the side of a street with a suitcase and two striped bags.

Joan’s employer reportedly woke her up and drove her out of the apartment after midnight on May 1, 2017.

Joan had worked for the employer for two years and two months. The employer packed her belongings in the suitcase and bags and tried to send her off in a taxi to her church’s shelter, saying she had used up all her leave.

Two months earlier Joan had been diagnosed with Stage 3 to 4 cervical cancer. She underwent 20 treatments of radiotherapy at Tseung Kwan O Hospital in Po Lam.

The fellow worker took Joan home before sending her to the hospital to continue her cancer treatment.

Officers from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration had helped to send her back to the Philippines.

Joan was reportedly advised by the Help for Domestic Workers group to file a case under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance against her employer because of the way she was evicted in the early hours of the morning – sick and fragile.

But it is not known if the case was ever filed.

Dozens of friends paid their respects to Joan and her family at the local church after she died prior to her burial at the village cemetery.