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FCUS
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Adding color
to their lives
The Monthly Newsletter of the Mission For Migrant Workers Hong Kong (MFMW Limited)
August 2013
Volunteers from the Bank of America
Merrill Lynch (BoAML) brought s m i l e s to the
faces of our residents in our shelter in Sheung Wan w h e n
they helped re-paint the walls which needed this much-deserved
refurbishment. Last August 24, around seven adult staff of
Bank Of America connected with disadvantaged members of
the migrant community in Hong Kong through this volunteer
service, one staff even brought her young son to help.
The premises of the Bethune
House in Sheung Wan, where the
MFMW refers most of its clients
who need temporary refuge
while they are attending to
their cases, received
not only a new
splash of color but
also of spirits. It
became a better place to live.
BoAML
volunteers,
aside
from donating the paint and other
materials, took time off from their busy
corporate schedule and spent it with
the shelter residents. They cheerfully
accomplished the project together with
them. It was an occasion of community
partnership,
of
interaction and mutual
support.
This 2013, the MFMW is a
recipient of a philanthropy grant
from BoAML through Give2Asia
which supported parts of our
integrated service delivery program
– Crisis Intervention and Prevention
Through Migrant Empowerment.
Among the direct assistance
that we do is to provide shelter,
accommodation, food and case
turn to page 2
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M GRANT FCUS
Adding color to their lives
support for Asian women migrants in
distress, thus the need to continuously
support free shelters for these women.
Many of those we shelter are
victims of sexual and physical abuse,
or are burdened by recent job loss, trapped in
debt, and victims of illegal and excessive
fees. One can say that for many of these
women, the color has washed away from their
lives.
But with simple acts of kindness
and support like this one coming
from well-meaning groups in Hong
Kong, the message of care resounds
From Page 1
well to the sufferers. The residents were overjoyed
with the repainting, the lunch that they shared
with the volunteers and the sharing of stories, the
interest and understanding displayed by these
community volunteers to their plight.
We thank the Bank of America Merrill Lynch
and their volunteers for adding color to their lives.
Yes, foreign domestic workers do deserve our care.
We hope that others will follow suit and respond
to the call for care and support to this special
disadvantaged group.
In the end, it wasn’t just about the paint. It
was about putting back the colors of hope to their
lives.#
Gaining ground in service and support
Nine months after the MFMW
received a grant from the Bank
of America Merrill Charitable
Foundation Donor Advised
Fund at Give2Asia, the project
is still underway and gaining
ground.
It has supported in part our
Crisis Intervention and Prevention
through Migrant Empowerment
(CIPME) program which has been
MFMW’s longstanding service
delivery paradigm. The philanthropy
grant from Bank of America was
among those which contributed
substantially to the extension and
expansion of this program.
In the past months, we have
been able to expand our services
and actualized the message of care
not only to thousands of distressed
women migrants but also to the
general
migrant
community.
From January to July alone, we
have attended to more than 3,000
service seekers who need paralegal
counseling, shelter and refuge,
psych-social support. We have also
August 2013
been able to continue our mobile and
on the ground service and care events
which amplified the call to “Give Care
to Hong Kong’s Caregivers”.
As we proceed to our last
stretch of activities for 2013, we take
this opportunity to thank Bank of
America Charitable Foundation/Give
to Asia for contributing in the overall mission to uplift the status and
dignity of foreign domestic helpers
and migrant women in Hong Kong.
Your assistance to us has been
translated to direct assistance to
them – our migrant community in
Hong Kong.
M GRANT FCUS
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HERSTORY
Putting a Face to the
Rosa Mae
Stories of Suffering, Struggle and Success
“In one day, all the bitter experiences and depression that I felt in the past eleven months
were replaced with joy and realization that I won in my struggle to fight for justice.”
This is how Rosa Mae summed
up her feelings after she received the
Labour Department’s award order as
a result of a case she filed against her
employer who treated her like a slave
when she arrived in Hong Kong
more than a year ago.
Rosa Mae related how she had
to keep drinking water in order to
survive her first ten days without
proper food. Her employer’s mother
in-law strictly ordered her not to
eat the food in the refrigerator or
crackers on top of the dining table.
Every morning, the mother-in-law
would open the fridge and count
everything inside; then check the
garbage bins and would nod her
head looking satisfied.
Aside from the household
routine with her employer, Rosa
Mae was made to do illegal work
whenever her employer brought
her to the mother-in-law’s house
to do clean her house and other
chores. What really hurt Rosa Mae
most was that the mother-in-law
would give her spoiled leftover
food. It happened only once in 4th of
October the Mother in-law gave her
fresh cooked food to eat, according
to Rosa Mae, but the food was put
in the plastic bowl that the motherin-law took from the cabinet under
the sink where the rubbish bin
was placed. “I had to eat the food
because I was really hungry at that
time, and it was already past ten in the
evening. They did not call me to eat not
until I finished all the household chores
upstairs,” she said.
Rosa Mae kept all these miseries
from her family in Bicol especially from
her sick child. “I tried to persevere and
endure everything for their sake. Besides,
I was worried about the PhP150,000.00
that I borrowed to pay the agency in
applying for work here in Hong Kong.”
A ray of hope came to Rosa Mae
one day when a fellow Filipina who
worked in the same building saw her
crying. Apparently, the Filipina has
heard about the inhuman treatment that
four previous domestic helpers suffered
from the same employer. She was kind
enough to lend Rosa Mae one hundred
dollars to spend on her first day off
when she had the opportunity to buy
some biscuits and drinks to carry her
through at least for some days.
Meanwhile,
the
idea
of
terminating her contract started to
develop in Rosa Mae’s mind especially
when her employer failed to give her
holiday. Thus, “one day in October 2012
at almost ten o’clock in the morning and
my household chores almost done when
my employer apologized saying that she
forgot to tell me that it’s my holiday. I
told her that it is okay that I can have
my holiday the following Monday so I
can pick up my Hong Kong ID. But
she angrily refused for me to go out
because she needed me on Monday.”
That day off was truly
memorable for Rosa Mae because
while walking along Statue Square she
saw her batch mate at the household
workers’ training in the Philippines.
She couldn’t help crying while sharing
about her sad experience. While
doing this, a leader from the UNIFILMIGRANTE-HK was passing by and
she asked what was the problem. She
advised Rosa Mae of some steps to
take. And the rest is history.
“I owe a lot to the Mission for
the guidance in pursuing my claims
at the Labour Department and to the
Bethune House for giving me shelter
for almost a year,” Rosa Mae stated
a day before her departure to the
Philippines.
She attested that her stay at
the Bethune House had taught her
a lot of things foremost of which is
empowering oneself. “It is not just
about the money that I won from my
case. It’s about getting back my selfesteem as well as earning respect from
my fellow residents in the shelter. Truly
we have one family seeking justice for
our trampled rights,” she concluded.
August 2013
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Dialogue with PCG officials bears
positive results for Tigil Na members
Empowered members of the TIGIL NA (Movement of Victims
Against Illegal Recruitment and Trafficking) made their voices heard
in a dialogue initiated by the Mission For Migrant Workers and
the United Filipinos in Hong Kong with the Philippine Consulate
General’s Consul General Noel Servigon and Philippine Overseas
Labor Office (POLO) Labour Attache Manuel Roldan on 25 August
this year.
MFMW participates in US Consulate
briefing with visiting legislators
The Mission For Migrant Workers was one of the chosen migrants
serving institutions that were invited to a sharing with the United
States Consulate on 1 September this year.
Vice Consul for Political Affairs
Robert M. Kokta thanked the service
providers for taking time to brief
the visiting congressional delegation
on the Trafficking In Persons (TIP)
situation in Hong Kong. According
to him, one of the visitors, Senator
Gillibrand is one of the leading
voices in the Senate on women’s
issues forcefully expressed to HKG
officials the need for Hong Kong to
bring its legal framework and law
enforcement efforts to international
standards to more effectively protect
trafficking victims and punish the
exploiters.
Kokta also said that the new
US consul general is taking a personal
interest in the TIP issue and this will
August 2013
hopefully mean more engagement with
the higher levels of the Hong Kong
Government. He called on the service
providers to share their thoughts and
suggestions on what could be done to
help move Hong Kong toward a victimcentric approach to combating sex and
labor trafficking.
MFMW
manager
Cynthia
Abdon-Tellez spoke on the Mission’s
experience in handling cases of victims
of sex trafficking, which has become so
complicated that it is now more difficult
to find victims. More importantly,
the Mission is now looking into the
conditions of foreign domestic workers
being victims of TIP through labor
being victims of illegal collection of
agency fees.
Consul
General
Servigon
reported that prior dialogues on
this issue have been done with the
MFMW and other service providers.
Labatt Roldan for his part presented a
lengthy power point report on updates
from the POEA (Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration) and
POLO. The report was cut short when
the victims started to feel unease as
there was little time left for the forum
which was the main objective of the
dialogue.
Essentially, the OFWs wanted
the PCG officials to resolve the
slow process in addressing the cases
of overcharging, illegal collection,
fraudulent loans and harassment
by unscrupulous recruitment and
lending agencies.
MFMW manager Cynthia
Abdon-Tellez pointed out that while
the cases are not being resolved,
harassments persist and premature
termination of employment of the
victims is increasing.
On a positive note, the dialogue
yielded the following concessions:
First, the fee for the special power
of attorney for the representative
in filing case in the Philippines
will be waived; second, handling
of harassment and confiscation of
documents will be handled by the
Assistance to Nationals; third, a
letter explaining the case being filed
against the employment and lending
agencies will be sent to the employer
of the victim in order to mitigate the
premature of contract; fourth, cases
belonging to the same agency will be
scheduled by batch to speed up the
process of conciliation.
Finally, Eman Villanueva,
secretary general of the UNIFILMIGRANTE, a convenor of TIGIL
NA reiterated the calls to stop
harassment both of the victims,
their families as well as employers.
He also called for the investigation
and prosecution of recruitment
and lending agencies violating the
“No placement fee” policy of the
Philippine government.
M GRANT FCUS
OUR FAITH,
OUR STRUGGLE
5
Stealing from
the poor
Stealing from the poor. This in a nutshell describes the continuing revelations
regarding the pork barrel scam in the Philippines. It also shows how shameless
and calloused are the authors and participants of these scams to the detriment
of Juan dela Cruz.
Accordingly, P10 billion of
Priority Development Assistance
Fund (PDAF) of five senators and
24 congressmen were channeled
to Janet-Lim Napoles’s fake
non-government organizations
(NGOs) for ghost projects –
“projects” allegedly for the benefit
of the people – specially the poor.
Allegedly Janet Napoles and the
senators “split the funds 50-50”.
What we have here is a scene
utterly disgusting and devoid of
moral moorings. As the PCPR HK
statement says:
“While the masses sink in the
whirlpool of poverty, a few wallow
in unimaginable stolen riches: these
funds come from the hard-earned
money of the tax-paying citizens of
the country as well as from overseas
workers and their families.
By stealing these monies from
their intended recipients, the
perpetrators of this massive web of
corruption are guilty of murdering
the people by depriving them of
what rightfully belongs to them:
basic social services, affordable
if not free health services, clean
drinking water, relevant and
liberating education, protection of
the integrity of creation, effective
flood control projects; just wages and
job opportunities that have pushed
millions of our countrymen and
women into forced migration subjected
to all forms of abuses and lacking onsite protection by government.
That these acts are done in the name
of the people, through bogus nongovernmental
organizations
and
projects, these simply show these
people’s disdain for the poor. As book
of Proverbs said ‘When the righteous
are in authority, the people rejoice;
but when the wicked rule, the people
groan.’(Proverbs 29: 2)
For government officials or civil
servants involved in these scams, this
is nothing but betrayal of public trust.
This is plunder indeed. However
we believe that Janet Napoles’ web
of deceit, corruption and plunder is
just the tip of the iceberg. There may
be others already trying to burn their
paper trail. “
A swift but thorough and impartial
investigation is in order.
The culprits must be prosecuted.
The full force of the law must bear
upon them.
A resolution will be introduced later
in Congress by BAYAN MUNA
Representative Neri Colmenares;
GABRIELA
Women’s
Party
Representative Luz Ilagan; ACT
Teachers Party-List Representative
Antonio Tinio; GABRIELA Women’s
Party Representative Emmi de
Jesus; ANAKPAWIS Representative
Fernando Hicap; KABATAAN
Representative Terry Ridon; and
Bayan Muna Representative Carlos
Isagani Zarate, “ strongly urging the
congress and the president to respond
to the public clamor for the abolition
of the pork barrel system and allocate
and itemize pork and lump sum funds
to basic social services, substantial
salary hikes for government
employees and job creation and for
other purposes stated therein.”
We hope the rest of Congress,
in their honest pursuit to rectify
the weaknesses of the previous
laws
governing
government
appropriations, will support the
resolution.
We hope the Filipino people including
Filipino migrants all over the world,
will continue, if not become ever
more vigilant of the goings on in
the different levels of the Philippine
government and therefore curb the
arrogance of power; that they cease
distorting the tenets of democracy as
they “fool the people, buy the people
and off the people.”.#
August 2013
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Hello! My name is Sara Lowery, and I will be a Mission Intern for the next year. I am
serving as a missionary with the Young Adult Service Corps of the Episcopal Church in
the United States, and I’m thrilled to be placed at the Mission for Migrant Workers. I am
sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama and the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.
I am particularly passionate about global gendered issues, so I am very grateful for
the opportunity to work for an organization that works to aid women in these fields. I
graduated from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, in May with a degree
in International and Global Studies and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. I’m
22 years old, and I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, which is the land of sweet
(iced!) tea, grits, and “Sweet Home Alabama.” In my spare time, I like to read, bake,
rock climb, and drink coffee. I’m excited to explore Hong Kong and to learn more about
migrant workers’ issues as I serve as a mission intern for the year!
You might have spotted
them running bare-footed around
Statue Square or staring earnestly
at the maps trying to figure out
something.
You might have
noticed some of them trying
frantically to copy the Chinese
characters written on the ‘Glorious
Dead’ Cenotaph or wondered
why two ladies proposed to each
other in front of the Marriage
Registry over the four Sundays
from 11 August to 1 Sep. They
are simply participants of ‘My
Central’ - a project organised to
connect the Filipino community
to Central through treasure hunts
and for participants to tell their
Central stories through creative
workshops.
Over
the
four
Sundays,
participants of My Central were given
clues and maps to locate landmarks
around Central. Clues linked these
landmarks to their histories and stories.
Rather than walking pass these buildings
or landmarks without knowing what
they mean or represent, these clues give
interesting facts and stories to Central,
a place which witnesses the changes of
Hong Kong through its modern history
and a place which transforms from a
serious business district to a piazza-like
space every Sunday with the presence
of the Filipino community. Clues
were organised around themes such as
‘Harbour Front and Reclamation’, ‘Old
and Modern Hong Kong’ and ‘Scary
and Haunted Hong Kong’ in which
the participants traced the changing
landscapes of Hong Kong through
the years as they tried to locate the
shoreline of Hong Kong island in the
19th century to finding the roof under
which the history of this city is housed.
The participants also shared their
‘Central story’ through their artwork.
Many shared that they spend their
off-days in their own ‘tambayan’ in
Central, a home away from home with
their ‘Hong Kong families and sisters’.
Some expressed how hard it is for them
to leave these Hong Kong families and
sisters when going home for good.
Notwithstanding the difficulties they
encounter here in Hong Kong, many
are committed to help fellow migrant
workers. Their love for their families
back home manifested in many of the
artwork through pictures of mother
with children and group photos.
Although My Central project
has come to an end, there is a
Facebook page at www.facebook.com/
MyCentralHK for you to check out
the fun these participants had and also
their creative works. Do you have your
own ‘Central story’ to share? If you
do, please feel free to share your story
in this Facebook page. As for treasure
hunt which many participants asked if
there would be another round, perhaps
you could have a taste of it here : You
can find us in your wallet as well as
find us guarding the escalators going
up the banking halls in one of Central’s
buildings. Do you know our names?
Count the number of bullet holes on
our body. Have a try and always look
out for interesting details in Central,
who knows, it might become the clues
for our next treasure hunt
MY CENTRAL
Cherie Wu
August 2013
what’s your Central story?
M GRANT FCUS
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Reverend Clabon
and Margaret
Allen visit
Bethune House
and MFMW
MIGRANT
FOCUS
It was their 50th wedding anniversary of being together, when they decided
to visit HK to see longtime friends and colleagues. Reverend Clabon Allen was
the Pastor of Kowloon Union Church when Bethune House was established in
1986. Margaret Allen, his wife was one of the pioneering members who help set up
Bethune House who up to the present for the past 27 years has continuously serve
foreign women domestic workers in crisis. Their contributions to the migrant
community have made the lives of those in crisis bearable, with a safe roof over
their head and a caring place to console their souls.
MFMW Limited is inviting volunteers who would like to share their time doing public subscription
(a fund raising activity soliciting from the public to support the welfare services of the Mission).
YOUR CONTRIBUTION CAN ACHIEVE A SOLUTION! For more information, interested parties
may contact Buhay/Edwina at 25228264 or email at mission@migrants.net.
August 2013
Migrant Focus is a
monthly publication of
the Mission For Migrant
Workers (MFMW Ltd.)
Editorial Team
Cynthia Ca Abdon-Tellez,
Jun Tellez, Norman Uy Carnay,
Fr. Dwight dela Torre
Contributors
Juvy Bustamante, Aaron
Ceradoy, Vicky Casia, Beth McRill
Address
St. John’s Cathedral,
4 Garden Road,
Central, Hong Kong SAR
Tel No. (852) 2522 8264
Fax No. (852) 2526 2894
E-mail
mission@migrants.net
Webpage
http://www.migrants.net
http://www.facebook.com/MFMWHK
Articles and/or graphics in
this issue may be reproduced
without permission provided
full credit is given
to the Mission For Migrant
Workers (MFMW).
Your support will be most
appreciated. You can issue
cheques paid or deposit to:
MFMW LTD.
A/C No: 210-116448-883
Hang Seng Bank
(Donation of HK$100 or more
is tax deductible.)