Hard times have fallen on Hong Kong as on the rest of the world, of course. SARS-CoV2 resulted in us closing to all non-residents last April and the economy has suffered greatly.

The collapse in world travel has seen Cathay Pacific cut thousands of jobs, many of them the pilots who are, were, our neighbours. There were a couple of weeks just before Christmas where each day  boxes were piled outside several houses waiting to be loaded onto removals vans. Our final neighbour moved out on Boxing Day to be replaced almost immediately by someone who occupied one of the huge – relatively – houses down the road right by the water. Downsizing.

As families move back to their home countries or try to manage on a vastly reduced income in one of the most expensive cities in the world, one of the first things to go is their Foreign Domestic Helper (FDH). Once her (it’s usually a woman from the Phillipines or Indonesia) contract is severed new, tighter restrictions here mean that the Helper now has only 14 days to find another job and sign a contract before her visa is cancelled. Once that happens, she’s an overstayer and liable to be deported and faces the task of starting from scratch in her home country. Any new employer is liable to pay for her three weeks’ hotel quarantine, which people are understandably reluctant to do, so it’s difficult to come back once you’ve left.

FDHs often support many people in their own extended families back home with their remittances and the situation is all the more acute now with global economic contraction due to the pandemic. To a certain extent, employing a helper is like taking on some responsibility for a family ecosystem. How well you treat your helper determines the sort of education their children can have, for example, or whether they can provide proper healthcare or sanitation facilities for their elderly parents. You can help them plan for a different career closer to their children by paying them enough so that they can save, and a loan on favourable terms is especially welcome when established banks and lenders are reluctant to entertain them as a prospect.

Unfortunately, as I’ve learned, there are far too many employers who fail – or refuse – to see their Helper as another human being, let alone one who has the same basic physical and emotional needs as themselves. I don’t know why someone would not recognise the humanity and equality of another human being. I suppose emplyeing someone who lives in to do your chores and look after you and your children can be complicated but it seems that it’s an excuse for some to wield their power gratuitously over someone who’s  vulnerable.

It’s currently quite cold here, with nighttime temperatures reaching 7C or lower. Homes here have no central heating because generally there’s no need and for the same reason they’re not insulated against the climate. We remedy this by buying portable fan heaters but it still feels cold for those accustomed to tropical climates. (Heaters sell out pretty quickly in the limited time they’re available in the shops.) I’ve heard that some employers don’t provide their Helpers with any source of heating – that’s if the Helper even has her own space in the household – and today I was told that many are going without showers because their employers are refusing to pay for the electricity required to heat water for their FDH. Where a Helper shares her bathroom with her Employer, they come low in the pecking order for a shower and I was told that the Employer turns off the water heater mid-shower. What sort of person does such a thing? It’s not as if cold weather lasts more than an handful of weeks here, if that.

A local helper had her employment abruptly terminated recently because her obvious unhappiness at her situation – stuck here separated from her boyfriend – was “causing a bad atmosphere” in the house. This same one had been penalised for missing her curfew on her day off because her ferry back was cancelled. I’ve heard several stories of Helpers denied their one day off in the week, and therefore the social support of meeting up with friends in town because of their employer’s fear of them catching the virus. The same virus that’s prompting people to entertain their friends at home, making more work for their Helper.

This employer proceeded to interview potential replacements right in front of her. I’ve heard of another employer who screams and shouts at the helpers in her employment and calls them stupid, causing them to quit after a few months in a steady stream. She doesn’t seem to understand why she can’t keep her staff and no-one in her network will recommend their friends as potential employees.

Today I was talking to someone who has worked for the same family for 10 years and has just been “terminated” without benefits by a family who has moved back to Europe. The family dog has bonded with her Auntie and won’t walk with anyone but her. This lady is entitled to Long Service Benefit and Severence pay but if the employer no longer has a job and is no longer in the country, how can she be sure of receiving what she’s due? She’s vulnerable, reliant on her absent ex-employer for a good reference. She has few savings and a family to support in the Phillipines and now, after ten years living as part of their family, she has less than two weeks to find a new job. “Life goes on,” she told me as she shrugged and smiled. Bad luck invariably seeks out the most vulnerable, doesn’t it?

I’ve listed a couple of sources of help for FDHs:

HK Government Support for FDH links

Help for Domestic Workers

POLO Phillipine Consular Assistance