GIVING BACK: BETHUNE HOUSE

30% of the profits from my print sales go to a cause I hold close to my heart: the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge.

Bethune House is a refuge based in Hong Kong for foreign domestic helpers in crisis. It’s a shelter for helpers who have been abused, mistreated or evicted by their employers. The unfair working conditions for helpers (a majority of them from the Philippines and Indonesia) is an ongoing problem in Hong Kong, the city where I spent most of my childhood.

I myself had a helper when I lived there - a wonderful woman who is a mother to me. She was part of my family. As a kid, I thought this was the case with all domestic helpers, until one morning I learned that a young woman ended her life by jumping off the building we lived in. My eyes began to open.

Due to cheap labour, it is a cultural norm to have a domestic helper live and work with middle class families in Hong Kong. These women typically work 6 out of 7 days a week, taking care of household duties and their employer’s children and elderly relatives. It is a non-stop job with the minimum wage of $4,500 Hong Kong dollars a month. That’s £400 a month.

As I grew older, I started hearing more and more about cases of unfair treatment. Being Filipina myself, my heart hurts seeing the injustice many of them face. In 2015, I had the opportunity to film a short documentary with Bethune House and visited their shelter to interview the volunteers and some of the women staying there. This was shortly after Erwiana Sulistyaningsih’s case made global headlines. It was an incredibly emotional experience learning about the blatant racism and exploitation some go through. And what about the cases we haven’t heard about? This doesn’t just happen in Hong Kong, but other countries where foreign domestic help is common.

I will be donating the earnings (as well as my own personal donation) on the 30th of December. You can also make your own donation straight to the organisation at bethunehouse.org and learn more about the amazing services they provide.

Domestic helpers do not deserve to be invisible - these people take care of other families to support their own back home. Not only are they the backbone of Hong Kong’s economy, they are somebody’s mother, daughter or wife. Despite no longer living in Hong Kong, I hope to continue supporting Bethune House’s mission until all domestic helpers no longer have to worry about their safety and security.