Welcome to “The Help”, a series brought to you in partnership with HK Helpers Campaign and Mission for Migrant Workers. These stories come directly from some of Hong Kong’s 320,000 foreign domestic workers. Everyone deserves a voice.
Siti from Indonesia
I want to work and help make money for my family back in Indonesia. I have two children, a daughter, aged three, and a son, aged eight. I want to build a house in Indonesia for myself and my children, and another one for my mother, as my father has already passed away. I also have two sisters who are still very young.
I miss my children so much. They always ask, “Why is Mama so far away?” “Why has Mama not come back yet?”
The first time I came here my agent was very good, but this time it was very bad. The contract wasn’t right for the work I was doing.
The agency said “You just have to look after the grandma and clean the house,” but I ended up working in the family’s Chinese medicine shop. This scared me and made me want to run away because it’s illegal work.
If the police saw me working in the shop I could go to court and be deported. I told my employer that I didn’t want to do it because it’s illegal work, but she told me not to talk so much.
Everyday after that she got angrier and angrier with me. Everything I did was wrong. If the grandma was cooking and I tried to help by chopping vegetables or washing the rice, the employer would come in and say I was doing it wrong and throw all the food away.
I also didn’t get an off day on Sundays, so I asked my employer to give me extra money. She said okay, but she still didn’t give me anything.
Every time my family back home would ask me, “How is your work in Hong Kong?” I would tell them, “I’m so very, very happy,” because I didn’t want to worry them.
Eventually my employer told me to go back to Indonesia. But I couldn’t as I owe the agency money. Every month I must pay HKD3,000 out of my HKLD4,110 salary until I reach a total of HKD10,000.
In the end I just couldn’t work there anymore. I think there is just something in my heart that means I cannot work for people who are angry with me. I left and sought refuge at Bethune House.
My employer before that was very good. She took care of me and made sure I had good food. I had to leave because my husband needed me when something happened in Indonesian, and when I wanted to come back, the role was already filled.
Every employer is different.
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