Thank you, Asia "Helpers" (77 days left)

 March 15, 2021

This is Mhel.  She is our domestic helper.  She lives in the room Adam once occupied.  Mhel is like our Alice from the Brady Bunch.  Mhel began working for us in July 2020.  She is amazing.  She cooks dinner for us, sees that fridge is stocked, takes care of Jigs our cat, cleans our flat, does laundry, and runs strange errands for us every now and then (like dropping off our spit when we were in quarantine so we could be tested for Covid-19 as required by the government).  Mhel will be sorely missed when we land back in Wisconsin!  She is a great-grandmother and hails originally from the Philippines but has been living in Hong Kong for decades and working for various HKIS families over that time.  She supports both herself and her family back home.

Mhel is not our first helper.  We had domestic help even in Korea.  There we began with having help cleaning and doing laundry 4 hours per week.  Then 8 hours per week.  When we moved to Hong Kong that pattern continued with other helpers over the years.  Marissa used to find herself comforting Rigby during a storm.  She would finish cleaning our flat and then move to the third floor to clean.  On a stormy day, Rigby would escape our apartment and go find her!

In Hong Kong the helpers often come from the Philippines or Indonesia.  They don't have the same rights as expats, unfortunately.  And far too often there are cases of abuse of these women.  The year we arrived in Hong Kong was the first year the government created a law saying that Sundays off were obligatory.  Before that, many were working 7 days a week with no recourse or rest.  They are also supposed to live with their employers and often with very little space provided.  

I am so very grateful to the women who have helped us keep the household running over these past eleven years, Peach Rose, Say, Marissa, and Mhel!  They are strong, courageous women who give so much of themselves to their own families while giving to our family, too.