But out of all the foreign workers in this country, one particular group stands out: the domestic helpers, the maids. They work six days a week for ridiculously long hours to earn wages that no Singaporean will stand for. Often, some of them suffer physical and mental abuses from their employers. And some have even died from these very same abuses.
Every weekend, we see tons of Filipina maids congregating at Lucky Plaza and the field next to Orchard MRT station. This, I gather, is a very important day of the week for them to reconnect with their fellow Filipinas and forget about the tedium of their daily chores and naggy employers. I've long understood and accepted the reason for this social gathering. After all, it's their only form of escape and recreation.
Today, I learnt something new about them. Have you ever noticed that when you walk down Orchard Road on the weekends, you rarely (or never) see a grouchy or pathetically sad looking Filipina maid? The only time you see that is when they appear in the papers in some article about a maid being abused. I've never really thought about it till today.
The Economist (through a link I got from the "Gweilo Diaries" comments page) published an article about that. Its focus was on the Filipina amahs (maids) of Hong Kong and I believe that it's no different to those in Singapore.
Once a week, on Sundays, Hong Kong becomes a different city. Thousands of Filipina women throng into the central business district, around Statue Square, to picnic, dance, sing, gossip and laugh. They snuggle in the shade under the HSBC building, a Hong Kong landmark, and spill out into the parks and streets. They hug. They chatter. They smile. Humanity could stage no greater display of happiness.
This stands in stark contrast to the other six days of the week. Then it is the Chinese, famously cranky and often rude, and expatriate businessmen, permanently stressed, who control the city centre. On these days, the Filipinas are mostly holed up in the 154,000 households across the territory where they work as "domestic helpers", or amahs in Cantonese. There they suffer not only the loneliness of separation from their own families, but often virtual slavery under their Chinese or expatriate masters. Hence a mystery: those who should be Hong Kong's most miserable are, by all appearances, its happiest. How?
This stands in stark contrast to the other six days of the week. Then it is the Chinese, famously cranky and often rude, and expatriate businessmen, permanently stressed, who control the city centre. On these days, the Filipinas are mostly holed up in the 154,000 households across the territory where they work as "domestic helpers", or amahs in Cantonese. There they suffer not only the loneliness of separation from their own families, but often virtual slavery under their Chinese or expatriate masters. Hence a mystery: those who should be Hong Kong's most miserable are, by all appearances, its happiest. How?
Apparently, it is attributed to the concept called Kapwa, roughly translated to "shared being". I'll leave the explanation to the Economist article "The Filipina sisterhood - An anthropology of happiness" which I earnestly encourage you to read. I believe we can learn a thing or two from them.
These people are really amazing. First, we have Jenny (a subject in Conrad's post), a Manila bargirl, who survived a very wretched childhood and still have the sweetness and charity to give from her meagre income to child beggars on the streets. Then we have these Filipina maids who are one of the most (if not the most) happiest foreign workers around who give of what little they have to others.
Filipinas who are total strangers move from one group to another—always welcomed, never rejected, never awkward. Indeed, even Indonesian maids (after Filipinas, the largest group of amahs), and Chinese or foreign passers-by who linger for even a moment are likely to be invited to share the snacks.
Here we are, bitching and being depress about the state of the economy, lack of jobs, lack of space and recreation, etc, etc. And there we have Filipinas working for years on end away from their family and love ones for lowly wages and yet are able to be happy.
What are we doing wrong here? Are we that fucked up?
Postnote: I forgot about the Thais. They also seem to be one of the happiest people in Asia.
CURRENT
TOP